Well, the Jets won't be going 16-0 this season after falling to the New England Patriots 13-10 in Foxboro, Mass., Thursday night.
"You always want to win the game," LB David Harris said. "This is the NFL. Nobody goes undefeated. Unfortunately, we didn't get the win."
Although we ultimately left Gillette Stadium somber in defeat, our defensive effort against Tom Brady and the Patriots was outstanding. The offense converted just one third down on nine attempts in the first half, and they were shut out in the second half. Brady and the Pats had six 3-and-outs throughout the game.
The future Hall of Fame QB completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes (19-for-39, 48.7%) and was held to 185 yards through the air, the first time he was kept under 200 passing yards since Oct. 30, 2011, at Pittsburgh.
Stevan Ridley and the running game were held to 2.3 yards per carry, rushing for 54 yards on 24 attempts. We're now 2-for-2 in holding the opposition to less than 3.0 yards per carry.
And rookie punter Ryan Allen tied the Patriots franchise record with 11 punts in the game.
The defense dominated throughout much of the game. Unfortunately, however, there was one play on the opening drive that turned out to be the difference in the game.
"You can't afford mental mistakes against Brady," head coach Rex Ryan said.
It was third-and-2 on the Jets' 39. The defense seemed to freeze on the play action as rookie WR Aaron Dobson ran right on by all 11 Jets on the field. Brady found his man and threw for a wide-open, easy-as-they-come touchdown pass and an early 7-0 lead.
"He's an elite quarterback," DE Muhammad Wilkerson said. "Mistakes were made. We just have to correct those and try to get better."
In the end, we passed for more yards than the Patriots (189-178), we more than doubled their rushing yards (129-54), we converted more first downs (15-9) and possessed the ball more as well (34:00-26:00). Unfortunately, we also turned the ball over four times and recorded zero takeaways.
"We wanted to come out with that win," Wilkerson said. "We made some mistakes. They made more plays than us and won the game."
The turnovers, along with one costly play on third down on the opening drive, prevented the Green & White from walking away winners on Thursday night.
"But we have a lot to build on next week going into Buffalo," Harris said. "We've just got to learn from our mistakes."
