Thursday’s matchup was the 8 – 2 New England Patriots taking on the 2 – 7 New York Jets at home, Gillette Stadium. This was an AFC East matchup between the top team in the division and the bottom team, making it pretty obvious who would win. The game started off quick, with Jet’s quarterback, Justin Fields, rushing 5-yards for a touchdownafter a long first 8-minute drive. This touchdown never should’ve happened; it was a poor effort from outside linebacker Harold Landy III who couldn’t catch up to Fields, who even while making the wrong read was able to outrun him.
The Patriots were able to respond quickly, running back TreVeyon Henderson rushing for a 7-yard touchdown 44 seconds into the second quarter. This touchdown was lucky, if Henderson’s offense line wasn’t there to push him from behind, he would’ve been stopped.
After three good stops, the Patriots defense forces the Jets to punt, giving the Pats the ball back with about 13 minutes left in the quarter. After about 6 minutes, TreVeyon Henderson was able to find space and rush for another 7-yard touchdown, making the score 7–14. This play was the defense’s fault, at least two or three players were able to make contact, but weren’t able to tackle Henderson.
The rest of the second quarter had a lot of punting and running down the clock, although the Pats were able to get into field goal range. Kicker Andres Borregales missed the 45-yard field goal attempt, leaving the score the same in the second quarter. The kicker should’ve made the field goal, for an NFL kicker, 45 yards should be easy, but he missed itby about a couple feet.
Going into the third quarter, the Patriots got the ball, the drive resulting in a punt, giving the Jets possession. The Jets weren’t able to do much with the ball and after a short possession they ended up having to punt, which leads to a TreVeyon Henderson 6-yard receiving touchdown. This was a horrible play on the defenses part, as he was left wide open with nobody guarding him until it was too late.
The Jets then responded with a 22-yard touchdown to John Metchie III, making the score 14 – 21. Did the defense give up on this play or something, because John Metchie III was wide open, and it didn’t help that the guy that should’ve been guarding looked to be jogging towards him.
In the fourth quarter, the Pats kicker was able to make a field goal to make the score 14 – 24. Later, Justin Fields fumbled on the snap, failing to recover the ball as Patriots linebacker Anfernee Jennings recovered the football in the redzone. The snap on this play was horrible; it was barely anywhere near Field’s hands, and the fact that he couldn’tpick up while having it right in front of him is disappointing.
The Patriot’s offense wasn’t able to do much, settling for a field goal, which made the score 14 – 27. Neither team did much after that, making the game end 14 – 27 with a Patriots win.
On Monday, the 3-5-1 Dallas Cowboys travelled to Las Vegas to play the 2-7 Las Vegas Raiders at home. The game started off with the Cowboy’s getting the ball first; they weren’t able to do much with it and had to eventually punt. The Raider’s then returned the favor, punting as well, but on the Cowboy’s next drive, defensive end Maxx Crosby, was able to get a hand on Dak Prescott’s hand as he was about to throw, forcing a fumble that was recovered by rookie defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway.
That was a great read by Maxx Crosby as he was able to identify the play action and get Dak as he was rolling out to the right. It was just an overall better defensive performance from Maxx. The Raider’s tried to take advantage of the field position but were unable to due to an early sack by Cowboys defensive tackle Kenny Clark. After a failed pass attempt on 3rd and 12, the Raider’s settle for the 35-yard field goal to make the score 0 – 3.
The Raider’s offense was disappointing on that drive, the drive shouldn’t have ended in a field goal, and maybe it wouldn’t have if their offensive line could block. On the Cowboy’s next drive, Dak threw an incomplete pass to make it 4th and 3rd, and the Cowboys decided to not go for it and take 3 points from a field goal to tie the game.
With about three minutes left in the first quarter, Geno Smith made yet another sack for a 4th and 20, the Raider’s kicked another field goal to take the lead again at 3 – 6. At the very beginning of the 2nd quarter, Dak was able to find a wide-open wide receiver, CeeDee Lamb, in the endzone for 6 points, making the score 10 – 3.
This was a great effort from CeeDee to find some space and get open in the endzone, this was also an example of bad zone coverage from Raider’s safety Isaiah Pola-Mao, who started covering Lamb very late. You could also argue it was on cornerback Eric Stones or linebacker Jamal Adams, since they both went to cover tight end Jake Ferguson and left CeeDee open.
After a disappointing Raiders drive, the Cowboys got the ball back, being able to reach the red zone after about 6 minutes. Tight end Jake Ferguson was able to get wide open in the middle of the end zone for a 5-yard receiving touchdown to make the score 17 – 6. I would say that this wasn’t the defense’s fault, but I’d be lying, this was on the defensive coordinator and the team’s linebacker’s for thinking that leaving the middle wide open would be a good idea.
With 3 minutes left in the half, Geno Smith throws to the defense, with defensive back Markquese Bell picking up the interception. Fun fact, that is the only main stat recorded by Markquese Bell in this game. You can’t even blame the receivers or o-line for this play; this was just Geno Smith showing us why he’s one of the worst quarterbacks in the league, and he must be blind because there were two players on his target, one tipped the ball, which led to Markquese Bell taking the ball from behind them.
Just when you thought the quarter was over, Dak passed the ball to George Pickens who was able to run from the Raider’s 25-yard line to the end zone. This was a lousy attempt to defend by the defense, as Jamal Adams was able to tip it, yet George Pickens was still able to catch the ball and the rest of the defensive did absolutely nothing to stop him from getting the touchdown to make the score 24 – 6.
Still near the end of the second half, Raiders’ kicker Daniel Carlson kicks a 38-yard field goal to end the half 24 – 9. Overall, that was a very disappointing first half performance for the Raiders as there were many mistakes that were causing them to be losing.
Into the second half, the Cowboys got the ball first, moving it up the field slowly but efficiently. Due to a poor attempt at coverage from cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly, wide receiver Ryan Flournoy got open in the end zone for a receiving touchdown, making the score 31 – 9. I don’t even have words to describe how badly Flournoy was able to get aroundKelly; it’s just disappointing.
After this the Raiders’ offense went on the field, and surprisingly they were actually competent that time. Geno Smith finally remembered how to play quarterback and after getting in the red zone was able to throw to wide receiver Tre Tucker to get their final points of the game to make the score 31 – 16.
Basically, nothing else happened in the game apart from when the Raider’ were at their own 1 yard line. They went for one of the only sensible plays when at that position, but the o-line and additional blockers forgot how to play football and just let the entire Cowboy’s defense get by and tackle Ashton Jeanty in their endzone for a safety to make the final score 33 – 16.
