Once a punching bag to the Patriots, QB Aaron Rodgers and the Jets played the bully Thursday night and pushed around their former AFC East nemesis. Wrapping up a stretch of three games in 10 days, the Jets moved to 2-1 with a 24-3 victory over New England (1-2).

Rodgers led four scoring drives with surgical precision, completing 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards with 2 TDs. The Jets ran 70 offensive plays and totalled 400 yards in their second consecutive victory while a suffocating defence registered 7 sacks and kept their AFC East rivals out of the end zone.

“We were efficient offensively, good on third down,” Rodgers said after leading his unit to a 67% conversion rate (10 of 16) on third down. “Spread the ball around a lot, ran the ball pretty well, pass protected pretty well. I moved off the spot a few times, halfway decent. So a lot of good things to build on from this game.”

In a scintillating opening half, Rodgers was masterful completing 13-of-15 passes for 157 yards and a TD, his first at MetLife Stadium as a Jet. His 10-yard touchdown throw to WR Allen Lazard in the first quarter opened the game’s scoring and gave the Green & White a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Rodgers completed passes to seven players in the first 30 minutes, and the Jets ran the ball well with RBs Breece Hall and Braelon Allen. The offense totaled 252 yards in the first half compared to New England’s 40.

Playing in front of their fans for the first time this season, the Jets raced to 14-0 lead. It was their largest lead over the Pats at home in the teams’ last seven games, and their largest in the first half in all games in the last 14 meetings.

The Jets were balanced early after getting a pair of first downs on their first drive that ended with a punt in plus-territory. New York got cooking on their second drive with great balance. Allen and Hall had 11- and 10-yard runs, respectively, while Rodgers connected with TE Jeremy Ruckert and WR Xavier Gipson for a pair of 11-yard gains. Rodgers capped an impressive 73-yard march with his scoring connection to Lazard that came on an RPO.

“I just felt like we were going to have 10 guys on one side of the hash, and it was 1-on-1 to Allen,” Rodgers said. “And that would probably be a better option than a run away to a dropping end and a slanting line.”

Good times continued to roll in the second quarter when Lazard took a short pass and broke a couple of tackles, on the way to a 27-yard gain. Eleven plays later, with rookie T Olu Fashanu checking in as an eligible offensive lineman and DT Solomon Thomas lining up on offense, Hall ran the ball in from 1-yard out. The 91-yard drive, which included a 22-yard red zone hook-up to Tyler Conklin, was kept alive by Rodgers’ third-down conversion to WR Garrett Wilson.

“Part of the things that we have been talking about is just get the defence a two-score lead,” said Jets HC Robert Saleh. “And he just reminded me that we had a two-score lead.”

The Jets’ offence accounted for 17 first downs in the first two quarters, compared to the Pats’ 4, and went into halftime with a 14-3 lead. The Green & White rushed for 88 yards, averaging 4.9 yards per carry on 18 rushes.

The offence didn’t slow down coming out of intermission, making it a three-score game when Rodgers connected with Wilson on a 2-yard scoring pass, the second-year wideout’s first of the season, in the third quarter to extend the lead, 21-3. The Jets’ 18-point margin was their largest third-quarter lead over New England in their last 26 home games (1998 regular-season finale) and the largest in all games in their last 49 meetings (2000).

Looking spry at 40, Rodgers showed mobility to extend the play and gain yards downfield. He had 18 yards rushing, 11 of which came on a scramble along the Jets’ sideline where he took a shot from Keion White.

“This was kind of the first step of in playing the way I know I’m capable of playing,” Rodgers said. “I felt like I was myself quite a few years ago.”

The Jets’ defence didn’t take its foot off the gas while allowing 139 total yards. DE Will McDonald, coming off a 3- sack performance in Week 2 vs. Tennessee, led the Green & White with 2 of the team’s 7 sacks and LB Quincy Williams’ 8 tackles led the team. S Chuck Clark also registered his first sack in green and white and forced a fumble by RB Rhamondre Stevenson that he recovered.

“We talk about a style of play and a standard and just playing with relentless effort,” Saleh said. “Just 11 hats to the ball and I thought we did that.”

With 4:24 remaining the Patriots inserted rookie QB Drake Maye, who was selected No. 3 overall in April’s draft. He drove the ball to New York’s 7-yard line before being dropped for a sack by DE Takk McKinley and Thomas to end the game.

Jetcetera

With C.J. Mosley (toe) inactive, Jamien Sherwood started at Mike linebacker. …. Breece Hall‘s second-quarter TD gave him a score in six consecutive games. … WR Garrett Wilson extended his streak of multiple receptions to 31 games. He has caught a pass in every game of his NFL career. … Morgan Moses left the game with a knee injury at the end of the third quarter and rookie Olu Fashanu came in and made his NFL debut. … Rookie RB Isaiah Davis received his first offensive snaps of the season. … The Jets will have a mini-bye this weekend before resuming to action next weekend as the Denver Broncos will pay a visit to MetLife Stadium.