New England Patriots
“There are no excuses. I’ll be better.”
A.J. Brown had three catches on 10 targets on Sunday. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
October 18, 2026 | 7:15 PM
4 minutes to read
FOXBOROUGH — Sunday marked the culmination of a years-long journey for A.J. Brown.
After growing up in Mississippi as a Patriots fan, the star wide receiver finally took to the gridiron at Gillette Stadium in a New England jersey.
It was a home debut that came later than both Brown and the Patriots anticipated this season, given his stint on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain.
But the Week 6 home tilt against the Jets seemed like an ideal landing spot for Brown to make his presence felt as Drake Maye’s top pass-catching target.
Fittingly, it was Brown who was introduced last as part of New England’s introductions on offense — drawing an ovation from the crowd of over 65,000 after taking the field behind Maye.
“I’m extremely excited, man,” Brown said postgame of his first home game in Foxborough. “This was a dream come true.
“First home game, you know. So I had a lot of excitement, a lot of emotions.”
But as the game progressed, some of those cheers devolved into boos — most of which were directed toward Brown after several passes from Maye bounced off his hands.
New England did enough to escape a sloppy performance against New York with a 26-19 win.
But it was a rusty return to game action for New England’s top offseason pickup — with Brown finishing the afternoon with just three catches for 27 yards off of 10 total targets.
“I think he could probably have made a few more plays, come down with a few more plays,” Mike Vrabel said of Brown’s showing. “Been out for a while, I know he wanted to do well for his football team, and unfortunately it wasn’t his best effort.
“I know that, he knows that, and we have all the confidence in the world in A.J to finish those plays. … A.J. has high expectations for himself and we have high expectations for him as well, so, I’m confident that he’ll come back and do a lot of things that help us here the rest of the season.”
Some growing pains were to be expected for Brown, given his extended layoff after an ankle injury he suffered in Week 1 against Seattle.
The 29-year-old wideout hasn’t had much time to find his footing since late August — logging zero snaps during three preseason games before exiting early in the third quarter of that Week 1 game at Lumen Field.
But Brown wasn’t using that downtime as an excuse for his play.
“I didn’t play good,” Brown said. “I don’t know, like my timer was off. I’m much better than what I put on display today. There are no excuses. I’ll be better.”
All things considered, Brown didn’t look worse for wear with his ankle — routinely separating from defensive backs in man coverage and getting open on crossers and slants for Maye.
But Brown’s hands failed him on Sunday — with three registered drops looming over a game where New England whiffed on several chances to blow the contest open.
A heave down the field from Maye in the first half would have seemingly led to an easy score from Brown after he snuck past Azareye’h Thomas — only for the ball to slip through his hands.
A bobbled ball in the end zone also robbed Brown of his first touchdown as a Patriot, while a failed catch off a quick slant route in the third quarter led to a brutal swing for New England.
After Brown couldn’t move the chains on that 3rd-and-5 play from the Jets’ 40-yard line, New England went for it on fourth down — only for Jets corner Brandon Stephens to swat down Maye’s pass to Brown.
Once New York forced the turnover on downs, the Jets capitalized just three plays later. Geno Smith uncorked a 48-yard touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr., making it a one-possession game.
As disheartening as Sunday’s showing was from Brown, the root cause of his struggles should signal some optimism — as drops have rarely been an issue for the veteran.
Over his previous two seasons with the Eagles, he recorded one total drop — with his 0.8 drop rate in 2025 standing as the lowest for any wideout with 70 or more receptions.
Given Brown’s track record, Maye wasn’t fretting over the play of his top wideout.
“Just great to see him back out there,” Maye said of Brown. “It was cool to see a different guy in the huddle, man, he looks cool in the huddle. I’m looking forward to just growing, just building the connection. There’s some, obviously, plays he wishes he had back, but I was just telling him in the locker room — ain’t got to worry about [No.] 1.
“He’s a player in this league; he’s going to be one of the best players on the field every time he steps on it. I told him I’m going to keep coming his way, and I don’t really think there’s too much to say about it. He’s a great player, he’s got great hands, he’s got great releases, he was open and he looked good running around, and just glad to have him back and I’m looking forward to seeing him down the road.”
The Patriots did enough damage in the passing game to ground the Jets even with Brown laboring.
Maye threw for three touchdowns and 235 yards through the air — with DeMario Douglas (seven catches, 86 yards), Hunter Henry (four catches, 48 yards), and Romeo Doubs (one catch, 42 yards) all pulling on the rope in New England’s pass-catching corps.
More will be expected of Brown moving forward, especially going into what could be a high-scoring bout against the Bears on Thursday night.
Sunday may not have been the home debut Brown wanted in Foxborough.
But the star pass-catcher is looking forward to the clean slate offered up by a short week of prep against Chicago.
“You just [don’t] care. As harshly as that sounds, you can’t care,” Brown said of the mindset needed to move on. “I have trust in my hands, and I continue my process and continue daily catching and just keep going. But you can’t care about that … and you got to keep going.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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