Jets snapping 15-game Patriots skid could send Bill Belichick off with a loss
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While the Jets don’t have the playoffs to shoot for in their final game this week, they do at least face their division rival in the Patriots, a team they have not beaten since 2015.
The Patriots have beaten the Jets 15 straight times.
There is no one on the Jets’ roster or on the coaching staff that was part of the team the last time the Jets beat New England.
You have to go back even further to find the last time the Jets won a game in Foxborough.
That would be January of 2011 when the Jets beat the Patriots in the playoffs.
It’s been a while, and the players know it.
“This week especially is a big game because we play the Patriots,” linebacker Quincy Williams said. “The goal is breaking the losing streak, honestly. With it being the last game, most people already have their mindset on their vacation and stuff. It’s not that way in the locker room.”
Williams said the players are not discussing the losing streak against the Patriots, but it is something they are all aware of.
If they are not, they will be once reporters ask them questions about it all week.
“It’s not something that’s verbally talked about,” Williams said. “It might be in some side conversations. It’s in the back of everyone’s heads for sure, just because of the rivalry with the team.”
It has not been much of a rivalry in recent years.
Even with Tom Brady gone, the Patriots have dominated the series.
Some believe this could be Bill Belichick’s final game as Patriots coach, which adds another layer of intrigue to the game.
Is there any way Belichick could lose to the Jets, a team he has tormented since resigning as HC of the NYJ in 2000?
Could the Jets send Belichick off with a loss?
Quinnen Williams said he does not care about the losing streak to the Patriots.
He is just motivated by winning a football game.
The Jets are 6-10 entering this game and have lost seven of their last nine games.
“I like to win,” Williams said. “I want to win football games. If it’s a preseason game, if it’s checkers, if it’s the last game of the season or the Super Bowl, I want to win. That’s just the ultimate competitor that I am.”
The Jets will enter the offseason after this game and hopes will again be high in 2024.
This will be an unusual offseason for the Jets because there should not be much turnover.
Owner Woody Johnson has already said general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh will be back for the 2024 season.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is expected to return after tearing his left Achilles tendon in the first series of the 2023 season.
The Jets will need to add some pieces but it is a rare year when there are not questions about the GM, coach or quarterback.
“This was kind of like a slump year for us because we had high expectations and we’ve been on a roller coaster this whole season,” Quincy Williams said. “There are still silver linings that we see in practice and throughout the week. Just looking forward to the next season and knowing we’re going into this offseason and we have a smaller list of things to work on to be that Super Bowl-type team or be that playoff-type team. I’d say this year has been a year of progress. It’s going in the right direction.”
Williams said that fans sometimes ask him about how the season has gone and he tells them, “Just hold on, bro. We’re getting close, really.”
Williams believes the Jets have a short list of improvements to make this offseason.
“We’re not really that far off,” he said. “Right now, it’s kind of shaky and all. I know for a fact and we trust and believe it’s getting better.”
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