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NFL Week 11
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The New England Patriots have swept apart the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium on “Thursday Evening Soccer,” successful 27-14 for his or her eighth straight victory.
TreVeyon Henderson had the most effective recreation of his rookie season, speeding for 2 touchdowns and catching a 3rd. Drake Maye threw for 281 yards and a landing, whereas Stefon Diggs had 9 catches for 105 yards.
Justin Fields had a tricky night time, throwing for simply 116 yards and a landing on 15-of-26 passing. He additionally ran for 67 yards and a rating however accounted for the sport's lone turnover with a fumble.
The Patriots improved to 9-2, the most effective file within the NFL, whereas the Jets fell to 2-8, ending their two-game successful streak.
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Patriots-Jets takeaways: Maye boosts MVP case, Henderson scores 3 TDs in New England’s win
I feel Drake Maye would have been implausible regardless, however I’m wondering if it helped in any respect that as a substitute of stepping proper into Tom Brady's sneakers, he acquired a wholesome buffer with the Cam Newton experiment and the Mac Jones period, to not point out cleaning out the Invoice Belichick stench.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye on the keys to his success and listening to MVP chants from Patriots followers:
💬 “Coach, right here, and the fellows round me, that’s the largest factor. They do loads of work for me. We present up each Sunday and simply attempt to play collectively. The largest factor is we’ve acquired work to do. This fan base has been superior. They’ve embraced us, and so they’ve already embraced Coach for some time again when he was scoring touchdowns again within the day, so shout out to the followers. We’ve acquired some extra work to do.”
Above are the most recent AFC standings. With the Patriots' win over the Jets, New England sits atop the AFC with a 9-2 file. New England is the primary AFC crew to achieve 9 wins.
New England is 1/2 recreation forward of the 8-2 Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos. The Colts have a bye week whereas the Broncos face the Chiefs on Sunday. It appears to be like like it is going to be a battle between the Patriots, Colts and Broncos for the highest seed within the AFC and getting a first-round bye within the playoffs.
As for the basement of the convention, the Jets are 1/2 recreation forward of the Tennessee Titans. Tennessee performs Houston this week.
Aaron Glenn had this to say postgame on Justin Fields’ efficiency: “There are some good issues. There are some actually good issues.”
He added that there have been some performs “our guys gotta make for him on the market.”
In the meantime, Fields summarized his efficiency as, “Not ok.”
Mike Vrabel on his crew’s eight-game successful streak to be the primary crew to achieve 9 wins this season:
💬 “I recognize the identification. It’s ours, and it’s theirs, and so they defend it, and we’ve got to follow it every single day, whether or not that’s Wednesday or Thursday. The final six weeks, we’ve got gotten higher as a result of we follow velocity on Thursdays, and guys are going after it. That’s why we’ve gotten higher as a result of guys come out the video games and perceive there’s loads of issues that go our approach some issues that don’t, and we’ve got to beat these, and we’ve got.”
The Patriots’ protection acquired off to a different sluggish begin, permitting a landing on the Jets’ opening drive, earlier than as soon as once more settling in after that.
The Jets went three-and-out on their solely three remaining drives within the first half following their preliminary rating. Then the Patriots’ protection put up a powerful efficiency within the second half.
A fumble restoration by Anfernee Jennings helped seal this recreation on an evening the Jets managed simply 245 yards.
Nonetheless, three areas of concern for the Pats’ protection. The primary is that the Jets transformed eight of their 14 third-down makes an attempt, which is one thing to maintain an eye fixed going ahead from the Patriots’ protection.
Secondly, Justin Fields was in a position to scramble far more than you’d like, even from a cell quarterback like Fields. He ran for 67 yards on 11 makes an attempt with a landing.
Lastly, it’s regarding that the Patriots misplaced Milton Williams, their highest-paid participant, to an ankle damage. The defensive deal with performed solely eight snaps within the recreation. That’ll be an damage to observe when the Patriots return to follow subsequent week. The excellent news is that Mike Vrabel stated after the sport that Williams needed to return within the recreation however the teaching workers determined it was finest for the crew to carry him out.
The Jets took a flier on John Metchie III, and at the least for tonight, this deal seems considerably fruitful.
The previous second-round select of Alabama led the Jets in receiving tonight, catching three passes for 45 yards, together with a 22-yard landing from Justin Fields within the third quarter.
With Garrett Wilson sidelined for at the least 4 weeks, Metchie and Adonai Mitchell could have ample alternative to make an impression on New York's teaching workers and entrance workplace.
Large receiver Adonai Mitchell made his Jets debut and didn’t go particularly properly. His first catch was a superb one, a 3rd down conversion on a slant that helped arrange Fields’ landing run on the opening drive.
However after that, he dropped an ideal deep ball from Fields that will’ve went for an enormous acquire, Fields missed him badly later within the second quarter on what would’ve been an enormous acquire, after which Mitchell dropped one other ball within the fourth quarter. The upside is that Mitchell clearly has the athleticism and upside to get open and beat the person overlaying him, he simply wants to repair the main focus points that led to the drops and errors.
On the flip aspect, the opposite receiver the Jets acquired just lately acquitted himself properly: John Metchie began for the Jets and caught a 22-yard landing when he was left large open within the third quarter.
Listed below are the most recent AFC East standings. With New England’s victory tonight over New York, the Patriots have a two-game lead over the Buffalo Payments.
A reminder that the Patriots and Payments sq. off on Dec. 14. New England is 1-0 in opposition to Buffalo this yr after a 23-20 victory on Oct. 5.
The Patriots lead the AFC East in level differential with 86.
Mike Vrabel on the Patriots’ 9-2 begin in his first season.
💬 “I really feel nice. That’s what I simply advised them within the locker room, ‘9-and-two, that’s excellent news. I’ve higher information for you. They don’t need to see me till Monday.’ They have been excited.”
The Patriots have already just about clinched their return to the postseason, in response to our Playoff Simulator, which provides New England a better than 99-percent probability at a playoff spot.
However what in regards to the No. 1 seed within the AFC?
Per the Playoff Simulator, the Patriots have a 44-percent probability on the high seed and a bye to the divisional spherical, in addition to a 44-percent probability to host a recreation within the wild-card spherical.
Get used to it, NFL followers — New England has returned to its perch atop the AFC.
It’s clear that Justin Fields will not be the Jets' quarterback of the longer term, however New York's offense was extra practical tonight than it has been in current weeks, and his legs have been an enormous a part of the explanation why.
Within the first half, his skill as a rusher put pressure on the Patriots' protection and prolonged performs all through the night time. He was the crew's main rusher, totaling 67 yards and a landing.
He nonetheless missed a number of throws and confirmed indecisiveness when throwing the ball downfield, however with out his go-to wideout in Garrett Wilson and on the street in opposition to a division rival on a brief week, Fields helped preserve the Jets within the recreation whereas their protection faltered.
On the similar time, it’s inconceivable to run a functioning offense within the NFL with a beginning quarterback who has solely eclipsed 100-plus yards passing twice in his final 5 video games.
Because it seems, Justin Fields continues to be not the answer at quarterback for the Jets. And but, for some cause, Aaron Glenn retains working him on the market. Week after week, it’s clear that Fields doesn’t belong on the market anymore — and that was very true on Thursday night time, even when there have been a number of drops from his large receivers.
A low second got here when a third-down cross late within the fourth quarter deflected off the again of left deal with Olu Fashanu’s head — after which Fields adopted that up by merely dropping the ball on a snap and fumbling it away to the Patriots, who circled and made a area purpose a number of performs later to just about put the sport away.
Fields put collectively a powerful first drive because the Jets leaned on his working skill — however it was principally a catastrophe after that, and he nonetheless had fewer than 100 passing yards late within the fourth quarter. Sooner or later, maybe Glenn will swap to Tyrod Taylor or undrafted rookie Brady Cook dinner.
TreVeyon Henderson on his three-touchdown efficiency:
💬 “Actually, them first two touchdowns, all my offensive linemen, I gotta give these guys credit score. They make my job simpler. These guys put within the soiled work.”
Drake Maye obtained loads of MVP chants from a fired-up crowd watching the Patriots play their first dwelling night time recreation in two years.
They began when Maye took the sector because the final Patriots participant launched, then continued as Maye performed properly in a powerful efficiency.
This wasn’t Maye’s finest recreation, however it may need been one of the vital vital in validating Maye’s standing as a legit MVP candidate, given the nationwide viewers and noteworthy throws. He accomplished his first 11 passes and didn’t throw an incompletion till three minutes remained within the first half.
Maye is without doubt one of the MVP frontrunners together with Matthew Stafford and Sam Darnold, and can want some spectacular video games down the stretch to earn the award. However Thursday night time was an opportunity for the nation to see how properly he runs this offense.
His robust night time got here even with some uncommon drops from Stefon Diggs (who nonetheless put up 105 receiving yards) and with rookie Kyle Williams showing to run a few unsuitable routes.
TreVeyon Henderson on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye:
💬 “He’s a baller, and he’s a terrific chief. However the greatest factor is he’s humble. He is available in to work every day, and he pushes everybody round him. I’m grateful to be enjoying alongside him.”
TreVeyon Henderson has arrived.
After a sluggish begin to the season for the second-round rookie, Henderson put up 5 touchdowns in 5 days whereas filling in for the injured Rhamondre Stevenson.
Henderson has been so good that he might have overtaken the beginning job from Stevenson, who has missed the final three video games.
After he ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns final week in a win over the Buccaneers, Henderson totaled __ yards on __ touches Thursday night time for 3 touchdowns (two of them speeding, certainly one of them receiving).
Henderson this season has been the skin, big-play risk for the Patriots’ working recreation, however he confirmed he’s loads succesful working between the tackles on Thursday night time.
It’s unclear if Stevenson will probably be wholesome sufficient to play within the Patriots’ Week 12 video games in Cincinnati, however Henderson has given the teaching workers loads to consider as they handle the depth chart.
TreVeyon Henderson on the Patriots’ method:
💬 “We simply wish to keep humble and simply proceed to place the work in. We wish to take pleasure in a few days off and get again to work. And yeah, we simply wish to keep humble and preserve going.”
Do you know our Playoff Simulator at The Athletic additionally offers you groups’ odds of securing the No. 1 general choose within the 2026 NFL Draft? So sure, Jets followers, there’s something for you in there!
With tonight’s loss, New York’s odds of getting the highest choose transfer from 27 % to 31 %.
Try how those odds shift with the rest of New York’s games right here.
