The Jets’ special teams failures were impressive in their comprehensiveness.
There was a missed field goal. The punter had a rough game. A kickoff went awry. The punt-return defense grew holes.
The Patriots’ special teams outplayed their counterparts in just about every facet during the Jets’ 22-17 loss at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
“This is an organization that feasts on mistakes and just waits for you to implode,” head coach Robert Saleh said of Bill Belichick’s crew. “All three phases took turns.”
None more so than the special teams.
Former Jet Nick Folk went 5-for-5 on field goals, including a 52-yarder, to provide 15 of the Patriots’ points. Current Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein went 1-for-2 and missed an attempt from 45 yards that would have tied the game at 13 in the third quarter. Instead, New England used three more Folk field goals to gain separation.
“That was just a bad hit,” Zuerlein, 14-for-17 for the season, said of a kick he pulled.
The special teams’ day was doomed nearly from the start. After the Jets, who started with the ball, went three-and-out, Braden Mann’s punt glanced off the side of his foot and spun out of bounds.
The 22-yard punt set the Patriots up at the Jets’ 45-yard line, though the defense would hold for the moment.
“Can’t let that happen,” Mann said. “Gave bad field position for our team and good one for theirs. That’s just something you can’t do.”
Mann, who had a nightmare game, slipped just before booting the ball to start the second half. He still made contact and essentially squibbed the kick, which helped the Patriots begin the third quarter with the ball at their own 38-yard line.
Six plays later, Mac Jones threw for a touchdown.
“I slipped, which is me just planting a little too hard,” said the third-year Jets punter. “I gotta work on that and not slip on turf — it’s always different on turf. That’s something I gotta work on.”
Late in the third quarter, Mann neither slipped nor mishit a punt, booming a 48-yarder. But if one Jets area came through, another burned them: New England’s Marcus Jones caught the ball at the Patriots 41-yard line and followed a few crushing blocks down the left sideline for a 32-yard return that preceded a field goal to make it a two-score game.
Those are the types of mistakes that cannot be made against the Patriots, especially when Folk kicks a perfect game.
“The other kicker could go 100-for-100 and it doesn’t matter. It’s about what we’re doing over here,” Zuerlein said after a Jets strength became a weakness for a weekend.
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