BSJ Game Report: Patriots 25, Jets 22 - Brissett's late heroics leads to gritty win without Maye (concussion)

Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ win over the Jets in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

HEADLINES

Patriots get it done: Don't even care about the victory. Everyone associated with the Patriots, including the coaches, found a way to be competitive throughout the game against a more talented unit and went down to the end. This is all I/we/most have been asking for. The team played tough, competitive, aggressive, overcame adversity and looked like the better-coached outfit. That's why they play the games. Kudos to everyone involved, especially Jerod Mayo, Alex Van Pelt and DeMarcus Covington. That was a football win.

"I thought it was a good team win," Mayo said. "I thought those guys, even though we're down a few guys, we always talk about the next men up mentality. ... You lose Drake there early in the game. And thought Jacoby was ready to go. It wasn't perfect but at the same time, I thought the operation was good. I thought he made some good throws, and we just got to continue to build on that. ... Really proud of the guys are a lot of there was a lot of noise and a lot of chatter, and I'm very appreciative of just their attitude and professionalism on an everyday basis. ... It's good to get a win here at home in Gillette."

Maye (concussion) ruled out: After leading the team on a first-quarter touchdown that featured his legs, Drake Maye was ruled out with a concussion after finishing a drive. 

I didn't think there was anything wrong with the hit. Maye slid late, he was a runner at the time so a headshot is legal in that circumstance. If you want to be protected as a quarterback, you just have to slide earlier.

"I walked in at halftime and saw him," Mayo said. "The competitor that he is, obviously he wanted to go back out there and play. But there's a protocol that he has to go through. Again, can't wait to get him back."

Brissett comes on, gets it done: It didn't look good early. Van Pelt looked like he was afraid of Brissett as they ran five times in six plays before halftime, including with two timeouts left. Despite not having a reliable set of receivers (they had five drops - two from Kayshon Boutte and Kendrick Bourne), Brissett was able to complete 15 of 24 passes for 132 yards after entering the game. On the final drive, Brissett had a 12-yard pass to Hunter Henry, a 14-yard scramble on 3rd and 9, a 34-yard pass to Boutte, a pass to the 1 to Boutte to set up the late score. 

TURNING POINT

3rd and 10 with 1:29 left ... Jets bring a blitz that gets a piece of Brissett but he still delivers a 34-yard pass to Boutte.

SECOND GUESS

Didn't love running it three times right before halftime, but Mayo had his reasons.

"At the end of the half, you lose your starting quarterback, and you just want to get the clock running, just so we can reset at halftime," Mayo said. "And that was really the mentality there. I know the fans and stuff they don't like they don't like it, and always want you to try to go out there, but I would say it was just a chance for us to get in the locker room and hit the reset."

THREE UP

QB Jacoby Brissett: Came off the bench and got it done, with three scoring drive (17 points) in the second half.

QB Drake Maye: Didn't have great passing stats (3 of 6, 23 yards) before leaving but he had three carries for 46 yards, including a touchdown and was playing well.

Secondary: The Jets made some plays, especially with Garrett Wilson against Marcus Jones, but the coverage was right there all day long and they played tough.

TWO DOWN

The receivers: You can't have five drops in a game.

The Jets: What a bad football team. Three timeouts in the first quarter. Terrible offense and Rodgers delaying everything. Let the Patriots drive the field for winning touchdown. Greg Zuelein missing an extra point and a field goal. Just a bad outfit.

INJURIES

Drake Maye (concussion): Did not return.

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES BEDARD WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

Good job by Jerod Mayo and the coaches. They did their jobs this week. By the way, not that I thought this was possible, but they will not finish with the worst record in franchise history. We can stop the Rod Rust comparisons now ... well, at least for a week.

What are the Jets going to do now? The fired their coach and traded for Davante Adams and lost two games to fall to 2-6, the same record as the Patriots. I mean, what a complete dumpster fire.