While the New England Patriots had star wide receiver A.J. Brown back for Sunday's win over the New York Jets, it was a performance that the 29-year-old would rather forget. As the Patriots are glad to see Brown return to the team after a stint on the injured reserve with a knee injury, he would react to his frustrating performance against the Jets on Sunday.

In the win, Brown would catch three passes for 27 yards on a whopping 10 targets, as he also recorded four drops in the game, even culminating in a botched play while on special teams trying to recover an onside kick by the Jets.

AJ Brown drops the onside kick … Patriots still manage to recover to end the gamepic.twitter.com/WBb8xewrVe

— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) October 18, 2026

When it comes to the drops, let's just say that the fans gave their frustrated thoughts on their top receiver being unable to reel in some key plays.

“Make that four drops for AJ Brown. And he's getting booed. This one on 4th & 5,” Connor Hughes wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Bad game.”

A.J. Brown reacts to his forgettable Patriots return

Brown is coming off missing the last four games for New England after getting injured in the regular-season opener on Sept. 7 against the Seattle Seahawks. Leading to the aforementioned injured reserve stint with the ankle injury, one would assume that he needs to get the rust off the more time he plays.

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That same sentiment was echoed as Brown mentioned that his “timing was off,” claiming that he will be “better,” according to Mark Daniels. When asked if his injuries had a part in the drops and missed plays, Brown wouldn't resort to excuses to soften the impact of his poor performance.

“No excuses… Ankle or not, I should make those plays,” Brown said, via Daniels.

At any rate, Brown looks to improve with the Patriots in New England's next game on Thursday night against the Chicago Bears, with the team at a 4-2 record.