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Stats to Know

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3 Stats to Know | Plays Per Drive Helped Rodgers, Jets Tell the Tale vs. Patriots

Plus More Margins of Distinction in Rivalry vs. New England & Robert Saleh Rising Again to the (Replay) Challenge

Stats to Know_edited-1-week-3-2024

Three more stats to know from the Jets' Thursday night 24-3 triumph over the Patriots before we move on to their Sunday home game against the Broncos:

The More Plays, the Merrier
One thing that emerged from the win over the Pats was Aaron Rodgers and the offense's drive engineering. They had three drives of 10-plays-plus, all eight drives of at least six plays, and, no 3-and-outs for the first time in a win since the Brett Favre Jets stunned the previously undefeated Titans, 34-13, in Week 11 of the 2008 season.

"I felt like we had a lot of good drives," Rodgers said. "We were backed up a number of times and switched the field position and then got points out of drives."

For the night, the Green & White totaled 70 offensive plays on eight series, an average of 8.75 plays/drive. That is the highest single-game average for the Jets in a win in franchise history. Having, let's say, an average of 7.0 plays/drive or better is no guarantee of victory, but combine that with no giveaways and the Jets' record in those games is 15-6 overall and 12-1 at home. So extending drives with third-down conversions and ball security leads to very good things.

Several Last Looks
The Jets outgained the Patriots by 261 yards on TNF, 400-139. They also had a plus-16 edge in first downs, 27-11. Both figures are the best for the Jets in their 65 games as the home team in this series. And both are the second-best margins in the rivalry's 131 total games.

No. 1 in both categories: 1982 Game 2 at old Schaefer Stadium in Foxboro, MA. In the game before the '82 players strike began, the Jets waxed the Patriots 37-0, posting margins of plus-339 in yards (396-57) and plus-25 in first downs (30-5) in first downs.

And one more thing: The Jets' 4-0 margin in touchdowns over New England in their last two meetings, the '23 season finale and in the '24 home opener, wasn't their best ever in the rivalry. But it was the first time in series history that the Jets held the Pats to no TDs in back-to-back games.

See the best photos of Jets fans at MetLife Stadium for the 2024 home opener against the Patriots on Thursday Night Football.

Red-Flag Reversals of Fortune
Robert Saleh's second-quarter replay challenge that reversed Breece Hall's zero-yard carry into his 1-yard barrel-roll TD run vs. New England was the head coach's second successful challenge that resulted in a reversal to a Jets TD in less than two full seasons. The first came in 2022 Week 13, when QB Mike White was ruled short on a fourth-and-goal keeper from the 1 but the call was overturned into a score at Minnesota.

Saleh thus has as many successful replay challenges that resulted in a Jets TD in his 2021-24 tenure as the previous Jets HCs produced from 2007-20. Rex Ryan had one of those challenges in 2011 for a Mark Sanchez-to-Plaxico Burress TD and Todd Bowles had the other in 2016 for a Ryan Fitzpatrick-to-Quincy Enunwa score at home vs. New England. Eric Mangini also had a successful challenge for a Chad Pennington-to-Jerricho Cotchery TD in '06.

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