How does a defense go from eight sacks to zero in the span of one week? The New York Jets found out the hard way against the New England Patriots, and it might be the most frustrating result of the season.

The Jets came off a dominant outing against the Cleveland Browns, when they sacked Deshaun Watson and company eight times. Then they turned around and failed to record a single sack against the Patriots. That would be tough to swallow in any game. In this one, it’s flat-out ridiculous.

Jets pass rush disappears against a depleted Patriots line

New England lost three starting offensive linemen to injury during the game. Two of them were former Jets in Alijah Vera-Tucker and Morgan Moses, and center Ben Brown went down as well. The Patriots eventually had to go to their eighth offensive lineman. Patriots offensive lineman Matt Pryor said afterward that he had never played in a game where his team got down to its eighth offensive lineman.

And New York still couldn’t get home.

The Jets managed only four quarterback hits all afternoon. Will McDonald IV, Darrell Jackson Jr., David Bailey, and Jamien Sherwood had one apiece. Drake Maye never hit the turf, and he made New York pay for it, throwing for 235 yards and three touchdown passes against the Jets defense.

Jets head coach Aaron Glenn was asked about the lack of pressure after the game, and he said:

“It’s tough to explain, to be honest with you, because I have all the confidence in the world in our front and being able to cause havoc. And I give them (New England) credit you know, they did a good job of chipping and thumping and doing all that they can to our edge guys, and that was their deal.”

Credit to New England, but this one falls on the Jets

Look, New England deserves credit. Josh McDaniels did a good job of putting his players in a position to succeed despite who was out there on the field at offensive line. Sure, the Patriots gave Maye some extra help up front with all those chips.

With that being said, the defensive line is the strength of Glenn’s defense. He has the talent to beat those chips. He wasn’t able to put his guys in a position to do it and get to the quarterback, and that’s on the coaching staff as much as anyone. Glenn had plenty of issues today.

Glenn also pointed to the interior and to the sacks that slipped away.

“We just got to do a better job of now getting some of this interior pressure — and another thing, we had him (Maye) in our grasp. I mean, he’s a big quarterback and he actually escaped a number of those sacks we had, so we got to do a better job of making sure we get him on the ground when we do have him in our grasp,” Glenn said.

He’s right. Maye is a big quarterback who can extend plays, but when you have him in your grasp against a backup offensive line, you have to bring him down. And you have to get to him more consistently against backup offensive lineman. Those are the plays that swing division games.

The trenches are the Jets’ biggest problem

Here’s the bigger issue. The trenches have been a disappointment for New York overall.

The offensive line has not played anywhere near the standard it set in Week 1, when it dominated the Tennessee Titans. That performance looked like a sign of things to come. It hasn’t been. Pass protection around Geno Smith has been a disaster at some crucial times in the Jets’ contests so far. 

The defensive line has shown a lot of promise, but it has been inconsistent. A great game against the Browns followed by a dud against the Patriots is the perfect example of that Jets position group. When this group is on, it can wreck a game. When it’s off, a quarterback playing behind his eighth offensive lineman walks out of Foxborough without a scratch.

I’ll tell you this much, the talent is there on both sides of the ball. The consistency is not.

If the Jets want to win more of these tough battles, especially inside the division, they have to get better play from both their offensive line and defensive line. Until the trenches show up every single week, this team is going to keep stacking up afternoons like this one.