It was just over a year ago when the Jets went to Foxborough and suffered a 54-13 loss, one of the most embarrassing defeats in franchise history.
On Sunday, they have a chance for some payback.
The Jets enter this game against the Patriots at 5-2 and it feels like their best chance to beat Bill Belichick and Co. in years. The Patriots have won 12 in a row over the Jets and many of those games were lopsided.
Last year’s 54-13 loss is clearly in the minds of players in the Jets locker room as they prepare for Sunday’s game at MetLife Stadium.
“I’m not gonna get into too many specifics, but there’s just certain ways you do things in this league and then there’s just certain ways you don’t,” Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said. “And at the end of the day, to a man, everybody that was a part of that felt a way about how that went down. Sunday’ll be here before you know it, and everybody in here is ready to play just like any other week, but obviously a little bit of history to that matchup. … Everybody’s looking forward to wipe the slate clean of that.”
The Patriots were throwing the ball and put up 20 points in the fourth quarter of that last meeting despite their big lead. Jets coach Robert Saleh downplayed that result having any meaning this week, but he was clearly bothered by it after last year’s game.
“It’s the NFL, it’s not like Alabama versus William & Mary,” Saleh said the day after that game on ESPN radio’s “The Michael Kay Show”. “It’s the NFL. We’re all professional athletes. If you don’t want to get scored on, you gotta stop ’em. Is it something I would do? Probably not, but to each his own.”
MetLife Stadium should be rocking Sunday with the Jets finally staying relevant deep into the season. The Patriots are 3-4 after losing to the dismal Bears on “Monday Night Football.” The Patriots are bouncing between quarterbacks and seem to be as vulnerable as they’ve been in years.
Saleh went the “just another game” route Wednesday after acknowledging Belichick’s status as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.
“Bill is arguably one of the greatest coaches that have ever coached in this game. I’ll honor that forever, and he’s given to this game so much,” Saleh said. “He’s done so much for this game that we would be remiss not to acknowledge that. New England, we would be remiss to not acknowledge that they have been dominant for 20 years, but at the same time, it’s a championship moment and a championship game, no different than last week was and no different than next week will be. So, we have to keep the main thing, the main thing and focus on today’s moment because today’s practice is a championship practice. If we continue to keep that mindset, it doesn’t matter who you play, you treat them all the same.”
During this 12-game losing streak to the Patriots that dates back to 2016, the Jets have kept it to a one-score game only three times. There have been losses by 38, 20, 35, 33 and 41 points. Sam Darnold saw ghosts. Todd Bowles and Adam Gase both got pink slips hours after losing to the Patriots.
It has been ugly. This is the first time since Week 12 of 2001 that the Jets are facing the Patriots with a better record, according to ESPN.
Last year’s 54-13 loss was a low point for the Jets under Saleh. It left a bad taste in their mouths after the game.
“Just how unnecessary it was,” center Connor McGovern said of his memory of the game. “There was no need for it, whatever excuse they want to make for trying to run up the score when we were down corners. He just kept throwing go balls. It is what it is. Just a thing to put up on the quote board or whatever you want to say, the motivational board and carry on. It’s definitely a little disrespectful.”
Rankins said the Jets remember that feeling.
“Everybody felt that anger, that wanting to line up and do it again,” Rankins said. “Here’s our shot and we’re looking forward to going out there on Sunday and playing our best football.”
— Additional reporting by Steve Serby
