Down in the Jets’ locker room, new head coach Robert Saleh tried to create a mindset with his club as he tried to change the culture there after taking over the position.
“Get used to the Mantra, ‘All Gas, No Break” Saleh can be heard saying in the hype video that ran prior to the 2021 season.
Apparently, they’re not a fan of when the shoe is on the other foot.
After taking a 31-7 lead into the locker room at the half during New England’s 54-13 victory, the Patriots didn’t let up, especially after New York opened the second half with a 7 play, 77-yard drive that ended with their second touchdown of the afternoon to cut New England’s lead to 31-13.
The Patriots came right back on their next possession with a 50-yard field goal by Nick Folk, which capped off a 9-play, 43-yard drive by Mac Jones and the offense. That drive finished off what was their sixth-straight scoring drive of the game.
From there, New England just kept it business as usual, never letting up.
After finally being forced to punt late in the third quarter, the Patriots took advantage of an interception by quarterback Mike White and turned that into a 3-yard touchdown by Damien Harris to go up 41-13 with 13:29 left to play.
On their next possession, Jones went at them again, throwing a 46-yard bomb to Kendrick Bourne on a perfectly thrown ball that saw New England get the football at the Jets’ 1yd line. One play later, J.J. Taylor got into the end zone to extend the lead to 47-13.
That drive would finish Jones’ day as he gave way to Brian Hoyer, who came into the game. But the mindset didn’t change. He kept firing and the offense kept the pedal down, with Hoyer hitting Gunner Olszewski for a 22-yard completion, and then followed that up with a 29-yard play to fullback, Jakob Johnson.
Two plays later, Hoyer took a shot downfield to N’Keal Harry on a 28-yard toss that saw Harry go up and over his defender before coming up with the ball at the Jets’ 1yd line.
On the next play, Taylor was back in the end zone and the Patriots were over the 50-point mark, leading 54-13.
New England’s relentlessness frustrated an already embarrassed Jets defense and they aired their frustrations.
Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins and Morgan Moses were apparently among players who weren’t pleased that the Patriots didn’t let up.
“Probably some things I’m not going to say,” said Rankins via Rich Cimini. “But it’s our job to stop it.”
Saleh said this week that unlike college football, in the NFL, if guys don’t want to keep getting scored on, they need to stop it.
“It’s the NFL, it’s not like Alabama vs. William & Mary,” Saleh said via The Athletic. “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.”
However, Saleh himself endorsed that approach to start the season.
https://twitter.com/NYJetsTFMedia/status/1421569033300754433
Unfortunately, when he said it, he probably didn’t expect to be on the other side of it.
The bad news is, life doesn’t exactly get any easier. The Jets have another tough opponent coming in this weekend when Cincinnati visits in what will likely be another big challenge for his football team.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
