Jets end 15-game losing streak against Patriots in likely finale for Bill Belichick in New England
Jets running back Breece Hall (20) pushes away New England Patriots safety Kyle Dugger on a run during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. Credit: AP/Steven Senne
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It’s over. Finally.
The Jets’ season is over. The 15-game losing streak against the Patriots is over. Maybe Bill Belichick’s time coaching the Patriots is over, too.
It took a heavy, swirling snowstorm for the Jets to snap the longest losing streak against one opponent in the NFL. They beat the Patriots, 17-3, on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.
It was a glorious day for the organization and the players to cap a very disappointing and unsatisfying season.
“I think it meant a lot to everybody,” tight end Tyler Conklin said. “Next year, you don’t got to go around hearing about that [expletive]. At the end of the day, it is going to weigh on you. You’re going to go into the game, you got to hear about it again. Now we don’t have to do that.
“It feels really good. And the fact that it’s probably Bill’s last game I guess makes it a little better.”
The Jets finished 7-10 for the second straight year and failed to make the playoffs for the 13th consecutive season.
Breece Hall was a workhorse in the snow, setting career highs with 37 rushes for 178 yards. He broke free for a 50-yard touchdown with 1:47 left to put the game away and celebrated with his teammates by doing snow angels. He also ran in the two-point conversion.
“We knew we could get outside and Nick Bawden got a great block on the corner and pancaked him,” Hall said. “Once I saw the lane, I knew I was going to score. The celebration, we said as soon as we score, we’re going to do snow angels. I dove on the ground and everybody started doing it.”
Trevor Siemian completed 8 of 20 passes for 70 yards. Garrett Wilson had two receptions for 34 yards before exiting in the third quarter with a neck injury. Greg Zuerlein kicked field goals of 21, 40 and 33 yards.
The Jets held the Patriots to 119 total yards of offense in snapping the long skid.
“It feels great,” Sauce Gardner said. “That’s a part of history, if you ask me. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other guys or any other coaches.”
The season started with such hope and optimism for the Jets, especially when Aaron Rodgers ran out on the MetLife Stadium field carrying an American flag on Sept. 11. Not long after that — four offensive snaps into the season — Rodgers crumbled to the turf with a torn Achilles tendon.
The Jets used four different quarterbacks — Rodgers, Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle and Siemian — and 13 different offensive linemen. Their offense underperformed the entire season as the Jets scored a league-low 18 touchdowns.
Normally, the record and all of the issues the Jets had would lead to changes in leadership, especially given that general manager Joe Douglas just finished his fifth season and Robert Saleh his third with the Jets. Their record with Douglas in charge is 27-56; Saleh is 18-33 as a head coach.
But owner Woody Johnson is on record saying everyone will be back, including offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. They all will have one more season to get it right.
Saleh described the season as “frustrating, obviously disappointing,” but also vowed next year will be different.
“Obviously, not where any of us want to be or anyone expected to be at this point this year,” Saleh said. “But we all know what we have. It may seem like we’re really far away to the outside world, but we all know what we have and we all know how close we are.”
This was a field-goal game for most of the day because of the conditions.
Zuerlein connected on a 21-yarder with 2:04 left in the first quarter. New England tied it on Chad Ryland’s 30-yarder in the second quarter. Then Zuerlein gave the Jets the lead with a 40-yard kick with 6:07 left in the second.
It stayed that way until the fourth. After Bailey Zappe threw incomplete on fourth-and-1 from New England’s 45, the Jets took over and drove to the Patriots’ 15. Zuerlein drilled a 33-yarder to make it 9-3 with 8:08 to go in the game.
On their next possession, the Jets had a fourth-and-1 at the Patriots’ 39 and Hall was dropped for a 3-yard loss.
The Jets’ Ashtyn Davis intercepted Zappe at the Jets’ 42, but he fumbled trying to return it and the Patriots recovered. Two plays later, Tony Adams picked off Zappe and immediately fell to the ground at the Jets’ 47. Hall did the rest with his big touchdown run.
“He’s a special player,” Conklin said. “I was just telling him, ‘Hey, I know you move better than they can move in the snow — go win the game for us.’ ”
Hall did.
“Today’s game was about starting 2024 on the right foot, getting a win,” Saleh said. “Hopefully it’s the first of many in 2024.”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
