Depleted Patriots defense eliminated ‘cute (expletive)’ to bounce back in win

FOXBORO — The Patriots’ 25-22 win over the Jets was even more impressive when you consider all of the variables their defense had to overcome.

Like defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale missing Sunday’s game after suffering an abdomen injury during Thursday’s practice. Or safety Kyle Dugger being inactive after getting designated as questionable Saturday with his ankle injury. Or cornerback Jonathan Jones missing Friday’s practice with a personal issue and playing just half of the defensive snaps. Or Joshua Uche being a healthy scratch amid trade rumors.

That thrust defensive tackles Jeremiah Pharms Jr., who was a healthy scratch a week ago, and Jaquelin Roy, who was signed to the active roster earlier this month, into key roles, each playing over 30 snaps. It forced Marte Mapu into Dugger’s role as the defensive communicator, brought Dell Pettus and Jaylinn Hawkins off the bench and moved Jones into a role at safety. It moved Marcus Jones from the slot to outside, where he had the unenviable task of trying to slow down Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson, and it pushed Marco Wilson into an increased role. And Anfernee Jennings played a season-high 59 snaps while going nearly wire-to-wire in Uche’s absence.

So, excuse the defense, which is also missing linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley, safety Jabrill Peppers and defensive tackle Christian Barmore, if it didn’t look perfect. But it was good enough to win.

“J. Jones. We talk about versatility in our personnel. He knows every single spot, every single location,” head coach Jerod Mayo gushed Sunday. “I thought Marte did a good job as far as controlling the huddle, communicating overall. Those guys played well.

“Again, to go back to the next man up, not to sound cliché or redundant, that’s the mentality we have to have if we want to build what we want to build.”

Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was 17-of-28 for 233 yards with two touchdowns, and Wilson had a big game against Marcus Jones, catching five passes on eight targets for 113 yards.

But Jones came up big when it mattered, stopping wide receiver Mike Williams on a two-point attempt to prevent the Jets from going up 24-17 with less than three minutes left in the game. He also broke up a pass from Rodgers to Wilson as the Jets attempted one last comeback down 25-22 with 21 seconds left in the game.

“Garrett, great player. Rodgers, Hall of Fame player. It’s one of those situations where I didn’t play the best game, of course, but it was just one of those situations to where I was taking it one play at a time and definitely made a play at the end of the game that helped out. Just happy to get the W.”

That was cornerback Christian Gonzalez’s response, as well, when asked how he felt he performed in a tough matchup against Jets wide receiver Davante Adams.

“We won,” Gonzalez said. “We won.”

Head coach Jerod Mayo said before the game on 98.5 The Sports Hub that he challenged Gonzalez after a tough two-game stretch. Gonzalez responded well, allowing just one 17-yard catch on three targets with a pass breakup and ticky-tack defensive pass interference penalty.

Mayo called his team “soft” after last week’s loss to the Jaguars in London before walking back the comments and saying they only “played soft.” But one of the reasons why Mayo called the team out was for their run defense. On Sunday, the Patriots’ defensive front wasn’t perfect, but they allowed the Jets to run for just 4 yards per carry with 28 attempts for 112 yards.

Defensive tackle Davon Godchaux said it was a matter of eliminating “cute (expletive)” from their Week 3 loss to the Jets and going back to basics.

“Just knock-back football, play our assignment, not a lot of calls, do what you do and stop the run,” Godchaux said. “I know they got over 100 yards today but I thought it was a pretty good job in the run game.”

Godchaux expanded on the cute (expletive), “Just trying to be fancy. A lot of times I was out there at five-technique. … Just really just getting back to the basics, not trying to get a lot of guys a lot of calls to think about, simple (expletive), over, stack, king, (expletive) that we’ve been running for years and been a successful defense.”

Godchaux said run defense is “all about a mindset.”

“Once you got a mindset you’re gonna knock a (expletive) back and not let him drive you off the ball — I mean, double-team, sometimes they’re gonna win, they get paid too — but once you got a mindset that you’re gonna be disruptive and knock a guy back, shed blocks, it’s all in the mind. There’s not really much techniques you can do for that.”

As for all of the changes in the secondary, Mapu downplayed them because of how Patriots cornerback and safeties already prepare.

“They always want guys to prepare as if somebody’s going to be out, especially if it’s something that’s nagging,” Mapu said. “So, the expectation is for us to be ready whether it’s somebody who hasn’t been playing a lot that might be the fourth safety.”

Mapu also said the Patriots succeeded Sunday by going back to basics against the Jets.

After the Patriots let up 41 points in a Week 6 loss to the Texans and 32 points to the Jaguars in Week 7, their performance against the Jets was enough to get back in the win column. And that’s all that mattered for a team that had lost six straight.