FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Justin Fields used his legs to give the New York Jets an early lead.
Then he stopped running.
And the Jets stopped moving the ball.
Fields ran five times for 28 yards and a 5-yard score on New York’s opening drive, but he was little help throwing the ball Thursday night in a 27-14 loss to the New England Patriots.
Fields was the team’s leading rusher with 67 yards, but he completed just 15 of 26 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. Most of his success came on the first possession, when he led a 14-play drive for the Jets’ first game-opening touchdown since the end of last season.
“We were getting good plays. Run game was good. O-line was controlling the line of scrimmage, and everybody was doing their job,” Fields said. “So, that first drive, we came out hot and punched it in.”
In the second quarter, though, he didn’t run the ball at all. And the Jets (2-8) went three-and-out three times in a row.
“I felt like if we get a fast start we’ll be in a good position. And Justin ran the ball quite a bit,” coach Aaron Glenn said. “The thing is, we can’t put Justin in a situation where he’s a running back, and I think we all know that, because we will put him in harm’s way.”
But without Fields scrambling, the Jets couldn't do much at all.
After falling behind 7-0, the Patriots (9-2) scored the next 21 points — they also missed a field goal — with Drake Maye leading them to their eighth straight victory.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak that had taken some of the gloom out of a season that began with seven straight losses.
Fields has thrown for fewer than 60 yards in four games this season. After last week's victory over the Browns, when Fields threw for 54 yards but the Jets won thanks to two special teams touchdowns, Glenn would not publicly commit to a starting quarterback.
“There were some good things -- really good things," the coach said Thursday. “I thought he put some balls out there. We got to have some guys that make some plays for him, too.
The Jets have averaged 140 net passing yards in their first 10 games (Fields started nine of them). In the past 14 seasons, only the 2022 Bears, who averaged 128 yards in their first 10 games — with Fields starting all of them — have had fewer.
He is averaging 5.4 yards per carry.
“Whatever I have to do to get this team as successful as can be and for us to reach our highest potential, I’m willing to do whatever. So if that’s me running the ball, that’s what it is.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL
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