Grading the Jets loss to the Patriots
Brady Cook #4 of the New York Jets scrambles during the fourth quarter against the New England Patriots at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Jim McIsaac
OFFENSE: F
Breece Hall ran for 111 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for another 18 but that was pretty much the extent of the meaningful output for a team that has no one to rely on to make big plays. To that point: 11 different players caught passes but no one had more than four catches and just one of those plays went for 20 or more yards (a 21-yarder to Hall). Rookie quarterback Brady Cook completed 19 of 33 passes for 152 yards and was sacked just once but that “improvement” is hardly enough to justify having him play in the season-finale.
DEFENSE: F
Drake Maye became the first QB in NFL history to complete at least 90% of his passes while throwing for 250 yards and 5 touchdowns in a single game. The Jets had no answers for anything the Patriots threw at them as they allowed touchdowns on the first six possessions of the game and didn’t force a punt until the fourth quarter when Maye was long removed from the action. Allowing 440 total yards was a new season high, eclipsing the 438 the Jaguars hung on them two weeks ago.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C
Going 1-for-2 on fake punts – on the same drive – speaks more about the team as a whole than the one unit that has functioned for the Jets all year long. Punter Austin McNamara completed a pass for 3 yards to make the first conversion but a direct snap to Isaiah Davis on the second try was sniffed out for a loss. McNamara was solid with his punts and put both inside the 20 and both were fair catches with no returns. Nick Folk connected on a 39-yard field goal.
COACHING: F
Aaron Glenn blamed the effort of the players, something that should be more of a reflection on him than he seemed to believe it to be as he defended the gameplan he installed. He poked the Patriots by calling a timeout on defense late in the first half after they seemed content to run out the clock and that only made them angry as they scored two more touchdowns before pulling their quarterback. There were five penalties for 53 yards against the Jets, not an awful amount but far from clean.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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