Patriots win, but run defense struggles

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The Jets made life a lot tougher on New England then most of us expected (certainly me), keeping the game close the whole way. A big part of the Jets success was the running game - they put up 218 yards on a Patriots defense that struggled without their leader Jerod Mayo.

Chris Ivory was the go-to guy all night, putting up 107 yard and a touchdown on the Patriots, while Chris Johnson added 61 and Geno Smith added 37 yards as well. The defense was feeling the loss of Jerod Mayo, as they couldn't stop the running attack of the Jets, which only put up 31 yards on the Denver last week. The Jets are ranked 12th in the league rushing the football with an average of 121.2 YPG, so I definitely didn't expect the Patriots to struggle as much as they did, even without Mayo. I did expect the Patriots to struggle somewhat without Mayo, but I didn't expect them to give up 200+ rushing yards to the Jets.

Ultimately, the Patriots did enough to get the win, but the Patriots will have to make adjustments in the run game if they want to have success, because giving up 200 yards a game or more isn't sustainable, especially against the better teams who can establish the run and hurt you with the play-action as well.

Thoughts? Let me know on Twitter or leave a comment. Stats from ESPN.com.