Patriots vs. Jets: New England's Dominance on Third Downs Led to a Victory

It was only nine months ago when the New York Jets simply dominated the New England Patriots, not only on all three sides of the ball, but they physically man-handled the team. That was not the case Sunday at Gillette Stadium. In fact, it was the complete opposite. 

In New York's 28-21 playoff victory over the Patriots on January 16, the Jets were able to complete six of their 13 third downs, a 46.2 percent rate. Let's put it this way: New England's defense was putrid in its playoff debacle, and could not "stop a nosebleed."

This Sunday, the tables had turned: New England held the Jets to only three conversions of 11 third downs, a much-improved 27.3 percent rate in their 30-21 victory.

Stopping teams on third-downs is certainly a key to success, and if you dominate on third downs, then it will definitely affect the outcome of the game in a tremendous fashion. 

How were the Patriots so effective on third downs? Well, ultimately New England put pressure on Mark Sanchez all game. The Patriots brought down Sanchez only twice, but still were able to collapse the pocket quite frequently and force Sanchez to make quick decisions. 

New England's "bend-don't-break" defense was effective Sunday against the Jets, but New England didn't really have to be so bendable as it only allowed 255 yards of total offense—a second-to-season-low for the Jets and a season-low for New England's defense. 

There were a lot of positives out of New England's victory over the Jets, but the biggest was definitely how effective the team was on third-downs. 

This is definitely a stepping stone moving forward and is certainly a positive step moving in the right direction. If the Patriots want to make a deep playoff run this season, then the team's defense needs to continue to get better, starting next week against the Dallas Cowboys.