Tom Brady set the tone and the New England Patriots’ blitz-happy defense took over from there.
Bill Belichick’s side are still undefeated after another absolutely dominant performance.
Brady on Monday threw a touchdown pass to Phillip Dorsett and Sony Michel ran for three scores as New England forced Sam Darnold into five turnovers while cruising to a 33-0 victory over the New York Jets.
Photo: AP
“We were able to make some plays early in the game and play pretty solid for 60 minutes,” Belichick said.
The Patriots improved to 7-0 for the third time in franchise history and the first since 2015.
They also swept the two-game season series against their American Football Conference East rivals for the fourth straight year, outscoring the Jets (1-5) 63-14 in the two meetings this year, and the top-ranked Patriots defense was a big reason.
“They’re just playing great football,” Brady said. “They cover the rush. They stop the run. Make critical plays. It’s awesome to watch.”
Darnold was the conference’s offensive player of the week after leading New York to a 24-22 win over Dallas in the previous game, but he was miserable against New England, finishing 11 of 32 for 86 yards and a 3.6 quarterback rating.
ESPN had Darnold wear a microphone during the game and he was caught on the sideline saying: “I’m seeing ghosts” at one point.
“It was a rough night out there and obviously I’ve got to be better and learn from the mistakes, but we will get better,” Darnold said.
Belichick often blitzed Darnold, giving the second-year quarterback little time and forcing him into bad — and often ugly — throws.
Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon, Stephon Gilmore and Terrence Brooks all had interceptions. Darnold also lost a fumble on a sack and later knocked an errant snap out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
“I don’t know, man,” a smiling McCourty said when asked if there were “ghosts” on the field. “We were just locked in tonight as a defensive unit. When you get a lot of time to prepare for a game, you start going over everything over and over again. I think it showed for us tonight as a defensive unit.”
Brady was 31 of 45 for 249 yards with a touchdown and an interception before leaving with 2 minutes, 55 seconds left to chants from the Patriots fans. They watched New England take total control from the beginning.
Michel’s three-yard touchdown run capped an efficient drive by Brady to open the game. The Patriots went 16 plays and 78 yards while eating up 8:47.
“Our guys were ready to go today,” Belichick said. “We got off to a good start. That was a great opening drive. It took up most of the first quarter.”
New England made it 10-0 a few minutes later after McCourty intercepted Darnold’s first pass of the game. They turned the turnover into a 34-yard field goal by Mike Nugent.
After the Jets went three-and-out, Brady went back to work and threw to Dorsett, who scored a 26-yard touchdown.
New England took advantage of another turnover by Darnold on the Jets’ next drive when John Simon popped the ball out of the quarterback’s hand for a strip-sack and Kyle van Noy recovered.
The linebacker ran 39 yards for what was initially called a touchdown, before it was ruled it out.
Brady’s pass to Jakobi Meyers fell incomplete on third-and-goal from the three, but Brian Poole was called for defensive holding. Michel ran it in from the one three plays later to make it 24-0 with 9:18 left in the first half.
Darnold’s third turnover came on the Jets’ next possession when his throw to the end zone was intercepted by Harmon. Gilmore picked off Darnold on New York’s opening drive of the second half.
It only went downhill from there on the Jets’ next possession when Ryan Kalil’s snap sailed over Darnold’s head and he knocked it out of the back of the end zone.
Michel added a one-yard touchdown run with 12:32 left.
“Obviously, that was brutal,” Jets coach Adam Gase said. “We couldn’t do anything right. All three phases, we were bad. It was just a bad performance.”
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