Games like these are bittersweet. More bitter, needless to say, because of the lopsided nature of a tough loss. Yet sweet in the sense that despite the team's struggles, a player may have reached a milestone that not a lot of his current mates and the team's alumni have achieved over a franchise's, say, 66 seasons.

So RB Breece Hall breezed by the signpost that read "1,000 Rushing Yards in a Season" late in the third quarter against the Patriots. Then on the first play of the fourth quarter, he ripped off a patented long Hall scoring jaunt that put the Green & White's only TD on the MetLife Stadium scoreboard.

Points to be celebrated even in defeat. However, Hall sustained a knee injury later in the final frame, walked off slowly to the locker room, and departed after making brief remarks to beat reporters. And many teammates weren't asked about Hall attaining his grand goal because other more pressing Green & White topics.

"It's cool," Hall told the small group. "It sucks that it had to happen in a loss or whatever. I felt like I should've got to that mark a few weeks ago, but there's just been a lot going on here so it's been tough.

QB Brady Cook was another who did talk about what Hall brought to the game and brings to his team when he spoke with radio play-by-play announcer Bob Wischusen.

"I'm extremely proud of him," Cook said, " fighting that entire game and then breaking off a touchdown run like he did when there was no hope and he instilled some hope to finish the game.... "He deserves it. He's a heck of a player."

Head coach Aaron Glenn, in his player's heart, was no doubt proud of his bellcow back as well, as he's said on several occasions. But in his coach's garb, his remarks were couched in the more serious matters involving him and his locker room following the 42-10 loss to their division rivals.

During the week, Glenn said he and Hall talked about the number: "He hadn't got the 1,000, but I know he wants a win more than just a 1,000 right now.

" It's a good accomplishment for him. But we have a lot of work to do in all three phases for me to say I'm gung-ho about 1,000 yards right n ow, to be honest with you."

Hall has spoken before about the agony and frustration of finishing 6 yards shy of 1,000 yards in 2023. As this season unfolded with his big-game spurts and lower-impact outings as he tried to help jumpstart the struggling offense, he may have thought this day would never arrive. But it did and it earned Hall a place in franchise history.

He needed 46 rushing yards entering Sunday's game to reach 1,000 for the season. After being prematurely reported by another media outlet that Hall had reached a thousand, he actually achieved it on a a 6-yard run up the middle at the start of a Jets drive late in the third quarter.

Hall thus became the first Jet to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Chris Ivory in 2015. He also became the neighth Jet all-time to get to 1,000 rushing yards and it was the 19th such performance by those eight backs.

Lest fans worry that No. 20 could lose yardage next week at Buffalo and fall back below 1,000, it seems unlikely. Hall's 111 yards on 14 carries not only was his fourth 100-yarder this season and the ninth in his fourth Jets season, but it also lifted his season total to 1,065 yards. No guarantees, of course, but Hall's thou seems safe.

Most of those 65 yards over 1,000 were secured on his shot-from-a-cannon 59-yard touchdown run s he sped through a right-side seam and outran backup DBs Brenden Schooler and Miles Battle and the rest of New England's defense to the right pylon. It was the Jets' longest TD run since ... well, since Hall dashed 72 yards at Denver in 2023, and the longest run at home, TD or not, since his 83-yard run vs. the Bills at MetLife on opening day earlier that season.

"We had run the play earlier in the game and I thought we were mistargeted," he said. "I think just everybody doing their one-eleventh on the play [made it work]. The O-line and the receivers made the play. I just finished it."

Additionally, he achieved another distinction in franchise annals. He needed just 14 yards from scrimmage to clear 1,300 for the third time in his short span in green and white, and he got that in the second quarter when he dashed 19 yards around left end. Only two other Jets have ever racked up 1,300 YFS three or more times. Pro Football Hall of Famer Curtis Martin did it seven times and the formidable Thomas Jones did it three times.

Hall said his knee was fine, the team's medical and training staffs just wanted to be safe, and he probably won't need to get much if any testing. Glenn may or may not have updates on the injury before he reveals the Jets' midweek injury reports prior to finishing the season in Western New York. As for Hall's potential free agency status, that talk will have to wait until the offseason begins to heat up.

Yet Hall, who said he didn't keep track of each yard during the game, was still aware of the importance of all of those inches adding up to his big number, as bittersweet as it may have been coming in the tough home defeat.

"It's a blessing. I'm blessed to be in this position," he said. "So it's cool."