Instead, the Jets spent Sunday at Gillette Stadium failing to duplicate the execution and moxie that propelled them at the site of one of their greatest triumphs. Their free fall continued against the New England Patriots, who buried the Jets, 30-21, to further expose as pretense the Jets? boast to be Super Bowl contenders. Last year, the Jets also recorded their third loss of the season at Gillette. The difference is that came on Dec. 6, in their 12th game.
The only good news for the Jets, that their challenging stretch of three road games came to a merciful halt , might not be good, after all. At MetLife Stadium next Monday, their fans will be welcoming back the Jets as a third-place team, two games behind New England and Buffalo in the A.F.C. East, with a defense that has allowed 98 points in three games and an offense that sputtered and staggered against the especially porous Patriots.
?Obviously, they?re the better team right now,? Coach Rex Ryan said. ?We?ve got to be smarter, we?ve got to play smarter.?
The Patriots entered Sunday having allowed more yards in its first four games than any team in more than 70 years, and yet through three quarters, the Jets had amassed only 147 yards.
?I don?t know the reason why we came out so slow,? quarterback Mark Sanchez said.
On 7 of their first 10 possessions, the Jets failed to record a first down. On the other three, they scored touchdowns, but their futility could not obscure what was another trying day for Sanchez (16 for 26, 166 yards) and the offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, whose promise to return to a ground-and-pound philosophy achieved improved production (97 yards), but not enough clock-killing drives to slow the Patriots? offense.
Even after drawing to 27-21 with 7 minutes 14 seconds remaining on a 21-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes, the Jets? defense let them down, struggling to contain BenJarvus Green-Ellis. He ran the ball right at the Jets, as he did all day, finishing with a career-high 136 yards to balance the 321 passing yards by Brady.
The Jets pressured Brady, mixing up their pass coverage, the secret to their success last January when they defeated the Patriots in January to advance to the A.F.C. title game. They sacked him four times, but when he stayed upright, he dismantled their secondary, which played without discipline. Penalties on Kyle Wilson, Darrelle Revis, Brodney Pool and Donald Strickland extended New England drives, and Antonio Cromartie was turned around on a touchdown pass to Deion Branch.
Over 60 minutes Sunday, the Jets tried to flout logic and conventional wisdom, reintroducing center Nick Mangold, who returned three weeks after sustaining a high-ankle sprain, and incorporating the rookie Jeremy Kerley, who assumed Derrick Mason?s duties as the third receiver and caught his first touchdown pass.
It was not quite a demolition, but it produced a similar effect on the Jets, who were embarrassed at Oakland, Baltimore and, now, New England.
A decisive moment came on the Patriots? opening possession of the second half, one play after Wes Welker split Revis and Eric Smith for a 73-yard catch. A replay reversed Mike Devito?s recovery of a fumble by Branch at the Jets? 7, and Branch atoned on the next snap by beating Cromartie for a 2-yard touchdown.
In a rivalry tinged by acrimony and rancor, all of the controversies leading up to Sunday?s game were self-inflicted, germinating at Jets headquarters. The workweek began Monday with Ryan, furious with his team?s feeble pass protection, launching into an expletive-laced rant. It evolved into a referendum of locker room etiquette, with Santonio Holmes?s public criticism of the offensive line and quarterback rankling Sanchez.
It reached bizarre proportions Sunday, mere hours before kickoff, when the organization took the extraordinary step of dismissing a Daily News report stating that Holmes, Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason had met individually with Ryan to express displeasure with the offensive system. The denial seemed intended to deflect pressure on Schottenheimer, who, when asked earlier this week about the sputtering offense, said: ?We?re not panicking. We?re working.?
?If it is, then maybe I got hit in the head,? Ryan said of a possible meeting. ?I don?t remember it.?
He added: ?I never thought I?d be here losing three straight, but that?s where were at. We?ve earned it.?
All that work produced a fruitless first quarter: 31 yards, no first downs. The Jets responded to last Sunday?s demolition in Baltimore by emphasizing fundamentals, streamlining their game plan. They vowed to run the ball, run it some more and, after that, run it again. Another quarter went by without an offensive touchdown, extending their total to seven, before that clock-controlling style took hold. Running behind Brandon Moore and Mangold, Shonn Greene rushed on eight of the Jets? 13 plays, capping a 7:54 drive with a 3-yard plunge.
It was 10-7, Patriots, and the Jets were fortunate to enter halftime trailing by only 3 points: a 91-yard drive stalled at the 2, when Aaron Hernandez muffed a sure touchdown, as Brady?s pass bounced off his hands and into Cromartie?s. The momentum-swinger was a mere mirage. All of the things the Jets hoped to do Sunday, thought they could do, did not happen, and now, for the third straight week, they are left wondering how to fix them.
