These are the players that stood out from the New England Patriots 41-3 victory over the New York Jets.
Loser: QB Tom Brady’s MVP hopes
Brady put together one of his best performances of the year, with a beautiful display of deep passing and 3 touchdown passes, but it might not be enough to win MVP. Brady has fallen behind Falcons QB Matt Ryan in most efficiency stats, including passer rating and yards per attempt. Ryan leads most cumulative stats, too, and has played without WR Julio Jones in recent weeks. The Patriots defense ranks #1 in points against, while the Falcons rank in the bottom 10.
And now the Seattle Seahawks have lost, bumping the Falcons up to the #2 seed in the NFC. While Brady is the clear choice over Ryan if you need a quarterback for a single game, it’s pretty hard to make an argument for Brady over Ryan at this point in the year.
Sitting Brady in the 3rd quarter definitely is the right decision, but it doesn’t help Brady pick up the cumulative stats to catch up to Ryan.
Winner: WR Julian Edelman
After a slow start to the season due to a foot injury, Edelman has climbed the league rankings in recent weeks. Edelman has 955 receiving yards and 90 receptions and is a real candidate to finish the season in the top 5 for receptions. He’s catching footballs down the field and he’s moving the chains as the Patriots only real consistent receiver.
TE Martellus Bennett, WR Chris Hogan, WR Malcolm Mitchell, RB James White, and RB Dion Lewis need to be more consistent receivers in the coming weeks to take some of the pressure off Edelman.
Winner: RB LeGarrette Blount
Blount ranks #1 in the NFL in rushing touchdowns with 17, and #2 in the NFL in overall touchdowns. Cardinals RB David Johnson has rushed for 16 touchdowns, but added 4 receiving touchdowns for a league-leading 20.
Blount ranks 3rd overall in franchise history for touchdowns in a single season and two more would give him sole possession of 2nd place, leap-frogging 2011 TE Rob Gronkowski (18).
Blount also has the 8th most rushing yards in the NFL with a chance to climb the ranks in week 17 against a Dolphins defense that allowed 219 rushing yards on 35 carries (6.26 YPC) to the Bills top rushers in week 16.
Winner: DT Vincent Valentine
There was only one Patriots defender that had a negative day on Saturday (more on that later), but that opened up the door for rookie DT Vincent Valentine to star. Valentine played most snaps over the course of the entire game as the Patriots held the Jets running backs to 96 yards and 3.56 YPC. We’ll use Valentine as the avatar for the Patriots run defense.
Valentine picked up two tackles, while Alan Branch chipped in 3 tackles and a sack. Valentine showed that he could handle his own against a starting offensive line in case his number is called moving forward.
Loser: DT Malcom Brown
The only reason Valentine had a chance to show up was Brown’s benching. Brown did not play until the 4th quarter for unknown reasons. Brown has been the Patriots best run defending defensive tackle and he’s emerged as a quality interior pass rusher in recent weeks.
Is this a one week benching for Brown? Or is this something to monitor?
Megaloser: Jets franchise
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick completed 8 of 21 attempts for 136 yards and 2 interceptions, much of his yardage in garbage time. His passer rating was 21.2. QB Bryce Petty was 0 for 3 with 1 interception and 2 sacks. His passer rating was 0.0.
How bad must 2016 2nd round pick QB Christian Hackenberg be to serve as a healthy scratch?
For comparison, QB Jimmy Garoppolo completed 1 of his 2 attempts for 6 yards and he finished with a 56.2 passer rating. The Jets are a terrible franchise without a future.