FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – What matters in a game like this?
Is it more important to win the game, or treat it like the preseason, to allow players on the lower end of the depth chart to showcase themselves for a chance to return next year?
When two teams that are out of playoff contention face one another in a season-ending meeting, does the final record, with its draft seeding implications, come into play?
The visiting New York Jets came to Foxborough riding a two-game winning streak; the host Patriots, a run of three straight losses. How would they approach this final game at the start of a new calendar year?
Before they kicked off, safety and co-captain Devin McCourty delivered to his teammates an impassioned motivational speech, parts of which he shared with reporters afterward.
"Everywhere you looked this week, [people were saying] the game didn't matter, it was meaningless. I just told guys to think about their journey," McCourty recalled. "To have an opportunity to play here, last game of the year, you know you're not going to the playoffs, but at some point in your journey, you've been doubted… if someone gave you this opportunity, we'd all take it and give it everything we got. I told guys to think about that today. If someone told you this was your last-ever game, what would you do? I was proud of the way guys responded."
"How can you say the game doesn't matter?" cornerback J.C. Jackson would ask reporters rhetorically during his post-game remarks. "I don't get that. I don't understand how people say that. It's another game you get to go out and compete with your brothers, your teammates, and just have fun. That's what the game is all about – competing, having fun, enjoying the moment. So, it mattered to me and my teammates."
That's exactly how it looked on the game's opening drive. After a couple of hiccups in the form of penalties and a botched shotgun snap, New England eventually marched 84 yards in seven plays, much of them on a 49-yard run by Cam Newton on a QB keeper (the longest run ever by a Patriots quarterback, incidentally). Newton then finished things off with a short TD pass to RB James White. Kicker Nick Folk's ensuing extra point gave the Patriots a quick 7-0 lead.
Despite losing safety Adrian Phillips to a hip injury during the Jets' first drive, New England's defense came up with a stop and made New York punt it back to the Patriots. However, they could do nothing with the ball on that drive or for the remainder of the half.
Indeed, the first two quarters felt very much like a preseason game, full of punts, penalties, and personnel packages aplenty. If there was a standout first-half performer, it was edge rusher Chase Winovich, who batted down a Sam Darnold pass on 3rd down to force a Jets punt and registered a pair of sacks.
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January 04, 2021 at 05:31AM
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New Year's Celebration: Patriots outlast Jets in season finale - Patriots.com
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