The Patriots defense deserves credit for better rush containment and timely play calls. For example, the Pats called a cover-seven style scheme on a third down in the red zone – a four-point play. In the scheme, the Pats bracketed New York’s top wideouts, Garrett Wilson (Joneses) and Davante Adams (M. Wilson+Hawkins), with top CB Christian Gonzalez on an island vs. Jets WR Mike Williams. The coverage forced Rodgers to hold the ball, and eventually, LB Christian Elliss closed for a big fourth-quarter sack.

Although there was some good defense, there were some interesting quotes coming out of the Patriots locker room about the 40-year-old quarterback. Rodgers came into this game banged up with a hamstring injury that landed him on the injury report, so his lack of mobility could’ve been because of that. Still, here is Davon Godchaux:

“He definitely doesn’t look the same. He can’t move back there. I could run him down and catch him. He doesn’t look mobile at all. It was good for us,” Godchaux said. “I think he’s struggling right now. Just a Hall of Fame quarterback like that, you hate to see him go out that way.”

The Patriots don’t play the Jets again this season, so maybe that’s why they took some shots at Rodger, who, to be fair, still generated +0.27 expected points added per play with 233 yards and two touchdowns. New England earned some bragging rights, but it wasn’t like they completely shut Rodgers down.

5. Patriots Run Defense Improves But Still Work to be Done

Another talking point from the post-game locker room was that the Patriots run defense made some marginal improvements, holding the Jets to 112 yards on 28 attempts (4.0 average).

The Jets still had 11 successful runs to four run stuffs, and Jets lead-back Breece Hall had a 16-yard run and an 11-yard run but didn’t hit on any monster plays. The Pats allowed over 185 rushing yards in the previous three games, so this was a step in the right direction.

“Just stop all the cute [expletive] and get back to the basics,” Godchaux told reporters. “Just knockback football, play our assignment, not a lot of calls. Just do what we do and stop the run. I know they got over 100 yards today, but I thought it was a pretty good job in the run game.”

Earlier this week, Godchaux told Patriots.com that the Patriots were going to get the run defense sorted out, so what gave the Pats nose tackle confidence that they’d figure it out?

“The run defense is all about the mindset. Once you got the mindset, you’re going to knock a [expletive] back and you’re not going to let them drive you off the ball. I mean, the double teams, sometimes they’re going to win. They get paid, too. But if you have the mindset that you’re going to be disruptive, knock a guy back, shed blocks; it’s all in the mind.”

Although he acknowledged some game-planned runs hurt them, the Patriots showed some pride in stopping the run in Sunday’s win.

6. CB Christian Gonzalez Shadows Jets WR Davante Adams, M. Jones on Wilson

With the Patriots playing 14 drop-backs in man coverage, the matchups were Gonzalez shadowing Adams and Marcus Jones on Garett Wilson. Although he got beat away from the ball on a few occasions, Gonzalez mostly shut down Adams. On 23 routes vs. the Jets wideout, Adams only had one catch for 16 yards. Jones, on the other hand, struggled in his 22 routes against Wilson, allowing five catches for 113 yards on eight targets. Wilson caught two fades, a crosser, and a corner route on Jones for explosives. Wilson is an excellent receiver, and Jones made up for it with his 62-yard return, but the Jets WR had his number on Sunday.

7. Evaluating Backup QB Jacoby Brissett’s Performance vs. Jets

Moving over to the offense one last time, my initial review of Brissett’s performance was that this was his typical brand of game-managing football. Brissett didn’t make any “wow” throws until hitting Boutte on the game-winning drive, and had a few “minus” plays where he took an unnecessary sack and threw short of the sticks on third down.

Ultimately, a big-time throw with the game on the line and zero turnover-worthy plays will do for a backup quarterback thrust into action. The hope is that Maye will be back sooner rather than later. Still, Brissett did his part and came through in the clutch. Kudos to him for staying ready and playing well in the big moments. He has been a pro’s pro this season.

8. Give-and-Take for the Patriots Special Teams Units

Although it was mostly positive for the Patriots special teams, the punt coverage unit gave up another big return on Sunday (40 yards). Xavier Gipson is one of the top returners in the league. Still, special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said to put it on him if the Pats give up another big return this week after allowing a 96-yard punt return touchdown in London. This is becoming a recurring issue, which is on the coach, per Springer himself. They have to clean that up.