It’s no surprise that the Patriots lost a road game, as they were down to their third left tackle and missing defensive captain Ja’Whaun Bentley.

But for the Patriots, it was an opportunity to send a message: They would come prepared and not let a superior opponent get them down.

Instead, the Patriots became the team everyone expected them to be. The offense couldn’t produce big plays and only got on the scoreboard through penalties. Jacoby Brissett was repeatedly taken down and was lucky to leave the game with both feet. The defense was sloppy in its tackling and had no plan to slow down Aaron Rodgers. And the Patriots committed some bad penalties, like unnecessary roughness penalties on Jahlani Tavai and Joshua Uche.

The good mood that prevailed in Cincinnati two weeks ago has quickly evaporated. Now the Patriots are 1-2, unable to get anything going on offense, struggling on defense due to injuries, and 1-3 heading into their next game in San Francisco. Mayo and the coaching staff looked like geniuses after Week 1, but the last two losses have shown that they are unlikely to be able to perform miracles.

▪ The Patriots brought in Drake Maye for his NFL debut with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter. His first snap nearly ended in an interception, and on his third snap he stumbled and was hit hard. Overall, he completed 4 of 8 passes for 22 yards, along with two sacks and two runs for 12 yards. That was enough to tell me he’s not ready to play yet, especially given the state of the offensive line and its lack of playmakers. At least he didn’t get hurt.

▪ It seemed like the Patriots were more interested in getting their wide receivers involved than moving the ball effectively. The backstory is that DeMario Douglas was grumbling about not getting targets after the Seahawks loss, and Mayo put pressure on Brissett this week to drive the ball forward and get it to his playmakers, the wide receivers.

Alex Van Pelt’s play calling was completely out of whack in the first half. The Patriots rushed for 355 yards in the first two plays and the Jets entered the game with the 24th-best run defense. So what do the Patriots do? They called 13 passes and just five runs in the first half.

Douglas had his touches – a team-high seven catches for 69 yards and one run for 9 yards. But the offense was completely ineffective as the Jets took a 14-0 lead. The Patriots gained just 40 yards on 18 plays in the first half and only earned four first downs, two of them by penalty. For the entire game, Brissett completed 12 of 18 passes for just 98 yards.

The Patriots should have used Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson to move the ball forward and get it to tight ends Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper. Instead, they tried too hard to get the ball to their receivers (Ja’Lynn Polk also had two catches for 13 yards in the first half), and the result was their worst offensive performance of the season.

The Patriots need to stop listening to the fans and media (and the complaining receivers) and get the ball to their best players, their running backs and tight ends.

▪ But Brissett may have learned a valuable lesson — good things can happen when you throw long passes. Brissett entered the game with just two long passes all season, which is the lowest in the NFL, and he failed to complete a single pass. He didn’t throw long passes often on Thursday, but his lone long pass to Tyquan Thornton resulted in a 34-yard pass interference (on a ball Thornton couldn’t catch). Brissett may need to start throwing more long passes and hope for the best.

▪ Stevenson lost a fumble in the fourth quarter, his third fumble in three games this season and the 10th of his career. He’s the Patriots’ best offensive player, so they can’t afford to lighten his load, but he needs to work on his ball security.

▪ The offensive line wasn’t great in the first two games, but was a disaster on Thursday. Brissett was sacked five times and hit 12 times on 23 pass plays and was lucky not to get hurt. The Patriots had trouble detecting blitzes, leaving Brissett exposed to multiple free throws. The Jets clearly had no respect for the Patriots’ receivers, who won one-on-one matchups by consistently blitzing on third down. Brissett was even pressured on passes he completed, such as a 22-play-action pass to Douglas in the third quarter.

Rookie Caedan Wallace was making his first appearance at left tackle since high school, and it went as poorly as expected, picking up three penalties – one for illegal positioning when he was too far back and two for holding on two consecutive plays, one of which negated a big gain to Austin Hooper near the goal line.

▪ A very disappointing performance by the Patriots defense. They had no answer for Rodgers, who completed 27 of 35 passes (77 percent) for 281 yards and two touchdowns. They sacked him twice, but couldn’t keep him in the pocket or prevent him from making second reaction plays.

And the Patriots’ tackling was sloppy. Raekwon McMillan missed a tackle in the backfield, allowing Braelon Allen to run 11 yards. Jonathan Jones missed a tackle on a 28-yard catch for Allen Lazard on third down. Alex Austin also missed Lazard on a bubble screen, allowing a 10-yard touchdown.

▪ One positive aspect of the evening: Christian Gonzalez played well again. Gonzalez shadowed Garrett Wilson all night and held Wilson to five catches of nine passes for 33 yards. Wilson made it into the end zone with a short pass at the goal line, but Gonzalez more than held his own against one of the NFL’s best receivers.

Ben Volin can be reached at [email protected].