2008 NFL Football Season: Week 11, Patriots Miscues Lead to Loss Against Jets

For much of this game both offenses pretty much moved the ball at will against the opposing team’s defense (third quarter excepted). The key difference in the game was superior special teams play on kickoff returns by the Jets, poor red zone offense by the Patriots, and three miscues on offense by the Patriots in the third quarter that cost them scoring opportunities.

Even though the Patriots got down 24-6 late in the first half, they didn’t lay down and made a real game of it. But in the end, the Patriots, as they did against the Colts, lost a game they could have, and should have won. It is very unusual to see the Patriots beat themselves. For Patriots fans used to better, it’s also disheartening.

The first half of the game was a disaster defensively for the Patriots. The Jets scored on every single drive they started: two touchdowns, a field goal, and a kickoff return for a touchdown. Meanwhile the Patriots were in the red zone twice and traded field goals for touchdowns with the Jets until a nice last minute drive to close the half with a touchdown to close the gap 24-13.

Matt Cassel seems to have a lot of trouble in the red zone, and in fact has the lowest percentage in the NFL for red zone touchdown passes. He threw a terrible pass to Randy Moss in the end zone that forced us to settle for three instead of six. Cassel had a decent first half but he was often inaccurate with his throws toward the sideline.

The third quarter was one of the most frustrating quarters of football I have watched. The Patriots defense finally stepped up and stopped the Jets and the offense was moving the ball well. But miscues by the Patriots offense turned a quarter that could have been a sterling come back into an embarrassing and uncharacteristic series of mistakes.

First, during a nice drive Ben Watson fumbled the ball and he wasn’t even hit! Missed scoring opportunity. On the next drive Dan Koppen snaps the ball in shotgun formation when Cassel wasn’t ready resulting in a 23-yard loss and eventual punt. Missed scoring opportunity. Then, on another nice drive, on third and short, Jabbar Gaffney (maybe he should shorten his name to just GAFF), drops a nicely thrown pass that would have resulted in a first down. Missed scoring opportunity.

There are a lot of reasons the Jets won the game, but those three plays really cost us a good chance to pull out a win. We finally scored a touchdown late in the third quarter and a two point conversion turned it into a 24-21 Jets lead. Game on!

The fourth quarter reverted back to pretty much what the first half looked like. The Patriots were able to tie the game at 24-24, but lousy kickoff coverage on a short kick gave the Jets good field position and the defense once again let the Jets march down the field on a long scoring drive that ate up the clock and left us in a 31-24 hole.

And what do we do on our possession? End up taking a sack and having to the punt the ball. But miracles of miracles we stopped the Jets and Matt Cassel lead a desperation drive with no timeouts with less than two minutes to go which resulted in an amazing touchdown catch by Randy Moss. After the extra point the game was tied 31-31. OVERTIME.

I knew going into overtime that whoever won the coin toss would win the game barring a turnover. So it was a 50-50 chance. Too bad. The Jets got the toss, ran the ball down our throats, and won on a short field goal.