There’s no other way to say it: The New England Patriots were shamed on national television Thursday night by the New York Jets, their 24-3 loss one of the worst games you’ll ever see.

Let’s take a look at what we learned from the Patriots’ Week 3 game.

1. An unprepared and undisciplined team is a reflection of the coaching staff: The Patriots have a first-time head coach, a first-time defensive coordinator, a first-time special teams coordinator and a first-year offensive coordinator. There was a bit of a learning curve to be expected at the start of the season, but that wasn’t the case on Thursday as the Patriots looked unprepared and therefore uncompetitive against the Jets.

Sure, it’s a short week and early in the season, but the coaches’ inability to get the team ready was still concerning, especially for what should be an elite defense. The Patriots had multiple unnecessary and easily avoidable penalties on that side of the ball, and after being a great tackling team the first two weeks, they couldn’t complete takedowns all night.

They also, somewhat oddly, seemed to try to overcorrect their wide receivers, as they had not been actively involved in the offense the last two games. The result was an uneven run/pass distribution early in the game.

“The first thing I have to do is look at myself in the mirror. Make sure I did everything I could to get the guys ready to go. Based on the score today, I should have done more,” head coach Jerod Mayo said after the game. “I just have to hit the reset button, this is NFL football and we have to get better.”

Games like Thursday’s are to be expected from a young staff and team, but they need to view this as a learning opportunity and turn it around quickly. Performances like Thursday’s are simply unacceptable in the NFL — and ultimately a judgment on the coaching staff.

2. The Patriots are who we thought they were, and that’s okay: The entire offseason, the narrative around the Patriots was that they were going to suck this year, and that they had a chance to be the worst team in football. Then they won and played well in Week 1 in Cincinnati, and the narrative changed to maybe they weren’t as bad as everyone thought.

Turns out they’re exactly the team we thought they’d be all offseason, at least based on their performance on Thursday. There’s no need to panic, though: This is the first year of a major organization-wide rebuild, and these kinds of missteps are unfortunately part of that process.

3. The sentence continues to kill the attack: The Patriots didn’t have the cleanest offensive line entering the 2024 draft. Then their left tackle and left guard both got injured, and now the group is on the verge of collapse.

Despite fielding two rookies, you’d hope for more than what you got from the group against the Jets on Thursday. What the Patriots did get was pressure on nearly two-thirds of their dropbacks and seven total sacks.

“It’s a race to get better every week,” center David Andrews said. “Look, it’s early in the year, there’s a lot of football to be played and it’s going to be bad if we don’t learn from this. Try to take the good and fix the bad and that’s what we’re going to try to do. Get some rest, try to keep people healthy over the next couple of days and be ready for the next one, whatever it is.”

Andrews and the interior didn’t look particularly good on Thursday, but the biggest problems were once again in the tackle.

There was hope that Caedan Wallace would hold his own at left tackle, but he didn’t. His holding penalties looked suspect at best, but he didn’t play well in his first career start either way.

Michael Onwenu, meanwhile, seems miscast at right tackle. The Patriots don’t have anyone else to play there, but they took a really solid guard and — based on the last two weeks — turned him into an average tackle at best (who’s paid like an elite tackle). The hope is that Wallace can return to his college position and develop into the right tackle of the future, and that a left tackle will be drafted high next spring so Onwenu can kick inside again.

Unfortunately for the 2024 Patriots, that’s a story for another time.

4. Jacoby Brissett is the epitome of toughness: Jacoby Brissett isn’t one of the best quarterbacks in the league. He struggles to throw the ball accurately and consistently, and has been sacked a few times. But there’s no doubting his toughness.

He took a huge beating from a talented Jets defense and kept coming back. His toughness is something to be commended, even if the results on the field weren’t good.

“I’m a big man, I can handle it,” he said nonchalantly during his postgame press conference. “I’ll always get back up. That’s one thing about me. I’ll always get back up and find ways to make plays. That’s what it comes down to. It’s football. I’m supposed to get hit. I didn’t sign up for this sport not to get hit, so I don’t really pay attention to that.”

Hopefully the team sees and recognizes Brissett’s toughness and uses that as motivation to play better in the future.

5. The injury virus continues to flare up: Last week, the Patriots lost Ja’Whaun Bentley for the season and Vederian Lowe for at least this game. On Thursday night, Jabrill Peppers was in and out of the lineup due to injury, while Caedan Wallace and Michael Jordan were also out. That means they may now be down to their fourth left tackle and third left guard — not exactly what you want to see when you face the San Francisco 49ers defense in the next game.

We’ll see if any of the guys that are injured can come back for that game, but the injuries piling up is something this team can ill afford.

6. Bryce Baringer is a weapon: One of the few bright spots for the Patriots right now is punter Bryce Baringer. For the first time this season, he averaged no more than 50 yards per punt against the Jets, but he averaged 49 yards with three of his five punts pinning the Jets inside their own 20-yard line. He can consistently turn the field over for the Patriots, and if the defense can get stops, the Patriots should have a chance to get good field position in a few games this year.

7. Christian Gonzalez is the real one: The Patriots defense struggled overall against the Jets, but Christian Gonzalez put the squeeze on one of the best young receivers in the game. When the Patriots opted for man coverage, the sophomore defender followed Garrett Wilson everywhere he went and mostly stopped him.

Wilson finished with five catches for 33 yards and one touchdown that was a perfect throw from Aaron Rodgers to perhaps the only place he could put him. That touchdown, by the way, was the first Gonzalez allowed in his NFL career.

The Patriots certainly have talent in their young cornerback.

8. Kyle Dugger and Jahlani Tavai in reporting is an adventure: The Patriots signed both Jahlani Tavai and Kyle Dugger this offseason, which was the right decision. But while their status as team leaders on and off the field is unquestioned, both looked bad on Thursday night.

Neither could cover Tyler Conklin all night, and he finished with five receptions for 93 yards — the most he’s ever had in a game. On a night where Christian Gonzalez did his job, it would have helped if the other leaders on defense could help out a little, too.

“This is a performance-based game, we are professionals and we have to show ourselves and play no matter what happens,” Tavai said. “There is no excuse for what we did, now we have to take another one and then we move on to the next one.”

9. Is Aaron Rodgers back in form? After looking like a shadow of his former self in the first two games of the season, Aaron Rodgers looked fantastic on Thursday, routinely making difficult passes look easy and using his legs to get out of trouble on multiple occasions. His performance on Thursday could be a sign that he’s back to his old self and ready to dominate the league again, which would be bad news for the Patriots and the rest of the AFC East.

Of course, it also helped that the Patriots had their worst defensive game in a while.

10. The quarterback depth chart should not be re-evaluated: The Patriots have a mini-bye coming up and the question most will be asking themselves is if now is the right time to make a move at quarterback and replace Jacoby Brissett with Drake Maye? Personally, the answer to that question would have to be a resounding “No.”

Of course, Jerod Mayo and company might have a different perspective. The fact is, Maye would add a dimension to the Patriots offense that it doesn’t have with Brissett under center: He can make throws that the veteran simply can’t make on a consistent basis, and he also has the athleticism to make plays with his legs.

Whether they replace Brissett or not, the Patriots need to play significantly better, and that starts at the quarterback position.