N.Y. Jets: Grounded in New England

From the desk: WALT MICHAELS' REVENGE

WEEK SEVEN

Jets              13

PATRIOTS   54

FINAL

Gridiron Grasshopper vs. Sensei

The Jets are the youngest team in the NFL.  If you're a rebuilding team, football is about improvement. 

Positional competition fosters team competency.  Weekly opponents are your measure of progress, and so forth.

TWO GAMES:

• JETS - rookie head coach Robert Saleh, rookie staff, a rookie quarterback, and a young team. 
• PATRIOTS - grizzled old NFL senior citizen Bill Belichick and his accomplished staff, and his rookie quarterback and his young rebuilding team.

With their mission statement in hand, the Jets effectively doubled their offensive output against the Patriots.  The Jets were limited to six points in week two.  On Sunday, they scored 13 points.  So, there's that.

Defensively, the Jets in week two allotted the Patriots 25 points.  This time, coming off a bye week, they allowed the Patriots 54 points.

This game was somewhat more calamitous than the first because the Jets lost their rookie quarterback to a knee injury for a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, New England's rookie quarterback was 24/36 for 307 yards and two touchdown passes.

New England's backfield rushed 23 times for 127 yards and four touchdowns.  Three different Patriots caught touchdown passes.  The Jets had three turnovers with none by the Pats.

On Sunday, New England amassed 551 yards on offense.  It's taken the Jets two games against the Patriots to amass 559 yards.

After two meetings against the (no Tom Brady) New England Patriots, the question now begs to be asked: what the hell are the Jets doing?