Thursday night was the New England Patriots’ only prime-time game of the season, and it’s clear they weren’t in the spotlight.

The Patriots delivered an overall lackluster performance and the New York Jets handed New England a 24-3 defeat at MetLife Stadium.

Here are seven takeaways from the Patriots’ loss, which dropped them to 1-2 on the young season:

Patriots need lesson in tackling
Tackling was a strength of New England’s defense in the first two games, but not against the Jets. Patriots defenders routinely missed opportunities to bring down Jets playmakers, allowing them to turn modest gains into big plays.

New England’s inept tackling was evident on New York’s first scoring drive of the opening quarter. Raekwon McMillan had a point-blank shot in the backfield on Jets running back Braelon Allen on the first play of the series, but instead of McMillan sending him to the ground and causing a loss, Allen charged past the linebacker for an 11-yard gain. Allen Lazard fooled Patriots cornerback Alex Austin when the Jets wideout took a quick pass from Aaron Rodgers, moved a little past Austin and entered the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown. Jonathan Jones also had a poor tackling performance.

Patriots need new defensive car with Bentley in the workshop
Ja’Whaun Bentley’s absence cannot be underestimated amid New England’s poor defensive performance. Bentley is expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn pectoral muscle in a Week 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and it’s clear the Patriots have missed him.

Jahlani Tavai and McMillan tried to fill the void, and despite being the Patriots’ two best tacklers, they were outclassed. The Jets picked them apart when they didn’t play their roles. Tavai and McMillan are good complementary players, but not players to build a defense around. McMillan started just once in the three seasons prior to this year. Tavai also took a stupid penalty for unnecessary roughness on New York’s first scoring drive of the game.

The Patriots offensive line looks like matadors
The Patriots’ offensive line continued to be a sieve, and it didn’t help that the unit wasn’t at 100%. Caedan Wallace made his first start at left tackle with Vederian Lowe out, and the rookie received a rough reception from the Jets’ front seven. Wallace was penalized for a sack on Jacoby Brissett in the first half and was assessed a holding penalty, negating a pass to Austin Hooper that would have given the Patriots a berth inside New York’s 5-yard line midway through the third quarter.

Brissett took a beating, being sacked five times and hit a total of 10 times. Who knows how much longer Brissett can take that kind of punishment, and New England’s offense won’t flourish even a little bit until the offensive line is fixed.

Patriots get the best out of Aaron Rodgers
Rodgers didn’t look like a four-time MVP in his first two games since tearing his Achilles tendon, but the Patriots’ defense helped change that.

Rodgers was single-minded, picking apart New England’s defense time and time again without the Patriots finding an answer. Rodgers completed 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns. The 40-year-old quarterback found the matchups he wanted and took advantage of them, most notably finding tight end Tyler Conklin five times for 93 yards. Rodgers was also strong throwing from the platform and was crucial for the Jets, helping them cover 10 of 15 third downs to keep the offense alive.

Patriots give Drake Maye a chance
Drake Maye made his first NFL appearance when he replaced Brissett with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter and the game spiraling out of control. It was a somewhat puzzling decision to start Maye, especially given the issues with New England’s offensive line.

Still, Maye threw the ball on his first snap and nearly had it intercepted. A few plays later, he got a good shot off a Jets defender on a 1-yard run and completed his first pass to Antonio Gibson on a block, but it didn’t gain any yards. Maye ended up completing 4 of 8 passes for 22 yards and also had two runs for 12 yards. He was also sacked twice.

DeMario Douglas gets what he wants
DeMario Douglas was absent from the Patriots’ loss to the Seahawks because he didn’t catch a pass. The Patriots were able to utilize him better against the Jets when the small 5’8″ slot receiver showed what he can do for the offense.

Douglas caught seven balls on nine attempts for 69 yards and also had one run for nine yards. His longest attempt was for 22 yards. Douglas can certainly build on that performance and he has shown that he will continue to get more attempts because he seems to be the only pass receiver who can create spacing in one-on-one situations.

Patriots offense needs new recipe
The Patriots’ offense, which is based on the running game, never really got going, as evidenced by the fact that Rhamondre Stevenson only managed a ball over 23 yards six times in the game.

At halftime, the Patriots had only gained four first downs and 40 yards compared to the 17 first downs and 252 yards the Jets had. New England’s potential for big plays just isn’t there, and the Patriots can’t sustain long drives either, making it an uphill battle to score points. The Patriots averaged just 2.9 yards per play, which, as you can imagine, pales in comparison to the Jets’ 5.7 yards per play.