THE New England Patriots The New York Jets traveled to MetLife Stadium looking for a win on Thursday Night Football and came away empty-handed. Instead, they suffered a crushing 24-3 defeat to quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.
The Patriots struggled to get going in all three phases of the game and simply couldn’t compete. Rodgers lit them up with a balanced attack and handed them their second straight loss of the season.
While it wasn’t an overall positive performance for the Patriots, there were still five players who deserved a game ball after Thursday night’s drubbing.
P Bryce Baringer
When you have to punt a lot, you should get a good performance from the punter. It’s a good thing the Patriots have Baringer, who has been one of the best punters in the league since he was drafted. He proved to be a weapon Thursday for a Patriots team that needed every blade of grass to keep Aaron Rodgers at bay.
It didn’t work out, but Baringer was a solid player and the team’s best player on the field. This is not a criticism of Baringer, but any time your best player in a game is a punter, you can already imagine how terrible the team as a whole is going to be.
K. Joey Slye
Slye was the only Patriots player to see his name appear in the scoring column, kicking a 44-yard field goal to give the team its first and only point of the game. He also had some nice kickoffs, but we really give him the game ball for the sole fact that he was the sole reason this game wasn’t a non-elimination game.
WR DeMario Douglas
Douglas had seven receptions for 69 yards and a designed run for nine yards. He had more yards from scrimmage than all running backs combined and more than any other receiver on the night. He struggled in last week’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and he made his desire to get the ball loud and clear.
While it didn’t impact the game, he was the Patriots’ best offensive player, much like in 2023. He called his shots correctly and was the only source of offensive yards in the loss.
LB Joshua Uche
Uche was tasked with a bigger role due to the absence of Oshane Ximines and players like Keion White taking advantage of the matchups. He had a bigger role in the run game and missed a few tackles, but he consistently put pressure on a Jets offensive line that played a great game.
It was a promising sign to see Uche perform well against a talented offensive line, but he’ll need to clean up missed tackles in the run game to become the complete edge player the Patriots desperately need.
Jahlani Tavai
Tavai was tasked with the green-dot duties and served as the primary backup to injured linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley. And he held his own while doing it. While the Patriots really missed Bentley on the field, Tavai took on more roles than usual and moved all over the defense to give Rodgers different looks.
Tavai is an underrated player who will be tasked with a much larger role due to injuries on the edge but also in the middle. He managed to perform well in pass coverage, downhill in the run game, and on the edge to create pressure. He was one of the few Patriots who didn’t have a major issue with missed tackles.
This article was originally published on Patriots Wire: 5 Game Points From Patriots’ Thursday Night Football Loss to Jets
