Well…that was easy.
The New England Patriots are once again kings of the AFC East after a brutal five-year hiatus. That there are currently kindergartners on Christmas break who have never known a world in which New England didn’t own the AFC East is something I never want to see again in my lifetime. Glad that long nightmare is over.
Courtesy of an absolute beatdown of the Jets and a Bills loss to the Eagles on a controversial two-point attempt, New England will be hosting at least one playoff game at Gillette Stadium. As Ralphie Parker put it so eloquently for 24 straight hours earlier this week, all is right with the world.
- First up, respect to the New York Jets. They saw the calendar and knew that it’s the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Folks are either off work completely or sitting at their job doing absolutely nothing for the next few days as they completely mail it in for 2025. Clearly, the Jets felt that they should do the same. Sure, the league can make them come in to work, but it can’t make them try.
- I honestly think that if there wouldn’t be any kind of repercussions for it, Aaron Glenn would have snuck over to the New England locker room at halftime and asked Mike Vrabel how he felt about each team just kneeling on it three times and punting until the game was over. The Patriots had this one in the bag from the opening kickoff and the final score doesn’t even come close to reflecting how lopsided this one was.
- Other than a 59-yard TD run by Breece Hall, if the Jets ran a single meaningful offensive play, I certainly don’t remember it. They only had 21 offensive snaps in the first half, and by the time both teams headed out for the start of the 3rd quarter it was 35-3. This was such an absurd beatdown that I’m honestly having trouble figuring out what I should be highlighting.
- I guess in situations like these, you adopt Occam’s Razor. The simplest answer is usually the correct one. So let’s talk about that 19 of 21, five-touchdown day from Drake Maye. I’m trying to think back through the annals of Patriots football, through all of the beatdowns that this team put on other NFL franchises, where the win seemed as effortless as this one. A few games immediately come to mind—the 59-0 Titans game in 2009, the 53-21 Bears game in 2014, the 45-3 MNF Jets game in 2011, even the Buttfumble game— but even those games felt like there were some tough moments that the Patriots had to work through. The point I’m trying to make is that everything looks so incredibly effortless for Drake Maye, no matter what the down and distance is or who is across from him, and I don’t know if I’ve ever witnessed something like that as a Patriots fan.
- Just to...
Pats Pulpit
