Postgame, Week 13: Patriots 16 vs. Jets 3

The New England Patriots did what they needed to do. The did what they needed to do on offense. They did what they needed to do on defense. They won. They beat the New York Jets, 16-3.

It wasn't spectacular. It wasn't dominating. It wasn't flashy. It was just what they needed to do.

New England is now 7-5, still two games ahead of Miami (5-7), who came back from a 21-0 deficit to beat Buffalo, 24-23. Buffalo falls to 4-8. The Jets are 2-10.

The Patriots found the end zone just once in four red zone attempts, and Adam Vinatieri missed one of his four attempts to keep the scoring low. The Patriots defense also kept the Jets out of the red zone almost completely, but again had no turnovers until the final minutes of the game.

The statistics show a game that was never in contention, and it never really was, despite the 6-3 halftime score. The Patriots marched down the field several times but were unable to find the end zone, attempting three field goals, Vinatieri connecting from 21 yards and 34 yards, but missing from 45.

The teams exchanged the ball fruitlessly through the first quarter. The Patriots still dominated, controlling the clock and even 10 minutes to 5. The Pats finally opened the scoring with 5:36 left in the half, following a 14-play, 8 minute, 9 second drive, their longest of the day. The big play was a 22-yard pass interference call against the Jets on 1st and 20 following a 10-yard offensive holding call against New England. That was an indication of the flow of Sunday's game. Tom Brady also hit Troy Brown for 14 yards and Deion Branch for 13 yards on the drive.

The Jets responded immediately with their longest drive of the game, a 10-play, 4 minute, 34 second drive, keyed by a Brooks Bollinger to Doug Jolley 15-yard pass. The drive also contained the game's most bizarre play, during which there was a turnover and three penalties. Rosevelt Colvin sacked Bollinger and the ball popped backward. Mike Vrabel recovered along the sideline and pitched to Willie McGinest, who was hauled down by his facemask.

The long and short of it is that all the penalties offset, and New York retained possession, leading to their field goal. The officials ruled that Richard Seymour had facemasked someone prior to the fumble, Vrabel's pitch was illegally forward, and the facemask on McGinest offset Seymour's. Had the play stood as a fumble, it could have been a major blow to any momentum the Jets had. The Pats could have exploited the turnover. It could have been a shutout. It could have been a blowout.

Two plays later, Mike Nugent kicked a 38-yard field goal to tie the game at three. Following the ensuing kickoff, which Mike Cloud returned 15 yards to the Patriot 40, New England passed their way down the field in 60 seconds, and Vinatieri hit a 34-yard field goal to give New England a 6-3 lead at halftime.

Following New York's empty first drive of the second half, the Patriots embarked on another 14-play drive, this one consuming 8:39. The drive was the kind of thing you expected from New England, especially against a team like the Jets. The first three plays were Corey Dillon runs. Then it was a mix of passes and runs, both Dillon and Kevin Faulk carrying. The passes went to receivers and running backs, mostly for short yardage. Andre Davis caught a 21-yard pass early in the series to get the Pats moving. Dillon capped the drive with a 1-yard dive over left guard.

The Patriots led 13-3, and that was that.

New England managed a 22-yard Vinatieri field goal on a 10-play drive that spanned the third and fourth quarters to round out the scoring.

Brady ended 27 of 37 for 271 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He was sacked twice, and also ran four times for 19 yards. Dillon had 65 yards on 16 carries and 19 yards on 4 receptions. Faulk added 35 yards on 10 carries and 46 yards on 4 receptions. Cloud contributed 27 yards on five carries, giving the Patriots 146 yards on the ground, their highest total of the year.

Brown, Branch and David Givens had five catches each. Brown led with 64 yards.

Ellis Hobbs, Tedy Bruschi and Ty Warren each had a total 6 tackles. Hobbs and Bruschi had 4 solo and 2 assists each. Hobbs also had an interception with 4:04 left in the 4th quarter, the game's only turnover. Jarvis Green also had a sack.

Notes:

Vinatieri's 34-yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the first half made Vinatieri the Patriots all time leading scorer with 1,131 points. He passed Patriot kicking legend Gino Cappelletti, who kicked for his 1,130th point on December 20, 1970, making it just under 35 years his record stood. Cappelletti, who is honored with one of the giant player banners ringing the outside of Gillette Stadium is the in-game color analyst on New England Patriot radio broadcasts on WBCN 104.1 FM.

Brady, who is now 4-0 following games in which he's thrown four interceptions, became the third Patriots quarterback with more than 17,000 career yards. He crossed the milestone on a 25-yard pass to Ben Watson on a 2nd-and-7, 5:01 into the game. (TRIVIA: Who remains ahead of Brady, and who did he recently pass?) Brady was also recently announced at Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year.

Former Patriot linebacker Ted Johnson was honored during halftime for his 10-year career with New England.

New England heads to Buffalo next week for a 1 p.m. Start. After that, they host Tampa Bay on Saturday, Dec. 17 (1:30 p.m.), play at the Jets on Christmas Eve (Saturday at 9 p.m.) and host Miami on New Year's Day (Sunday at 1 p.m.)

The Jets host Oakland next Sunday at 1 p.m. Miami is at San Diego at 4:15.

Trivia Answer
Seasons Attempts Comp. Yards Pct TD Int
Drew Bledsoe 1993-01 4,518 2,544 29,657 56.3 166 138
Steve Grogan 1975-90 3,593 1,879 26,886 52.3 182 208
Tom Brady 2000-05 2,442 1,507 17,226 61.6 115 62
Vito "Babe" Parilli 1961-67 2,412 1,140 16,747 47.3 132 138

Just for fun, let's assume the season is over, and Brady has 5 full seasons. We'll multiply his numbers by 1.6 to give him eight full seasons like Bledsoe. Assume his percentage doesn't change dramatically, as it hasn't. Incidentally, Bledsoe's best percentage as a Patriot was 60.2. Another note: These are all the Patriot QBs with more than 100 TDs as Patriots.

Tom Brady 2000-08 3,907 2,411 27,562 61.6 184 99