New England Patriots 4 Downs Review: Week 7 @ New York Jets

1st Down: Patriots shorthanded on offense

The New England Patriots took the field last night against the New York Jets without a full arsenal of weapons on offense. Josh Gordon, Ryan Izzo, Matt LaCosse and Rex Burkhead were all inactive. That meant the entire offense had to show up and play for a full 60 minutes; they did just that thanks to Sony Michel, Julian Edelman, Jakobi Meyers, Ben Watson, and James White.

During their post-game press conferences shared on the Patriots’ team website, head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady addressed being shorthanded on offense and the contributions from the players. Here’s what Belichick said of his team:

"“Our players played well. All of them. They played well on offense, defense, special teams. Made some big plays and had a lot of good, solid plays. It takes everybody doing the job.”"

Brady singled out the performance of Meyers individually, praising the undrafted rookie and former college quarterback:

"“He’s done a great job taking advantage of his opportunity. I’ll keep throwing it to him. He does a good job of getting open. I’ll just keep trying to go to the open guy.”"

Michel finished the game with 42 rushing yards and three touchdowns. White (who we’ll address more later) and Edelman finished with seven receptions apiece, with White turning his catches into 59 yards and Edelman going for 47 with his. Meyers caught five passes from Brady for 47 yards, Phillip Dorsett returned to the field and had a touchdown reception, and Watson’s first game back he caught three passes for 18 yards playing as the Patriots’ TE1.

Despite missing some pieces on offense, other players stepped up and contributed, so New England aced this test with flying colors.