3 winners and 3 losers from the Patriots' dramatic win over the Jets

The dominoes were aligned on Sunday for the Patriots to leave Gillette Stadium with another devastating loss. The biggest one was Drake Maye leaving in the second quarter with a concussion. Receivers were dropping passes left and right.

But Jacoby Brissett and Rhamondre Stevenson were ultimately cast into the roles of heroes. Brissett engineered a 70-yard, game-winning drive that was capped with a 1-yard touchdown run from Stevenson, giving the Patriots a thrilling 25-22 win over the hated Jets.

Those two guys were big-time winners from this thriller, ending the Patriots' six-game losing streak and eight-game losing skid at home.

Here are my three winners and three losers from this one.

3 winners from the Patriots' Week 8 victory

QB Jacoby Brissett

Need we say more here? Brissett was thrust back into the lineup after Maye left the game in the second quarter, completed 15 of 24 passes, didn't turn the ball over, and was only sacked once. On the game-winning drive, Brissett converted two 3rd-and-longs, one coming on a 14-yard scramble and the other on a 34-yard strike to Kayshon Boutte.

Brissett also managed the clock perfectly on the game-winning drive, forcing the Jets to use all their timeouts and not giving Aaron Rodgers any time. If Maye is healthy, the quarterback job will be his, but Brissett showed why he's a capable No. 2.

RB Rhamondre Stevenson

After being a ghost in his return from a foot injury last week against the Jaguars, Stevenson came up huge in the red zone on the final drive. Although his numbers won't pop out at you - 20 carries for 48 yards - he finished with two touchdowns and a crucial two-point conversion reception after the winning touchdown.

Stevenson needs to be effective if the Patriots are going to keep the pressure off Maye.

CB Marcus Jones

The do-it-all defensive back jumpstarted the Patriots in the second half with a 62-yard punt return after the New England defense forced a 3-and-out on the first drive of the third quarter. Stevenson would cap that drive with a 3-yard TD run.

While Jones had an up-and-down day covering Garrett Wilson, he has the ability to flip the field, and he did so at a crucial time in the game.

3 losers from the Patriots Week 8 victory

The officials

Yes, we all know how undisciplined this Patriots team is. But boy, the officiating was downright horrendous in this game. The two pass interference calls on the Jets' first scoring drive were ticky-tack at best. The hit to Maye's head that lead to him leaving the game?

It likely would have drawn a flag if that were Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes. This game had no flow to it, and the NFL is clearly not letting guys play.

The entire wide receiver room

Drops, drops, and more drops. This group talks a lot yet does not execute on Sundays. The wide receiver room is a mess at this point in the season. Maye is getting zero help, which invokes memories of the early days of Michael Jordan's career when he did everything on his own.

Tyquan Thornton let a pass go right to the turf in the first quarter, hitting him right in the chest. He's playing his way out of Foxborough, and that's probably not a bad thing. Boutte did make two clutch catches on the game-winning drive.

The coaches at the end of the first half

Whatever happened to being aggressive at the end of a half and trying to score? The Patriots deserved every boo from the Gillette crowd for basically running out the first-half clock even though they had the ball on their own 20-yard line, two timeouts and more than a minute.

The Jets were out of timeouts, so you might as well try to get some points there. The coaching staff called the players soft after the loss to Jacksonville, but Jerod Mayo and company are just as soft for not even trying to score before the half.

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