Depleted Patriots defense eliminated ‘cute (expletive)’ to bounce back from win

FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots’ 25-22 win over the Jets was even more impressive considering all the variables their defense had to overcome.

Likewise, defenseman Daniel Ekuale missed Sunday’s game after suffering an abdominal injury during Thursday’s practice. Or safety Kyle Dugger, who was inactive after being listed as questionable Saturday with an ankle injury. Or defensive end Jonathan Jones missed Friday’s practice due to a personal issue and played only half of the defensive snaps. Or Joshua Uche turned out to be a healthy scratch amid trade rumors.

That thrust Jeremy Farms Jr., who was healthy a week ago, and Jacqueline Roy, who was signed to the active roster earlier this month, into key roles, each playing more than 30 snaps. This forced Marte Mapa to take over Dugger’s role as defensive communicator, brought Dell Pettus and Jaylynn Hawkins off the bench and moved Jones to the defensive back role. That moved Marcus Jones from the slot to the outside, where he had the unenviable task of trying to slow down Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson, and it pushed Marco Wilson into a more active role. And Anfernee Jennings played a season-high 59 snaps, playing almost entirely in Uche’s absence.

So excuse the defense, which is also missing linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley, cornerback Jabrill Peppers and cornerback Christian Barmore, if it didn’t look perfect. But this was enough to win.

“J. Jones. We talk about the versatility of our staff. He knows every spot, every location,” head coach Jerod Mayo raved Sunday. “I think Marte did a good job of controlling the group and communicating in general. These guys played well.

“Again, going back to the next person, without sounding corny or redundant, this is the mentality we need if we want to build what we want to build.”

Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was 17-of-28 for 233 yards with two touchdowns, and Wilson had a big game against Marcus Jones, catching five passes on eight targets for 113 yards.

But Jones made it big when it mattered, stopping wide receiver Mike Williams on a two-point attempt to keep the Jets up 24-17 with less than three minutes left in the game. He also broke up Rodgers’ pass to Wilson as the Jets made their final comeback attempt to make it 25-22 with 21 seconds left in the game.

“Garrett, great player. Rodgers, Hall of Fame player. Sure, this is one of those situations where I didn’t play my best game, but it was just one of those situations where I took it one play at a time and definitely made a move late in the game that helped out. Just happy to get the W.”

That was the answer from defensive end Christian Gonzalez when asked how he felt in a tough matchup against Jets wide receiver Davante Adams.

“We won,” Gonzalez said. “We won.”

Before the game on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Mayo said he challenged Gonzalez after a tough two games. Gonzalez responded well, allowing just one catch for 17 yards on three targets with a pass breakup and a defensive pass interference penalty.

Mayo described his team as “soft” after last week’s defeat to the Jaguars in London, before walking back the comment and saying they had “only played soft”. But one of the reasons Mayo called up the team was their defence. The Patriots’ defensive front wasn’t perfect on Sunday, but they held the Jets to just 4 yards per carry on 28 attempts for 112 yards.

Defensive end Davon Godchaux said it’s about taking the “cute (expletive)” out of their Week 3 loss to the Jets and getting back to basics.

“Just throw the football away, do our job, don’t make a lot of calls, do what you do and stop the run,” Godchaux said. “I know they rushed for over 100 yards today, but I thought it was a pretty good job in the running game.”

Godchaux elaborated on the cute (expletive): “Just trying to be hip. I’ve been there many times on the five-technique. … Just going back to basics, not trying to get a lot of guys thinking about a lot of calls, lay (expletive), over, stack, king (expletive) that we’ve been using for years and have had successful defenses.”

Godchaux said running defense “is a matter of mindset.”

“Once you get the mindset, you can hit the (expletive) back and not let him knock you off the ball – I mean, double team, sometimes they win, they get paid too – but once you have the mindset, what you’re going to destroy and throw the guy back, throw off the blocks, it’s all in the mind. There are only so many techniques you can use to do this.”

As for any changes in the secondary, Mapu downplayed them because of how the Patriots’ defensive backs and cornerbacks are already preparing.

“They always want guys to prepare as if someone is going to go out, especially if it’s something annoying,” Mapu said. “So we expect that we will be ready even if someone who doesn’t play a lot can become a fourth defender.”

Mapu also said the Patriots found success Sunday by getting back to basics against the Jets.

After the Patriots gave up 41 points in a loss to the Texans in Week 6 and 32 points to the Jaguars in Week 7, their performance against the Jets was enough to get back into the win column. And that’s all that mattered for a team that had lost six in a row.

Originally published: October 27, 2024, 6:32 pm

Depleted Patriots defense eliminated ‘cute (expletive)’ to bounce back from win

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