The defense for the New York Jets did just about everything they could to help the team finally defeat the New England Patriots and take over first place in the AFC East. Until the final play, the Jets had held the Patriots to just three points, helped by two missed field goals by Nick Folk.
The defense sacked Patriots quarterback Mac Jones six times for the second time this season and it seemed like the Jets were going to steal one in Foxborough.
Then Marcus Jones broke the hearts of Jets’ fans everywhere with his 84-yard touchdown return to win the game, 10-3. Needless to say, the defense was deflated after the game.
Here’s what some of the defensive players had to say after the game.
“We had a great game plan,” said John Franklin-Myers on the play of the defense. “Obviously it wasn’t good enough. I think Coach did a good job of putting us in the correct position. We have to capitalize more. They got a couple out on us, we have to go correct that, but overall I think we did well. It’s a mindset. You go out every game expecting to shut them out. It’s just another game, another opportunity, to do that. The Patriots have some great players, some great running backs who break a lot of tackles. We understood that. We understood we had to get people to the ball and I think we did a good job of that.”
“It goes back to Coach putting us in good positions, understanding how to rush with each other, play off one another,” Franklin-Myers added regarding the six sacks. “The game plan was great. I can’t really say too many bad things about what we are doing as far as pass rush. We expect to win every one-on-one.”
“It hurts watching something like that,” Franklin-Myers said about the punt return. “You don’t want to see anything like that. You just want a blade of grass to defend, and we didn’t get that. We could have done better throughout the game and maybe that wouldn’t have happened. Hindsight is 20/20 and we have to go back and learn from that.”
Bryce Huff, who was also part of the sack party, said, “We did what we do. Stopping the run and earning the right to get to the quarterback. We came in and executed. Going out there not giving anything, making the plays you are supposed to make and capitalizing on the opportunities. We go out there every day and give full effort. We did the things that we practice every day. All of us come out and it’s a product of all of us working together and building together. That was just the result of our work.”
C.J. Mosley, who led the team with nine tackles Sunday, said, ““That’s just our mentality every time, it doesn’t matter the opponent. When you have defensive linemen like we have here, and everybody trusting each other, we get excited every time we step out on the field. Any time we get the moment we make the best of it.”
Mosley added: “It was a tough loss, that’s for sure. But it’s not the end of the world. We have a chance to go out there next week, and try to put our best foot forward and be great as a team. So that’s what we’re looking forward too.”
“We were doing our best to not let the other team score and just taking it play-by-play, communicating and trusting what we see out there,” said D.J. Reed, who had six tackles and nearly recovered a fumble. “We were really confident. That is one of toughest games I’ve played in as far as how the outcome went. We are going to stick together. We have got to watch the film and get better. Me, myself, I have to watch the film and get better. I gave up about four catches. They were tight windows, but four catches. Short yardage but I have to look at the film and grow from there. It was the game we wanted. We were smiling, we were happy. The defense thought it was going to overtime. We were ready to go to see what would happen from there.”