Jets most to blame for Thursday Night Football loss to Patriots

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Jets most to blame for Thursday Night Football loss to Patriots

Mike Gianakos, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Fri, Nov 14, 2025 ·

5 min read

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The post Jets most to blame for Thursday Night Football loss to Patriots appeared first on ClutchPoints .

The New York Jets began the season with seven straight losses before running amok in the state of Ohio. New York beat the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns , winning back-to-back games for the first time since September 2024. But the Jets' hot streak came to an end on Thursday Night Football in Week 11.

The New England Patriots are good again. After missing the playoffs for three seasons, New England has finally rebounded, rewarding its long-suffering fanbase with the best record in the NFL under first-year head coach Mike Vrabel.

The story is quite different in New York. Rookie head coach Aaron Glenn is off to a rocky start and the Jets are poised to miss the playoffs for the 15th straight season.

On Thursday, New York visited Foxborough for a divisional matchup against the Patriots. No one thought the Jets would win and they fulfilled those expectations with a 27-14 loss. So now it's time to play the blame game.

Aaron Glenn

Glenn coached an odd game on Thursday night. The Jets appeared to have something going early. New York got the ball first and scored on a 14-play, 72-yard drive. It was the team's first opening-drive touchdown since Week 16 of the 2024 season.

Justin Fields was gashing New England 's defense, running the ball five times for 28 yards and a score on the first drive of the game. The Patriots appeared uninterested in stopping Fields with any kind of defensive adjustment, so Glenn shut him down for them.

Fields only ran five more times after the opening drive, essentially surrendering the only successful aspect of New York's offense. After the game, Glenn made it clear that stopping Fields was his choice .

"We don't want to make a habit of having our quarterback run because that puts him in harm's way," Glenn explained.

Unfortunately, the quarterback can't sustain a passing attack. The Jets are dead last in the league, averaging 139.9 passing yards per game. And, predictably, keeping Fields in the pocket stalled the offense. But at least he wasn't in harm's way.

Thursday night's matchup marked the seventh time the Jets have been out-gained and the eighth time they've lost the turnover battle in 10 games this season. New York committed seven costly penalties against the Patriots, sinking any hope of pulling off the upset.

Despite the 2-8 record, the team doesn't appear to have quit on Glenn. But it's clear fans are watching a first-time head coach figure it out on the fly. And errors with personnel, pacing and game management have hurt the Jets.

Justin Fields

Glenn tried to protect Fields after New York's 27-14 loss, saying "We've got to have some guys that make some plays for him." While that is true, the fifth-year quarterback obviously deserves a share of the blame.

Fields was hamstrung by a coaching staff that made him one dimensional and a WR corps that was missing Garrett Wilson . But his struggles as a passer were on full display Thursday night. And they were even more glaring when compared to Patriots QB Drake Maye .

Fields went 15/26 for 116 yards and a touchdown against New England. It's just the fifth time that he's thrown for more than 54 yards in nine starts. Fields was inaccurate with a number of passes, missing receivers on the rare occasions when they were open. He made a rookie mistake with an intentional grounding penalty, stalling a third-quarter drive when New York only trailed by seven. And then there was that brutal fumble.

What is that?

Fields couldn't handle a low snap midway through the fourth quarter, comically flailing around and losing the ball deep in Jets territory. New York's defense managed to hold the Patriots to a field goal. But the score was a backbreaker, putting New England up 27-14 with under seven minutes remaining.

Fields has the most fumbles in the NFL since entering the league in 2021. It honestly doesn't seem possible considering he didn't even play in 18 of his first 68 games. But he fumbled for the 48th time on Thursday, the most in football over the last five years.

It's not Fields' fault that the coaching staff decided to keep him in the pocket, taking away his only advantage as a QB. But he shoulders the blame for his complete inability to sustain a passing game.

Pass catchers not named John Metchie

Fields was unquestionably inaccurate in Thursday night's loss. But the Jets' receiver corps featuring Adonai Mitchell , Arian Smith , Isaiah Williams , John Metchie and Allen Lazard did him no favors.

Mitchell in particular had a brutal game. Pass after pass clanged off his hands as the drops piled up.

The Jets landed Mitchell in the Sauce Gardner trade with the Indianapolis Colts . The 2024 second-round pick had a chance to showcase his skills with Wilson sidelined by injury. But he fell flat in his Jets debut.

Drops were a major issue for New York. Which is not ideal given Fields' inaccuracy.

One of the few times Fields threw a perfect pass, backup tight end Jeremy Ruckert couldn't hold on. The incompletion came on 4th & 4 with two minutes remaining and the Jets trailing by 13.

A comeback with this group was unlikely. But what was Ruckert even doing out there to begin with? What happened to second-round rookie Mason Taylor ? Why did Ruckert get three of his five targets on the Jets' final drive?

Does any of it really matter? Nope.

The Jets are 2-8 and waiting to go on a little run at the end of the season to ensure a mid-round draft pick. The Patriots won their eighth straight game, improving to an NFL-best 9-2 on the season. Hello darkness, my old friend…

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