Jets-Patriots Recap: Studs and Duds, and What We Learned

The Patriots can thank a blocked field goal by Patriots' defensive lineman Chris Jones for their Thurdsay night victory over the Jets. Jones redeemed himself from his costly penalty against the Jets the last time both teams played against each other, as it ended up negating a missed field goal by Nick Folk in overtime. The Jets ended up driving into closer field goal range and kicking the game-winning field goal, thus defeating the Patriots 30-27.

Much was different from this Week 7 game and last season's Week 7 game, however. For one thing, Tom Brady didn't play poorly in this game (whereas he did play very poorly in last season's game). In addition, unfortunately, Jets quarterback Geno Smith played pretty well in this game (while he had a very up-and-down game last season). Still, both games were extremely competitive and came down to the final seconds. While it was a solid team victory, the Patriots have a lot to work on before they play the Chicago Bears this upcoming Sunday.

Here are some of the main studs and duds from the Patriots' 27-25 victory over the Jets:

STUDS:

1. Tom Brady

The Patriots quarterback put on his 3rd straight great performance, as he dissected the Jets pass defense with relative ease. While his completion percentage was only 54%, Pro Football Focus wisely notes that Tom Brady "had four throwaways, one batted pass and four dropped passes." When factoring in all of that, Brady actually had an adjusted Accuracy Percentage of 77.4%. He has clearly rebounded a lot from that Week 4 disaster versus Kansas City.

2. Shane Vereen

With Ridley out for the remainder of the season with MCL/ACL tears, it was clear that Vereen would be given a much larger workload. The running back/receiving back truly shined on Thursday, amassing 43 yards on the ground and 71 receiving yards on 5 receptions (among them a great 49-yard diving touchdown catch in the first quarter on the Patriots first offensive drive of the game). He also caught a 3 yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady in the second quarter.

3. Danny Amendola

The much-maligned wide receiver was very impressive on kickoffs, amassing 105 yards on 4 kick returns. He also made a terrific 19 yard touchdown catch from Tom Brady roughly midway through the fourth quarter. This was by far Amendola's best performance this season.

4. Chris Jones

As mentioned above, Chris Jones blocked what would've been a game-winning field goal by Jets kicker Nick Folk in the final seconds of the game. Jones also made his presence felt on defense, as he registered two quarterback hits in the game.

DUDS:

1. Run defense

The Jets' running game (specifically running back Chris Ivory) had their way with the Patriots' run defense, steamrolling them for 218 rushing yards on 43 carries (5.1 average yards per carry). While losing linebacker Jerod Mayo for the season definitely hurt the Patriots in this game, the Patriots run defense was nevertheless a major sieve, and needs to be fixed before Chicago Bears star running back Matt Forte comes to Foxboro on Sunday.

2. Julian Edelman

While Edelman has been by far the most productive wide receiver for the Patriots so far this season, he had two back-breaking drops in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with just 4 receptions for 44 yards.

3. Jordan Devey/Marcus Cannon/Nate Solder

All three of the above offensive lineman struggled in pass protection, as they failed to contain Jets star defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson (1 batted pass and 3 quarterback hits). Fellow Jets star defensive end Sheldon Richardson also had a strong performance, registering 5 tackles and 1 quarterback hit. While Brady ended up only getting sacked once, the Jets were able to register 7 quarterback hits in this game, many of which came in the second half.