The New England Patriots were able to pull off a hard-fought last-second win over the New York Jets today by a final score of 25-22. It was a game that they were not expected to win by any stretch.
After what was a very rough week for the Patriots, they were able to come together as a team and pick up a big win. With the win, they improved to 2-6 on the season.
A lot of the drama that surrounded the team was due to comments made by head coach Jerod Mayo after last week’s loss. He called the team “soft,” which did not go over well with former players and legendary coach Bill Belichick.
Despite all of the negative outside noise, New England did not allow themselves to pull apart from each other.
Following today’s win, Mayo spoke out with a much more positive quote. Dakota Randall of Pro Football Network shared what Mayo had to say in the post-game press conference.
“Really proud of the guys. There was a lot of noise, a lot of chatter. … I thought the energy was better,” Mayo said.
Unfortunately, the Patriots did suffer a very concerning injury. Drake Maye, the team’s rookie quarterback, went down with a head injury and didn’t return to the game.
Hopefully, Maye will not be forced to miss time due to the injury.
New England is not going to be a contender this season, but wins are still very important for the development process. Wins like this can be huge for morale and to keep young players developing.
Mayo also needed to pick up a win to get some of the criticism and outside noise off of his shoulders. There were even some speculating that his job status could be in jeopardy.
It will be interesting to see how the next week goes for the Patriots in practice and how they come out next week on the road against the Tennessee Titans. They will have a strong chance to win two straight games in Week 9.