A week after getting obliterated by Andy Dalton, the Jets battered and flustered Drew Brees.
Go figure.
While the Saints’ star quarterback doesn’t always play as well on the road as he does in the cozy Superdome in New Orleans, that didn’t make Brees’ struggles Sunday or the resulting 26-20 loss to the Jets any less of a head-scratcher.
A relentless Jets pass rush, creative coverages from Rex Ryan and the swirling wind at MetLife Stadium combined to take their toll on Brees, who a week after throwing five TD passes in a home win over the Bills was rendered ordinary after a red-hot start.
Brees completed 30-of-51 passes for 382 yards and two scores (both to matchup nightmare Jimmy Graham), but the bulk of that production came in the game’s first 20 minutes, and he ended up tying his season-high with two interceptions.
Once the Jets’ secondary got its bearings against New Orleans’ spread passing attack and their front seven turned up the heat, Brees and the Saints were left mostly to spin their wheels en route to falling to 6-2.
“There were times we may have shot ourselves in the foot a little bit, but credit to [the Jets],” said Brees, who was sacked just twice but harried all day. “They got a lot of pressure and kind of got us off our rhythm.”
It wasn’t entirely a surprise Brees could be made to look human in a game played in the elements, considering he began the day with a 126.1 career passer rating at home but a mere 87.1 rating on the road.
Even so, it still had the look of a long day for the Jets after they were torched for five TD passes by Dalton in a 49-9 loss to the Bengals the week before and Brees got off to a fast start Sunday.
Brees sizzled at the outset despite the 48-degree weather, connecting on 12 of his first 18 passes for 148 yards. And by early in the second quarter, he had thrown two TDs — both to Graham, who finished with nine catches for 116 yards — and the Saints were up 14-6.
But a sideline interception by Antonio Cromartie just before halftime that enabled the Jets to take a 20-14 lead into the break shifted the momentum and began Brees’ downhill run.
“That was a real critical turnover,” Brees said of Cromartie’s play. “We were on our way to go down in a two-minute situation and hopefully get a field goal or more, and instead that flips around and they get a touchdown. That was a huge play.”
Brees wasn’t helped by crucial injuries, nine penalties and some wacky play-calling by Payton, either.
Not only did the Saints lose big-play running back Darren Sproles in the first half to a concussion, but Payton also hurt his team with a bizarre decision midway through the fourth quarter to try an end-around to a backup tight end on fourth-and-1 from the Jets’ 36.
Quinton Coples stuffed that play for an 8-yard loss, keeping a 26-17 lead in place at the time and seeming to take a lot of what little fight was left in Brees and the Saints.
“My hats off to them,” Brees said of the Jets. “They played very, very well on both sides of the ball, but especially on defense.”