The (7-3) New England Patriots are on the road to face the (3-7) New York Jets and the Patriots are the clear favorite.

Pregame Show

Game Details

Date: Sunday, November 25, 2018

Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. ET

Location: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford NJ

SB Nation affiliate: Gang Green Nation

TV: CBS

1:00 PM ET Patriots Rooting Guide

Jaguars vs Bills: The Patriots should want the Bills to win to both hurt the Jaguars chances of winning the AFC South and to hurt the Bills draft stock.

Browns vs Bengals: The Patriots would rather the Bengals be the sixth seed over a team like the Ravens, so go Bengals!

Raiders vs Ravens: The Patriots would be happy to see the Ravens lose here to hurt their playoff chances.

Giants vs Eagles: This game doesn’t matter to the Patriots, so might as well root for the Giants to ruin their draft ranking. An Eagles loss also boosts the Patriots’ seventh round pick.

Seahawks vs Panthers: This game also doesn’t matter to the Patriots.

49ers vs Buccaneers: This game doesn’t matter, either.

Live Updates

Pregame

Previewing the Opposition: Jets Offense | Jets Defense | Bill Belichick’s Opinion

The New England Patriots won the opening coin toss and elected to defer.

Q1

The Jets received the opening kickoff and led a 7-play, 20-yard drive before punting to the Patriots. The Patriots responded with a 7-play, 47-yard drive of their own before punting back to New York.

The Jets marched down the field after Elandon Roberts missed an open field tackle of running back Isaiah Crowell and then Deatrich Wise was hit with a roughing the passer penalty on third down to set the Jets up on the 23-yard line. Josh McCown connected with Jermaine Kearse in front of Jonathan Jones for a 16-yard touchdown to put New York on top 7-0. Danny Shelton was hit with a roughing the snapper penalty on give the Jets an extra 15-yards on the kickoff.

McCown is 8 of 10 for 82 yards and a touchdown through two drives. The Patriots defense needs to play better.

The Jets decided to kick the ball into the end zone, negating their 15-yard penalty, and Tom Brady found Josh Gordon for 23 yards and Chris Hogan for 20 yards to get into field goal range. The Patriots were hit with a offensive pass interference on third-and-2 and the Jets accepted to try and force a more difficult 51-yard field goal attempt- but Brady found Rob Gronkowski for a 34-yard touchdown up the seam to tie the game up at 7-7. This Gronkowski’s first touchdown since week 1.

The Patriots special teams struggles continue as the Jets ran the kickoff back to the 34-yard line. McCown found Quincy Enunwa in front of Stephon Gilmore for 17 yards to get into Patriots territory and get us to the second quarter.

Q2

The Patriots defense held the Jets to open up the second quarter and New York punted back to New England, giving Tom Brady and company the ball on the 10-yard line.

Brady hit Phillip Dorsett for 3 yards to start the next drive and then found Gronkowski for 15 yards. A holding penalty against Trent Brown negated a big gain by Sony Michel, but Brady found Josh Gordon for 16 yards and a hands-to-the-face penalty gave the Patriots a fresh set of downs. A second holding call against Brown and a chop block by David Andrews negated yet another big gain by the Patriots rushing attack and pushed the Patriots back 15 yards for a 3rd-and-18. Tom Brady threw a pass high over James White that wasn’t going to be a first down anyways and Ryan Allen punted to set the Jets up on their 17-yard line.

A ridiculous seven Patriots have been flagged thus far. It’s been a sloppy game by the Patriots so far.

The Patriots are using Cordarrelle Patterson in the backfield behind the tight end to get him a free release out of the backfield. Keep an eye on that placement for a future play.

A pair of false starts against the Jets offense moved them back 10 yards and the Patriots defense forced a three-and-out. Julian Edelman mad a reckless decision to return the punt with a Jets player right in his face, but was fortunately tackled for no gain at the 30-yard line.

Michel gained 12 yards on the first play and his 15-yard gain on the next play was called back for an illegal motion penalty against Cordarrelle Patterson. Michel is going to break out for some serious yardage at some point this game. Brady hit Edelman for a gorgeous toe-drag of a catch for a 10-yard gain and another first down and into Jets territory. A quick slant tipped at the line of scrimmage still found its way to Josh Gordon to get into field goal range. The Patriots couldn’t capitalize on the field position and settled for a 34-yard field goal and 10-7 lead.

Tom Brady’s thumb on his passing hand is bloodied and in a band-aid, and his good knee is bruised.

McCown hit Enunwa for 41 yards over Jason McCourty to get into Patriots territory, but Stephon Gilmore stepped in front of the next deep target to snag the interception by the goal line and get the ball back to the Patriots at their own 2-yard line. Three hand-offs to Sony Michel couldn’t get a first down, but drained the Jets of their time outs. Ryan Allen punted to the Jets 43-yard line with 51 seconds left in the half.

Jermaine Kearse beat Jonathan Jones for another big conversion and got the Jets in field goal range for a last-second 55-yard attempt. Jason Myers connected to tie the game at 10-apiece with 3 seconds left in the half.

The Patriots offense is moving the ball well, even if they don’t have many points to show for it. Brady is on pace for 360 passing yards and the running backs are averaging 4.1 yards per carry and are on pace for 132 rushing yards. That’s solid production, but penalties are gutting the offense. If the offense can avoid penalties in the second half, they should be able to score much more easily.

The defense has been mediocre. They have one three-and-out, thanks to a pair of false starts against the Jets, and they were undeniably better in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. It would appear that the Patriots are challenging the Jets to throw the ball, with Jets running backs gaining 13 yards on 6 carries. McCown had 179 passing yards on 68.2% completion rate. There is little pressure generated on McCown and it makes it extremely difficult on the Patriots secondary.

It’s looking like another slog in the Meadowlands. The Patriots get the ball after the half.

Q3

The Patriots received the kickoff to start the second half and Sony Michel picked up 31 yards to start the drive before the offense settled into a methodical drive to the goal line. No other play gained double-digit yardage all drive. Michel left the game with a back injury after getting sandwiched by a pair of Jets defenders and Cordarelle Patterson converted a fourth-and-1 attempt to set the Patriots up for a first-and-goal situation. Brady threw three straight incomplete passes as the goal-to-go woes of the offense continue and the offense settled for a field goal and a 13-10 lead.

Hopefully Michel will be able to return because he’s been the bright spot of the Patriots so far, with 104 yards from scrimmage.

The Jets responded with a slow, methodical drive of their own that stalled at the red zone. New York converted a pair of third downs and received a gift first down after a defensive holding call against Gilmore. The Jets settled for a 38-yard field goal to tie the game at 13-13.

That’s a great drive to get in front. Brady found Hogan for 27 yards, James White scampered for 27 yards, and then Brady found Julian Edelman for a 21-yard touchdown pass and a 20-13 lead. Edelman had to split four or five Jets defenders, but he lowered his shoulder for the final five yards to score.

A 21-yard gain by Jets rookie tight end Chris Herndon set New York up at midfield to end the third quarter.

Q4

McCown threw an incomplete pass on first down and Deatrich Wise recorded a huge third down sack to get the ball back to Brady and the offense.

And Sony Michel is back! Michel gained 33 yards on the first play, Brady found Josh Gordon for 17 yards and then Edelman to get to the goal line. Michel plunged over the goal line on the 10th play of the drive for a 1-yard score to extend the lead to 27-13.

Michel has 143 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. Edelman, Gronkowski, Gordon, and White all have more than 50 yards from scrimmage and Chris Hogan has 47. This is the complete offense we’ve been waiting for and the goal-to-go touchdowns will follow. The Patriots have scored 17 points over their first three drives in the second half.

And good offensive football leads to good defensive football as the Jets have to throw the ball and the secondary held and forced another three-and-out. Unfortunately, the Patriots offense went three-and-out, too.

The Jets led a long, time-consuming drive to the goal line, but the defense held on a goal line stand and forced a turnover on downs to hold on to the 27-13 victory.

Sony Michel finished with 145 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, while James White added 78 yards from scrimmage of his own. Edelman gained 84 yards and a touchdown, Gordon picked up 70 yards, Gronkowski collected 56 yards and a touchdown, and Hogan rounded out the starters with 47 yards on 2 receptions.

The Patriots offense took care of business, while their defense did enough to win, too. Jets running backs combined for 49 yards on 12 carries (4.1 yards per carry) as New York opted to throw the ball for much of the game.

New England is now 8-3 and further solidified command of the AFC East. Hopefully they’ll be able to take back second place in the AFC by the end of the day. We’re on to the Minnesota Vikings in week 13.

Postgame show