For much of Monday night, it looked like Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson would be one of the goats of a loss to the NFL’s only winless team.
Breshad Perriman beat Jackson for a pair of touchdown catches and the second put the Jets up 27-17 with 30 seconds to play in the third quarter. The Patriots would close within a touchdown after a long drive and the Jets tried to go deep on Jackson again on their next offensive snap.
This attempt didn’t turn out quite as well. Jackson picked off Joe Flacco’s deep shot for Denzel Mims and the Patriots capitalized with a game-tying touchdown drive. The defense then forced a quick punt and the Patriots won the game on a Nick Folk field goal as time expired, which enabled Jackson to be able to focus on the finish rather than the first three quarters of action.
“I had some ups and downs, man, but it’s always about how you finish the game,” Jackson said, via NESN.com. “I mean, they’re going to make some plays. It’s just all about how you finish. It’s all about finishing, and we finished the right way tonight.”
Head coach Bill Belichick said the late plays by the defense “kind of salvaged” things, but his overall message after the game was that Jackson and company have to be a lot better in the weeks to come.