The Jets had their best start of the season on Thursday night, but their two-game winning streak came to an end as the New England Patriots took control to win their eighth game in a row.

Both teams possessed the ball just once in the first quarter, as the Jets ate up over eight minutes on their first drive, which ended with a Justin Fields keeper. New England’s first possession used up the rest of the period and they tied the score on rookie TreVeyon Henderson’s seven-yard run early in the second quarter.

The game settled into a more familiar pattern from then onwards, as the Jets went three-and-out on their next three possessions while the Patriots marched downfield on their second possession to take a 14-7 lead on another seven-yard Henderson run.

Henderson scored again in the third quarter, this time on a pass from Drake Maye to make it 21-7, but the Jets responded on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Fields to John Metchie III.

New England pushed the lead to 13 on a pair of field goals by Andy Borregales and then the Jets turned the ball over on downs in the red zone with two minutes remaining to end their comeback bid.

Here are some takeaways...

- The Jets threw the ball on their first offensive snap as Fields completed a short pass to Mason Taylor, but the next nine plays were all runs, albeit that a few of those saw Fields scrambling, having initially dropped back to pass. The next pass was an incompletion by wide receiver Isaiah Williams on a gadget play but Fields did complete one more pass on the drive, as he connected with a debuting Adonai Mitchell on a third-down conversion. It was clear they intended to lean on the running game and Fields’ running abilities and this worked initially but was less successful as the game went on.

- Overall, it wasn’t the worst offensive performance in recent memory from New York, which had 245 yards. Fields was held to 116 passing yards but rushed for 67. However, the Patriots’ top-ranked run defense kept Breece Hall in check, holding him to 64 yards from scrimmage.

- Coming off his big four-sack game, Will McDonald IV was not in the starting line-up, although he did rotate in off the bench. He was limited by a quad injury in practice during the week, so presumably this was a factor in that. While he had a disruptive game, McDonald was held without a sack.

- Quincy Williams was back in a starting role and was tied for the team lead with six tackles. He also had a sack negated by a penalty. His benching seems to have lasted just a week. The other line-up change for the Jets was that Qwan’tez Stiggers started on the outside at cornerback with Azareye’h Thomas out with a concussion. This was a departure from what they did to replace the injured Thomas on Sunday, where they instead moved slot cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. to the outside.

- Brownlee’s physical play has given the Jets’ defense a boost since they added him in September, but the downside of that is starting to rear its head. For the second game in a row, Brownlee had multiple penalties, including an unnecessary roughness call that gifted the Patriots 15 yards on their first drive. He now has 11 in eight games this season, including six in the past two.

- Maye got off to a hot start as he completed his first 11 passes before finally throwing an incompletion on third down with 3:31 remaining in the first half. He was impressive all day, showing good poise when pressured. If he can maintain this level of play, New England is a legitimate contender in a wide-open AFC. Maye could even be an MVP candidate.

- The Jets gave Mitchell some opportunities to make plays in his Jets debut, but he didn’t quite seem to be on the same page with Fields on five incompletions. Three of these were dropped. The book on Mitchell has been that he’s talented but lacks consistency and he lived up to that reputation in this game.

- Low snaps were an issue all day for center Josh Myers, and this cost the Jets in the fourth quarter as Fields was unable to scoop one off the turf and New England recovered to set up a field goal. Once again, the Jets were unable to force a turnover of their own.

Game MVP: TreVeyon Henderson

The Jets held the in-form rookie Henderson to 62 yards on 19 carries but couldn’t keep him out of the end zone as his three touchdowns proved decisive. He ended up with 93 yards from scrimmage.XX

Here are some takeaways...

Game MVP: TreVeyon Henderson

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