The Patriots survived the Jets like they often do, coming up with three big defensive plays and a game-winning touchdown drive in a 22-17 victory that moved Tom Brady into a first place tie with Peyton Manning with 200 all-time wins.
The defense that hadn’t forced a turnover in three games came through with a forced fumble from Malcolm Butler, a blocked field goal attempt by Alan Branch and a game-clinching strip sack by Chris Long.
The offense turned in a gritty performance, with Brady still hobbling with a knee injury and losing Rob Gronkowski in the first half to a back injury. The final come-from-behind touchdown drive took eight plays and 83 yards and including a fourth-down conversion that went to James White.
Vintage Brady, with passes to Edelman (24 yards), Lewis (16 yards) and Hogan (25 yards). It once again illustrates why the Patriots are always so hard to beat — they never quit and are always at their best with the game on the line.
The Jets couldn’t make the last play to seal the game and the Patriots did.
The Pats are now 9-2 and remain tied for the top seed in the conference with a two-game lead in the division.
More on the win, with only Rams standing between Brady and becoming the winningest QB of all time in then Posits…
— The defense gave up three scoring drives, forced four punts, two turnovers and had the field goal block. 17 points against will move their points-against average even lower. All in all an okay performance that illustrates what a difference takeaways make.
— It was little surprise that Fitzpatrick gave the defense so many problems. He threw for 269 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. The final fumble was costly, but overall I’m sure Jets fans would happily take 15 other similar performances this season. It was nice to see Chris Long, who has been fighting hard all season, come through with a key play. That’s huge for him.
— Hopefully there are more of these turnovers coming. The team is unlikely to get far in the playoffs if the Pats defense reverts to their no-big-play ways. Obviously the line was incredibly thin. Without Long’s big play on the last drive it could’ve been a terrible ending. I know I was bracing for it. But for what feels like the first time in 2016, the defense showed some clutch playmaking. Doesn’t take a historian to recall all the clutch defensive plays that were needed over the last decade-and-a-half to win Super Bowls.
— We’ll probably never know just how hurt Brady was today and that toughness that he’s always had will go unnoticed yet again because he doesn’t make a big deal out of it. But it is a big deal. And Brady is legendary tough, along with legendary everything else.
— Seems like the excitement around Malcolm Mitchell has gotten lost a bit this year between Marty, Hogan and Dion’s return, but two touchdowns (including the game-winner) on five catches for 42 yards for Mitchell was solid. The fact that Brady is throwing to him in those big moments show how special the rookie is.
— LeGarrette Blount was incredibly effective with 11 carries for 67 yards. We’re now seeing just how well everything can work with a solid three-back rotation where Blount doesn’t have to carry the ball 20 times.
— Please just let us make it to the playoffs with Dion Lewis fully healthy. He’s an electric game changer I just love watching him play so much. He had six carries for 24 yards and four catches for 24 yards showing just how balanced the Patriots offense can be with him in their backfield.
— Defensively it seemed like the Pats settled in with minimal personnel swapping — Van Noy/Long on the pass rush set, McClellan/Branch in the heavier package. It seemed like that simplification helped a bit, though the problems with the zone defense seemed to continue. Need a closer look at the man/zone splits, but once again it seemed like more of an even split. Seemed the last two years they were a lot more man heavy.
— Eric Rowe seemed like he had his best game while Butler, outside of the forced fumble and recovery, had one of his worst, giving up two touchdowns. He was still competitive on all catches, just got victimized on a couple great plays.
— Reports were that Gronk’s injury wasn’t serious, but anytime it’s his oft-repaired back you can’t help but worry a bit. Here in the last five games I think the Pats should move forward with kid gloves on Gronk. They’ve already been cautious with him this year and there’s no reason to push anything with him. Of course, it puts more pressure on Marty, who’s battling his own injured ankle, but the goal now must be full Gronk in January.
— Once again Logan Ryan led the team in tackles, I’m not sure that’s ever a great sign. Although the second and third leading tacklers were Malcom Brown and Alan Branch. They were in on a lot of plays which is why the Jets had just 64 rushing yards. That kind of run defense is a good sign and one that will be test in the coming weeks.
— Okay yup, I’m praying to the Football Gods that Gostkowski doesn’t need to make a huge field goal in the playoffs. He’s missed seven kicks this year (four field goals, three extra points). We can’t just brush that under the rug and know that “he’ll be fine.” There’s just no street free agent out there who’s going to be anywhere close to as good so we have no choice but to wait it out and hope it all works out okay. But eeek.
Survive and advance. I know it’s not the playoffs yet, but another win without a serious significant injury (sorry Jordan Richards) and it’s hard not to feel like we’re one significant step closer to the finish line.
The poor Rams, who have travelled all over the earth at this point, now have to go from a shellacking in New Orleans, back home to LA, then back across the country to Foxboro to play the best team in the league. Yes, the Rams could be packing things up early as we’ve seen many NFC teams do in December in Foxborough.
Until then we’ll hear about how good Todd Gurley and Aaron Donald are, how promising Jared Goff has looked in his first two starts, and all the other sunshines and rainbows BB will pour over the lot of them.
In the win over the Jets, the Patriots exhibited development on defense and a toughness not needed previously. We’ve come to expect both from a Belichick team. Despite this team’s apparent shortcomings, they’re still capable of making a big play at any moment on any side of the ball.
They’ll just need to string three games of them together into February.
Justin Tucker missed 7 and 5 FG the last two years. This year he is the best in football. You cant bail on Ghost this early. He is clearly in that group of best kickers even though having a below standard year. Boston fans are good at making something a thing that really isn’t a la Ridley’s fumbles. Blount fumbles at the same rate and yet we never discuss his fumbling “issues”
Of course you can’t bail on Gostkowski. But his miss rate going back to the vital extra point in the 2015 AFCCG is troubling. I think the problem with Ridley was that the fumbles came in bunches and often in key moments. So yes, a lot of similarities there to what we’re seeing with Gostkowski now, right or wrong. Blount has just six fumbles in three and a half years while Ridley had eight total in 2011 and 2012.