The Patriots' depleted defense eliminated "Cute (expletive)" and picked up the victory

FOXBORO — The Patriots' 25-22 victory over the Jets was even more impressive considering all the variables their defense had to overcome.

Like defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale missed Sunday's game after suffering an abdominal injury during Thursday's practice. Or safety Kyle Dugger, who is inactive after being listed as questionable with his ankle injury on Saturday. Or cornerback Jonathan Jones missed Friday's practice because of a personal issue and only played half of the defensive snaps. Or Joshua Uche is a healthy scratch amid trade rumors.

This push defensive tackle has Jeremiah Pharms Jr., who was a healthy player a week ago, and Jaquelin Roy, who was signed to the active roster earlier this month, in key roles, each playing over 30 snaps. It forced Marte Mapu into Dugger's role as defensive communicator, brought Dell Pettus and Jaylinn Hawkins off the bench and moved Jones into a safety role. This 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 larger role. And Anfernee Jennings played a season-high 59 snaps in Uche's absence, going nearly start to start.

So excuse the defense, which is also missing linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley, safety Jabrill Peppers and defensive tackle Christian Barmore, not looking perfect. But it was good enough to win.

“J. Jones. We talk about the versatility of our staff. He knows every single place, every single place,” enthused head coach Jerod Mayo on Sunday. “I thought Marte did a good job as far as controlling the group and communicating Overall, these guys played well.

“To say it again, not to sound cliche or redundant, it is the mentality we must have 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 came up big when it mattered most, stopping wide receiver Mike Williams on a two-point attempt to prevent the Jets from taking a 24-17 lead with less than three minutes to play. He also broke up a pass from Rodgers to Wilson as the Jets attempted a final comeback to make it 25-22 with 21 seconds left in the game.

“Garrett, great player. Rodgers, Hall of Fame player. It's obviously one of those situations where I didn't make the best play, but it was just one of those situations where I took one play after another and definitely made a play at the end of the game that helped out . I’m just happy to get the W.”

That was also cornerback Christian Gonzalez's answer when asked how he felt in a tough matchup against Jets wide receiver Davante Adams.

“We won,” Gonzalez said. “We won.”

Mayo said before the game on 98.5 The Sports Hub that he challenged Gonzalez after a tough two-game stretch. Gonzalez responded well, allowing just one 17-yard catch on three scores with a pass breakup and a ticky-tack defensive pass interference penalty.

Mayo called his team “soft” after their loss to the Jaguars in London last week, before walking back the comments and saying they were just “playing soft”. But one of the reasons Mayo made the team was her run defense. On Sunday, the Patriots' defensive front wasn't perfect, but they allowed the Jets to rush for just 4 yards per carry on 28 attempts for 112 yards.

Defensive tackle Davon Godchaux said it's about eliminating “cute (expletive)” from the Week 3 loss to the Jets and getting back to basics.

“Just throw the football back, play our job, not a lot of calls, do what you do and stop the run,” Godchaux said. “I know they went over 100 yards today, but I thought it was a pretty good job in the run game.”

Godchaux added the cute (expletive): “I’m just trying to be chic. I was out there at Five-Technique a lot. … I'm just going to get back to basics and not try to make a lot of people think about a lot of calls, simple (expletive), over, stack, king, (expletive) that we've been running for years and are a successful defense.”

Godchaux said run defense is “all about a mindset.”

“Once you get the mindset, you're going to hit a (swear word) back and not let them run you off the ball – I mean, double team, sometimes they're going to win, they get paid too – but once you get the mindset, that you're going to be disruptive and throw a guy back, throw off blocks, it's all in the mind. There’s not really a lot of techniques you can use to do that.”

As for any changes in the secondary, Mapu downplayed them because the Patriots' cornerbacks and safeties are already preparing for them.

“You always want the guys to prepare as if someone is going to be out, especially if it's something that's bothering them,” Mapu said. “So we expect to be prepared if someone who hasn’t played a lot could be the fourth safety.”

Mapu also said the Patriots were successful on Sunday by going back to basics against the Jets.

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

Originally published: October 27, 2024 at 6:32 p.m

The Patriots' depleted defense eliminated “Cute (expletive)” and picked up the victory

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