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Patriots find yet another way to torture Jets and their fans

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Nov 21, 2022

If you really want some first class entertainment, tune in whatever way possible to WFAN radio in New York today, and just listen and laugh, Patriots fans.

There will be pain galore on the part of Jet fans.

Clearly we can make this declaration after Marcus Jones’ Play of the Year to save us all from what would have been a brutal 10 minute overtime period:

The New York Jets will never beat the New England Patriots. Not next year, not the year after, or the decade after that.

They’ve already lost 14 in a row, and counting. What other conclusion can you come to? Both teams stunk out Gillette Stadium offensively, whether it was the wind, whether it was the play calling, whether it was the quarterback play, or the blocking up front. Defense ruled, but eve the Patriots had their gaffs when both Devin McCourty and Jonathan Jones dropped gift picks.

In fact, the Jets managed just two – yes, two – total yards on offense in the second half. No wonder Jets coach Robert Saleh said, when asked how his offense played in the second half, “It was dog (bleep).”

For a game played so poorly, there was a lot to take from it, some of it comical. The comical part is how many ways can the Jets lose to New England? They were still talking about how close they came three weeks ago, were it not for a roughing the passer penalty that changed a 22-17 game and may have saved the Patriots season.

And now they’ll be talking about Marcus Jones and his 84-yard punt return for a touchdown with just five seconds remaining. The screams on New York sports radio today will be a scream, for sure.

The second thing is that, no matter his recent failings, the Bill Belichick preachings eventually come true. The fact that a game is 60 minutes, and the fact that special teams can be critical, one way or another. Nick Folk, Mr. Automatic, missed what for him are usually chip shot field goals, a 44-yarder in the second quarter that hit the crossbar and a fourth quarter attempt of 43 yards that went wide left. Both were in the former Lighthouse end that is not yet enclosed (construction ongoing), thus more wind effect.

Hey, we all know about Belichick and the wind, right? How he went back to old time football to beat the Buffalo Bills by just running the ball last year? Now today he didn’t do anything strategic, except to have the team practice in Gillette rather than behind on Friday to give them an idea of what the conditions could be. “The wind was stronger today then on Friday,” he said, “but we had the general idea on Friday about the way the ball was going to go and how we would call certain returns based on whatever the situation was.”

He also made a good move but he did seven months ago when he drafted Marcus Jones in the third round, 85th overall. Perhaps Belichick had a vision, because Jones also – the rookie had to be reminded about this by a New York reporter when asked about any similar plays – returned a kickoff 100 yards for the game-winning TD vs. SMU his redshirt senior season for the University of Houston.

“He’s fast, he’s quick,” Belichick said. “He was an explosive playmaker that ended up moving to defense, played inside, played outside and returned kicks. …He’s a good player.

“Where Marcus was when he got here and where he is now are – they’re an ocean apart.”

So is the coaching between the Jets and the Patriots, as usual. Saleh left Gillette with his tail between his stair climbing legs last yea after a brutal blowout, finding out the hard way that if Belichick can stick it to the Jets anytime, anyplace, no matter who the coach is, he will.

And Sunday he left with a brutal, somewhat preventable loss. The one thing you don’t want late is to lose a game on a kick return, so really it made sense for Jet punter Braden Mann to boot the ball nearly or fully out of bounds to avoid any kind of return. Nope.

“He hung one out in the middle and that’s about it,” said Saleh, whose clock management on the Jets last possession, as well as the third-and-1 call, were horrific. And it doesn’t help the Jets cause when their second-year QB looks like another draft mistake. Bleh.

But Marcus Jones, you can be sure, will be one of Belichick’s favorite players for as long as he’s a Patriot.

Why? He beat the Jets. Again.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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