Patriots Survive Scare Against Jets, Escape With A 27-25 Win
Shane Vereen celebrates one of his two TDs in the Patriots win over the Jets. (USA TODAY Images)
The New England Patriots escaped with a last second 27-25 win over the New York Jets as Chris Jones blocked a 58 yard Nick Folk field goal as time expired. The Jets had scored a touchdown but missed a tying 2-point conversion with two and half minutes to go. After forcing a three and out by New England, they got a final chance to win with 1:06 to move from their 14 yard line.
The win leaves New England (5-2) in good position inside the division as they are a game and a half ahead of the Buffalo Bills who play on Sunday against Minnesota. But this one wasn’t pretty as the Jets running game pounded New England from the outset. The Jets dominated the front seven of the Pats running for over 200 yards and completely owned the time of possession with nearly 41 minutes compared to just over 19:06 for the Patriots.
Tom Brady continued an already hot October by completing 20-37 for 261 yards and 3 touchdowns. In the first four games of the season, Brady threw for 804 yards with 4 TDs and 2 INTs. In the three games since, he’s thrown for 914 yards, nine TDs and 0 INTs.
For the Jets (1-6) it seems that they’re a team that can’t catch a break. Rex Ryan had a fantastic game plan coming in and limiting Brady and company to only 19 minutes of possession is exactly what the doctor ordered.
But the Jets stalled on their first four drives, with penalties really hurting their scoring chances on two of them. Settling for four field goals ultimately cost them the football game. While they could have been more aggressive in the red zone, no blame should be attached to Geno Smith, who played outstanding. Smith moved around in the pocket and bought himself some time and put his team in a position to win in the end with an outstanding drive.
Here are some other quick observations from Thursday:
Sweet Redemption for Jones: For Patriots defensive lineman Chris Jones, it has to be a very satisfying end to the game. The last time the Patriots met the Jets, Jones was the player who was flagged for the push on a field goal attempt that ultimately lost the game for New England. Bill Belichick was particularly livid on that one, which to my knowledge hasn’t been called since.
But this time with the game on the line and Folk attempting a 58 yard game winning attempt, it was Jones who got his hand up to block the attempt and save a game that his team looked like was letting slip away. Speaking of redemption….
Amendola Shines At Crunch Time: Danny Amendola has been the shunned one this season, gathering in only three receptions entering Thursday’s game. But on a pivotal play of the game, Amendola caught the game winning touchdown.
With the Patriots backed up and facing a third-and-goal from the 19 yard line, it looked like the team was going to be looking for a field goal attempt after having a first down at the three. Brady rolled to his left to escape pressure and delivered the ball to Amendola who made a fantastic play on the back shoulder throw to haul it in and get down in the end zone for the touchdown.
That was a back-breaker for the Jets as they pushed NE back but couldn’t stop them at crunch time. Ryan was livid at the time as the Jets missed a big opportunity to hold the Pats to three points. Amendola also had some decent success in the kickoff return game displaying some nice shiftiness returning four kicks for 105 yards.
Defense, Particularly Run Defense Gashed: The biggest reason the Jets owned the football for 40:54 was that their running game was fantastic all evening. Chris Ivory gave the Patriots fits with a 21 carry, 107 yard performance.
But the interior line was manhandled by the Jets OL, most notably Nick Mangold who continually won his one-on-one matchups with Vince Wilfork. The Patriots couldn’t get off the field on third down and giving up 218 yard on 43 attempts is unacceptable.
The team played a lot of 5-2 for most of the game and just couldn’t execute. Whether it was the scheme or just the players not doing their job is debatable, but lots of work needs to be done before the team plays Chicago in ten days.
Vereen Steps up Huge in Ridley’s Absence: With Stevan Ridley out for the season, the onus was placed on Shane Vereen to take up the slack and he really passed his first test. Vereen had 11 carries for 43 yards in the running game but led all receivers with 71 yards on five receptions in the passing game.
Vereen had the first score of the game early in the first quarter as he raced down the right sideline all alone for a 49 yard touchdown reception from Brady as the Jets blew the coverage on the play. He also scored on another Brady touchdown pass in the second quarter as he hauled in a three yard pass to end an 80 yard drive.
Play of the Day: Jones’ block of the field goal saved the game, but the touchdown reception by Amendola has to be the highlight. It was Amendola’s only catch on the night but it was huge and gave the Patriots a 27-19 lead that eventually won the game.
And the other good news….the team suffered no significant injuries on Thursday night.
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