FOX BOROUGH, Mass. – In this NFL season of weekly gut checks and super-sized comebacks, the New York Jets seemed to have the New England Patriots right where they wanted them midway through the fourth quarter Sunday.
And Gillette Stadium was still packed. No one dared to leave early.
But all the drama was ultimately seized by the home team, as the Patriots exposed a Jets weakness — the run defense — as if it were a scab to be ripped apart.
BenJarvus Green-Ellis right. Green-Ellis left. Green-Ellis up the middle.
The Patriots kept moving the chains with the 215-pound back, and despite knowing exactly what Bill Belichick's team was trying to accomplish — chew the clock — the Jets' 28th-ranked defense was too feeble to do anything about it when it mattered most.
So much for another dramatic comeback. New England gave the ball to Green-Ellis, aka "The Law Firm," 10 times on a 13-play drive that consumed 6 minutes, 21 seconds and ended with Stephen Gostkowski's third field goal, a 28-yarder that iced a 30-21 victory.
"Situational football," Green-Ellis said. "Obviously, you don't want to give them the ball back. … You want to step up to the plate and knock it out of the park."
Green-Ellis, the latest back to shred New York's run defense, finished with a career-high 136 yards on 27 carries — including a 14-yard rumble off a direct snap to convert a crucial third down on the back-breaking march that cemented the Jets' third consecutive loss.
"That's disappointing," Jets linebacker David Harris said. "If you get off the field and get the ball back to the offense, we have a chance to win the game."
In front of his stall in a solemn visitors locker room, Harris seemed particularly disgusted recalling Green-Ellis' run around left end off the direct snap.
"That's a play we've seen on film," he said. "There were a couple 'got-to-have-it' plays, and that was one of them."
The concerns are mounting for the Jets (2-3), whose boisterous coach, Rex Ryan, has proclaimed all year — even during the lockout — that his team was destined to win the Super Bowl.
A week earlier, they were pummeled 34-14 in Baltimore as the Ravens defense dominated a weakened offensive line and returned three turnovers for touchdowns. Before that, they were gashed for 234 rushing yards in a 34-24 loss at the Oakland Raiders.
Now this. Rather than making a grand statement by knocking off the Patriots as they did here in the AFC playoffs in January, the Jets have completed an O-fer on an unusual stretch of three consecutive road games.
Said all-pro cornerback Darrelle Revis, "We've got to stop with the mental mistakes."
On the game-sealing drive — which left Ryan surprised by how committed the Patriots were to running the ball rather than leaning on quarterback Tom Brady — the Jets defense was stung by a error that left them in the wrong alignment that resulted in one of the big plays.
"If you make mistakes against that football team, they burn you," Ryan said of the Patriots. "I mean, they absolutely kill you. And they don't need any help, with the offense that they have."
Ryan said another crucial blown assignment came at the start of the second half, when Brady connected with Wes Welker for a 73-yard completion with a deep throw over the top of the coverage. On the first snap of the half, Welker (five catches, 124 yards) roamed free down the middle of the field, splitting between the cornerback and safety. It set up Brady's 2-yard TD toss to Deion Branch.
"Kind of looked like one of those, 'I got him, you take him (situations),' " Ryan said of the gaffe. "We never had anybody deep."
The Patriots (4-1) will take it, remaining atop the AFC East. Although Brady survived his most physical game of the season — disrupted often by Jets blitzes, knocked down at least a half-dozen times and sacked a season-high four times — he put up another 300-yard game to remain on track to set the NFL's single-season passing yardage record.
Brady completed 24 of 33 passes for 321 yards, with one TD and an interception at the end of the first half. The turnover would more accurately be accounted to tight end Aaron Hernandez, who returned after a two-game layoff because of a knee injury.
Hernandez, open at the goal line, failed to haul in the pass that wound up in the hands of Antonio Cromartie.
That was undoubtedly among the "plethora of mistakes" that left Belichick grumbling.
"We can do better in everything," Belichick said. "Our running game. Passing game. Overall execution. Red area. You can go right down the line. We're not playing a perfect game."
Still, the Patriots' problems pale when compared to the Jets' woes.
New England's defense, which entered the game ranked last in the NFL for yards allowed, produced its best game of the season in snuffing the Jets on three-and-outs on seven of 11 possessions.
Meanwhile, the Patriots offense scored 30 points for a 13th consecutive game, one shy of matching the record set by the St. Louis Rams in 1999-2000.
And they did it with balance. A week after rushing for a season-high 183 yards, the Patriots ran for 152 yards (4.3 per carry) on Sunday.
That's a trend the Patriots, who host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, hope to maintain.
"The running game is a team thing," Belichick said. "The better you run it, the better you can throw it. The better you throw it, the better you should be able to run it. So they kind of play off each other.
"It's hard to keep calling runs when you don't gain anything. After you call three or four of them and you're second-and-10 every time, it's hard to keep calling them, especially if you're moving the ball through the air. If you can match that production and have good, positive gains in the running game and then have them in the passing game, as a play caller, you feel confident and comfortable calling pretty much anything."
As the Patriots showed Sunday, such balance can really pay off at crunchtime.
"We need to do it," Brady said. "We have to run the ball. If they have a lot of DBs out there, then we have to run it. If they put big guys in, we still have to run it. You just can't throw the ball every single down against these guys. They make it too tough.
"We could have done a better job. We'll try to make some improvements and move on to the Cowboys."
And Gillette Stadium was still packed. No one dared to leave early.
But all the drama was ultimately seized by the home team, as the Patriots exposed a Jets weakness — the run defense — as if it were a scab to be ripped apart.
BenJarvus Green-Ellis right. Green-Ellis left. Green-Ellis up the middle.
The Patriots kept moving the chains with the 215-pound back, and despite knowing exactly what Bill Belichick's team was trying to accomplish — chew the clock — the Jets' 28th-ranked defense was too feeble to do anything about it when it mattered most.
So much for another dramatic comeback. New England gave the ball to Green-Ellis, aka "The Law Firm," 10 times on a 13-play drive that consumed 6 minutes, 21 seconds and ended with Stephen Gostkowski's third field goal, a 28-yarder that iced a 30-21 victory.
"Situational football," Green-Ellis said. "Obviously, you don't want to give them the ball back. … You want to step up to the plate and knock it out of the park."
Green-Ellis, the latest back to shred New York's run defense, finished with a career-high 136 yards on 27 carries — including a 14-yard rumble off a direct snap to convert a crucial third down on the back-breaking march that cemented the Jets' third consecutive loss.
"That's disappointing," Jets linebacker David Harris said. "If you get off the field and get the ball back to the offense, we have a chance to win the game."
In front of his stall in a solemn visitors locker room, Harris seemed particularly disgusted recalling Green-Ellis' run around left end off the direct snap.
"That's a play we've seen on film," he said. "There were a couple 'got-to-have-it' plays, and that was one of them."
The concerns are mounting for the Jets (2-3), whose boisterous coach, Rex Ryan, has proclaimed all year — even during the lockout — that his team was destined to win the Super Bowl.
A week earlier, they were pummeled 34-14 in Baltimore as the Ravens defense dominated a weakened offensive line and returned three turnovers for touchdowns. Before that, they were gashed for 234 rushing yards in a 34-24 loss at the Oakland Raiders.
Now this. Rather than making a grand statement by knocking off the Patriots as they did here in the AFC playoffs in January, the Jets have completed an O-fer on an unusual stretch of three consecutive road games.
Said all-pro cornerback Darrelle Revis, "We've got to stop with the mental mistakes."
On the game-sealing drive — which left Ryan surprised by how committed the Patriots were to running the ball rather than leaning on quarterback Tom Brady — the Jets defense was stung by a error that left them in the wrong alignment that resulted in one of the big plays.
"If you make mistakes against that football team, they burn you," Ryan said of the Patriots. "I mean, they absolutely kill you. And they don't need any help, with the offense that they have."
Ryan said another crucial blown assignment came at the start of the second half, when Brady connected with Wes Welker for a 73-yard completion with a deep throw over the top of the coverage. On the first snap of the half, Welker (five catches, 124 yards) roamed free down the middle of the field, splitting between the cornerback and safety. It set up Brady's 2-yard TD toss to Deion Branch.
"Kind of looked like one of those, 'I got him, you take him (situations),' " Ryan said of the gaffe. "We never had anybody deep."
The Patriots (4-1) will take it, remaining atop the AFC East. Although Brady survived his most physical game of the season — disrupted often by Jets blitzes, knocked down at least a half-dozen times and sacked a season-high four times — he put up another 300-yard game to remain on track to set the NFL's single-season passing yardage record.
Brady completed 24 of 33 passes for 321 yards, with one TD and an interception at the end of the first half. The turnover would more accurately be accounted to tight end Aaron Hernandez, who returned after a two-game layoff because of a knee injury.
Hernandez, open at the goal line, failed to haul in the pass that wound up in the hands of Antonio Cromartie.
That was undoubtedly among the "plethora of mistakes" that left Belichick grumbling.
"We can do better in everything," Belichick said. "Our running game. Passing game. Overall execution. Red area. You can go right down the line. We're not playing a perfect game."
Still, the Patriots' problems pale when compared to the Jets' woes.
New England's defense, which entered the game ranked last in the NFL for yards allowed, produced its best game of the season in snuffing the Jets on three-and-outs on seven of 11 possessions.
Meanwhile, the Patriots offense scored 30 points for a 13th consecutive game, one shy of matching the record set by the St. Louis Rams in 1999-2000.
And they did it with balance. A week after rushing for a season-high 183 yards, the Patriots ran for 152 yards (4.3 per carry) on Sunday.
That's a trend the Patriots, who host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, hope to maintain.
"The running game is a team thing," Belichick said. "The better you run it, the better you can throw it. The better you throw it, the better you should be able to run it. So they kind of play off each other.
"It's hard to keep calling runs when you don't gain anything. After you call three or four of them and you're second-and-10 every time, it's hard to keep calling them, especially if you're moving the ball through the air. If you can match that production and have good, positive gains in the running game and then have them in the passing game, as a play caller, you feel confident and comfortable calling pretty much anything."
As the Patriots showed Sunday, such balance can really pay off at crunchtime.
"We need to do it," Brady said. "We have to run the ball. If they have a lot of DBs out there, then we have to run it. If they put big guys in, we still have to run it. You just can't throw the ball every single down against these guys. They make it too tough.
"We could have done a better job. We'll try to make some improvements and move on to the Cowboys."
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