Jets dominated by Patriots in fourth straight loss

The end of the season can’t come soon enough for the Jets. They closed out their home schedule on Sunday with — what else? — another humiliating defeat.

The Jets are putting up very little fight as the end of the season nears. They gave up touchdowns on New England’s first six possessions and were blasted, 42-10, before mostly Patriots fans at MetLife Stadium.

Totally overmatched and unprepared from the beginning, the Jets (3-13) trailed 35-3 at the half and 42-3 early in the third quarter. This was their fourth straight loss — by a total of 107 points. They have been beaten by at least 23 points in each of those games.

“I’m upset with the effort, but I’m also upset with us as coaches too,” Aaron Glenn said. “It’s going to start with me, [not] getting these guys ready to play against a hell of a team for our last home game this season, and that bothers me, it does.

“In front of our fans, to let them see how we end this season and we end it like that, it bothers me.”

Actually, there weren’t that many Jets fans in the building. There were chants of “M-V-P!” when Patriots quarterback Drake Maye carved up the Jets’ defense, throwing for more touchdowns (five) than incompletions (two). He was 19-for-21 for 256 yards and no interceptions (the Jets still don’t have one this season) before being replaced by Josh Dobbs in the third quarter.

Jets linebacker Quincy Williams was incredulous when he was told the Patriots scored touchdowns the first six times they got the ball.

“[Expletive], boss,” Williams said. “Wow.”

Maye threw a touchdown pass to five different receivers, passing for four touchdowns and 229 yards in the first half. Rhamondre Stevenson scored rushing and receiving touchdowns and Stefon Diggs caught six passes for 101 yards and a touchdown.

“It’s not a good look when you give up that many points and then not score at all,” Glenn said.

The Jets hold the third pick in the NFL Draft after this loss and Cleveland’s win Sunday. They desperately need a quarterback. Depending on where they finish, they could try to trade up for Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza or Oregon’s Dante Moore.

The Jets have missed the playoffs for 15 consecutive seasons and have had a losing record for 10 straight years, but New England is proof that you can go from worst to first if you have the right quarterback and coach.

Mike Vrabel has led the Patriots to a 13-3 record in his first season as coach. He interviewed for the Jets’ job but spurned them to return to the Patriots, for whom he played. They lead the AFC East and have a shot at the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

Glenn, who like Vrabel returned to a team for which he formerly played, hasn’t done as well. He put a lot of faith in Justin Fields, signing him to a two-year contract for $30 million guaranteed, and that decision failed miserably.

Undrafted rookie Brady Cook started his third straight game at quarterback and reflected the Jets’ overall performance — ineffective and overmatched. Cook completed 19 of 33 passes for 152 yards and an interception.

Breece Hall rushed for 111 yards, including a 59-yard touchdown, and became the first Jet since Chris Ivory in 2015 to rush for 1,000 yards. Hall, who left the game in the fourth quarter with a knee injury, ended the day with 1,065 yards.

“It sucks that it had to happen in a loss,” he said of his milestone. “I feel like I should have gotten to that mark a few weeks ago, but there has been a lot going on here. It’s been tough. But it’s a blessing and I am blessed to be in this position, so it’s cool.”

The first half was a sad comedy for the Jets as they let Maye and the Patriots do whatever they wanted. New England racked up 344 yards of offense and had 23 first downs. The Jets totaled 77 yards and had three first downs. On their first two possessions, the Patriots ran 14 plays and never faced a third down en route to taking a 14-0 lead.

“No words can really explain that,” left guard John Simpson said of the game itself. “That was unacceptable.”

The game became chippy late in the first half as rookie tackle Armand Membou showed some rare emotion and had to be calmed down. Some Jets talked about the Patriots’ chirping, but they did nothing to stop it.

Glenn said he wasn’t worried about players “checking out” but he was about their psyche, being down 35-3 at the half.

“At some point, man, it’s not about the score anymore,” he said. “It’s about the pride that you go out there and play with. I’m always going to talk about how I got the effort, but today I didn’t see the effort that I felt like we needed to go out and compete at a high level.”

Not even close, as the score indicated.

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.