Patriots-Jets Stock Watch: Stevenson continues concerning streak originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The good news: There were two encouraging developments to take from the New England Patriots’ Week 3 matchup with the New York Jets. The bad news: One of them was the play of their punter.
That’s a reflection of how ugly things got for the Patriots’ offense in their 24-3 loss to New York at MetLife Stadium on Thursday. New England mustered just 139 yards of total offense and lost the possession battle 19:56 to 40:04 in a deflating effort that dropped Jerod Mayo’s club to 1-2.
Who stood out as silver linings in Thursday’s loss, and who deserves blame in defeat? Our Patriots Insiders Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry covered both fronts on a new segment of “Stock Watch” on the Patriots Talk Podcast, in which they highlight players who thrived (Stock Up) and players who fell short of expectations (Stock Down).
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Here are Curran and Perry’s “Stock Up” and “Stock Down” selections for Week 3:
Stock Up
DeMario Douglas, wide receiver
Douglas led all Patriots pass-catchers in targets (nine), receptions (seven) and receiving yards (69) in an encouraging performance after he saw zero targets in Week 2 and caught just two passes for 12 yards in Week 1.
Perry: “This has to be a ‘Stock Up’ because his stock couldn’t go much lower after being essentially kept in mothballs for the first two games of the regular season.
“… To be targeted as many times as he was, to have as many catches as he did, over 60 yards receiving, he is now back in the circle of trust. He’s getting some work with Jacoby Brissett after it looked like (Brissett) only wanted to throw a Hunter Henry in Week 2, so his stock has to be up.”
Bryce Baringer, punter
Baringer punted five times for 249 total yards (with a long of 57 yards) and pinned the Jets inside the 20-yard-line on three of those five punts.
Curran: “I’m gonna give you Boom City, Bryce Baringer. Five punts, 49-yard average, 43.6 net (yardage), three inside the 20 (yard line). Bryce Baringer is up in my stock.”
Stock Down
Rhamondre Stevenson, running back
It was a rough night for Stevenson, who rushed for just 23 yards on six carries, committed a 15-yard face mask penalty and lost a fumble in the fourth quarter. Stevenson now has fumbled in four consecutive games dating to the last game he played in 2023 (a Week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers), and although New England recovered two of those fumbles, it’s still a worrying trend.
Perry: “He ends up with a face mask penalty; maybe not his fault necessarily, but that ended up being a killer. And the fumble, he lost a fumble.
“Normally you’d sort of shrug your shoulders (and say) one bad play from arguably your best player, but that’s now three fumbles in three games. It just so happens that the Patriots were able to cover the other two. So, that’s something that he’s got to get cleaned up.”
Christian Gonzalez, cornerback
Gonzalez shadowed Garrett Wilson and kept the Jets’ star wide receiver relatively in check (four catches for 25 yards). But he also allowed a touchdown to Wilson when he tried to jump the wideout’s out route and missed a few tackles. The bar is high for New England’s talented 2023 first-round pick, and he fell short Thursday night.
Curran: “Christian Gonzalez is a brilliant player, going to be a good player in the league for a long time, and I don’t blame him for going for the pick and the pass breakup on the Garrett Wilson short touchdown, because he could have turned that thing into a pick-six. But that was among several plays on which we saw Christian Gonzalez grasping at air.
“He got dusted on a play that turned into an illegal motion penalty on Garrett Wilson, and I just don’t think that Christian Gonzalez had the same level (of) Christian Gonzalez game we’ve seen. He takes the lick as the representative of a secondary that allowed Aaron Rodgers to go 27 for 35 for 281 (yards) and two touchdowns.”
Check out the full “Stock Watch” segment in the video player above.