Patriots-Jets Live Blog

7:49 PM: Sanchez fumbles as he reaches back to throw and New England recovers. The referees review the play just to be sure, and the ruling on the field stands. With their 29-26 victory secure, the 4-3 Patriots now lead the AFC East.

7:41 PM: Gostkowski comes through again! His 48-yard field goal gives New England a three point lead in overtime. Now the defense has to finish the job.

7:31 PM: New England wins the toss and will receive the overtime kickoff. Hopefully the momentum from their game-tying drive carries over.

7:30 PM: Brady gets Stephen Gostkowski into field goal range after three quick passes. Gostkowski shanked the game-winning touchdown against Arizona in Week 2, but this time he splits the uprights and forces overtime. Redemption.

7:25 PM: Folk drills another 43-yard field goal. New York has scored 13 unanswered points to take the lead. The Pats have 97 seconds to make some magic happen. Let's go.

7:18 PM: McCourty fumbles on the kick return. Jets recover with 2:01 to play. I think I'm gonna be sick. Tebow, the miracle worker, comes in. He's been nowhere near as effective this year as he was last year. He doesn't scare me.

7:16 PM: Stephen Hill drops a wide open pass that would've given New York a first down, so the Jets have to settle for 43-yard field goal from Folk. Game is tied at 23, but Brady has three timeouts and more than two minutes of clock to work with. I like New England's chances.

7:10 PM: Three and out for Brady and company. Jets will get the ball back with more than four minutes to rally. Plenty of time to mount a comeback, even for Sanchez and his short passes.

7:03 PM: Sanchez threads the needle, hitting Dustin Keller in the end zone to cap a 92-yard drive on 14 plays. New England leads 23-20. I start having flashbacks to last week's fourth quarter meltdown in Seattle. Trying to block them out.

6:46 PM: Start of the fourth quarter. New England leads 23-13.

6:40 PM: Brady hits Gronkowski again for their second touchdown of the game. Gronk has been giving New York's defense fits all day.

6:36 PM: Patriots respond with solid drive of their own. Weird play where Hernandez fumbles and Jets recover in the end zone for a touchback.  Belichick challenges the play. It's overturned because Hernandez was already down.

6:19 PM: Jets open the second half with a drive that culminates with a 21-yard field goal. New England leads 16-13.

6 PM: Halftime.

5:57 PM Nick Folk's 54 yard field goal is good. New England leads 16-10 despite having a mediocre half on offense. On the other hand, their defense looked quite good.

5:52 PM: Sanchez running the hurry-up offense. No huddles.

5:50 PM: Two minute warning.

5:46 PM: Sanchez moving the chains with short passes. He seems afraid to throw it deep even though New England has a horrible secondary.

5:40 PM: Patriots unable to add to their lead. This game is still too close for comfort.

5:29 PM: Sanchez struggling with accuracy on this cool, fall New England day. No surprise there. The Patriots record their first interception in three weeks.

5:20 PM: New England has been running the ball much more this season to make their offense more well-rounded. The Patriots are averaging 152 yards per game on the ground, most since their 1983 season. Brady sacked for nine yard loss on third down, leading to punt.

5:18 PM: Shonn Greene fumbles handoff, which Sanchez kicks, giving the Patriots their first safety since 2006. The Pats lead 16-7 and have already scored on offense, defense and special teams.

5:10 PM: End of first quarter. Patriots lead 14-7.

5:08 PM: Brady delivers a perfect bomb to Brandon Lloyd off the play-action, but Brandon Lloyd can't hang on. Disappointing. It's always so frustrating when the quarterback makes an excellent pass, but the receiver wastes it.

5:04 PM: Jets fumble, but recover. Sanchez fails to convert one of his signature slant passes on 3rd and 3, so the Jets punt it away. No offensive rhythm for New York so far in the early going.

4:57 PM: The announcers talk about how Rob Gronkowski isn't playing at 100 percent. Moments later, he hauls in a misplaced ball by Brady and dives into the end zone with his fourth touchdown catch of the season. A depleted Gronk is still a beast.

4:52 PM: Mark Sanchez sacked and the Jets punt the ball away. Hopefully Brady's second offensive series is more productive than his first.

4:46 PM: New York's lead is short-lived. McCourty returns the kickoff for a 104-yard touchdown against the team that led the league in kickoff coverage last season. It is just the eighth kickoff return of his career. Game tied at 7.

4:44 PM: Announcers refer to the Patriots defense as "vulnerable." That's putting it nicely. The Jets score on their first drive. New York leads 7-0.

4:26 PM: First play, first down for New England. 11-yard pass from Tom Brady to Shane Vereen. Vereen, whose status for today's game remained uncertain for most of the week, touches the ball on the first three possessions. It will be interesting to see if he plays a big role in New England's offensive attack today.

4:26 PM: Jets win the coin toss, but elect to kick off. Touchback.

Patriots Lose Heartbreaker

The New York Giants have beaten the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. 

Again. 

The New England Patriots were the better regular season team.  They dominated teams with their prolific offense, only to be held to under 20 points in the season's biggest game.

Again.

The Pats held a lead late in the fourth quarter and seemed to have the game wrapped up, only to watch Eli Manning lead a heroic game-winning drive.

Again.

There was just enough time for Brady to pull off a miracle of Tim Tebow proportions, and despite coming tantalizingly close (nearly connected on Hail Marys to Randy Moss in '08 and Gronk last night) he couldn't make it happen.

Again.

Eli has twice as many Super Bowl rings as big brother Peyton Manning.

Unfathomable.

I'm still recovering, and don't really want to talk about this, so I will be brief.

Super Bowl XVLI played out much like the big game did four years ago, when a star-crossed 18-0 Patriots squad was on the brink of victory, only to watch it slip through their fingers.  New York held a limping Rob Gronkowski (high ankle sprain) to just two catches, but then again ill-timed injuries are nothing new to Boston sports teams.  There was Ted Williams and Jim Rice getting hit by pitches before eventual World Series defeats.  There was Kevin McHale playing through a broken foot against the Lakers in '87, Kevin Garnett blowing out his knee in 2009 and Kendrick Perkins going down in Game 6 of the Finals the following year.  Brady himself was lost for the entire 2008 season, and although backup Matt Cassel did his best that year, New England missed the playoffs by one win.  Surely if you replace Cassel with Brady, the Pats win one more game, right?

Granted, we all knew this Patriots team was flawed.  The defense was shoddy, the O line inconsistent, and the team lacked a true deep threat that could stretch opposing defenses and allow Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez, Branch and Gronk to punch holes through the secondary.  But this 9-7 Giants squad was a team of destiny.  By all rights they shouldn't have been a playoff team in the first place, then they reel off four straight postseason victories.  They caught all the right breaks at the right times.  Three times they fumbled and the only time New England recovered one, they had twelve men on the field.  The unflappable Brady got slapped with an intentional grounding (after an incredibly fortunate bounce off the punt) while standing inside the end zone, and down the stretch his normally reliable receivers played like their hands were slathered in butter.  They coughed up an early 9-0 lead and nearly let New England run away with the game in the second half.  Mario Manningham, not quite David Tyree on this night, but in the same zip code, hauled in a 38 yard bomb and barely got both feet in before Patrick Chung laid him out, and then when the Pats were trying to pull off the ultimate comeback Deion Branch just missed making a similar play.

In games as close as these, the final outcome almost always decided by a handful of big plays and the team that makes them.  In 2008, and again in 2012, the Giants made them, and the Patriots didn't.

That's it.  That's all there is.

Oh, and the Patriots might be cursed.  These losses could be karma for SpyGate and the Brady/Moynihan child out of wedlock.  I seem to remember that Boston's baseball team opened the previous century with a dynasty, only to suffer through decades of unimaginable torment and suffering after letting the team fall into the wrong hands (Frazee and Yawkey) and giving away some guy named Ruth.  And didn't those guys lose a lot of games to New York, too?

I think I'm gonna be sick.  When do pitchers and catchers report to spring training, again?

Patriots Decimate Denver, Advance to Conference Finals

I'll admit it, going into the postseason I didn't have too much confidence in the New England Patriots. Even though many have pegged them as Super Bowl favorites, the Pats were heavily favored last year, too, and we all know how that turned out.  More importantly, this year's squad provided plenty of reasons to doubt them; they had yet to put together 60 minutes of good football, don't run the ball particularly well, and their shoddy defense had just set the NFL record for most passing yards allowed in a season.  Sure, the Patriots are always dangerous, but they've only reached the Super Bowl once since 2005, and all those early playoff exits drained my confidence in them.  I was pessimistic about their chances, and conceded here that these Patriots were a flawed bunch and it wouldn't surprise me if they failed to make it out of January alive.

My initial doubts soon transformed into visions of victory

But after the Broncos (who the Patriots beat 41-23 in Week 15 to clinch their playoff berth) upset the Steelers (one of the three teams to beat the Pats this year) last weekend, I flip-flopped.  As Tebowmania reached its zenith, I told anyone who would listen that not only would the Patriots win, but also that they would crush Denver.  Blow them out of Gillette.  Tim Tebow would crap the bed, because he had exhausted his supply of magic pixie dust that had sustained all those miraculous comebacks.  The overhyped Tebow was in over his head; he had overachieved for so long that it was only a matter of time before he crashed back to Earth and reminded everyone why they thought he was a mediocre quarterback in the first place.  In addition, the Broncos were a perfect matchup for the Patriots, because Tebow isn't a good passer and wouldn't be able to exploit New England's awful defense.  And while Denver's defense was strong, it was nothing the always prepared Tom Brady and Bill Belichick couldn't handle.

Brady, as always, was at the top of his game

Sure enough, the Pats stomped all over the Broncos.  They came out guns blazing and quickly ran up the score.  The game was over by halftime, when New England led 35-7 and finally took their foot off the gas as they cruised to a 45-10 laugher.  Brady, the defending MVP who took a backseat while everyone fawned over Tebow all week, reminded everyone why he's an all-time great by reeling off six touchdown passes (five in the first half) to match the postseason single game record set by Steve Young and Daryle Lamonica (affectionately known as the "Mad Bomber").  Denver had no answer for him or Rob Gronkowski, who hauled in three of Brady's TDs.  Fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez also snagged a touchdown, but threw the Broncos D a curveball by getting five carries and gaining 61 rushing yards.  On the other side of the ball, New England's 31st ranked defense formed the Great Wall of Foxborough and recorded five sacks.  The overmatched Broncos quickly hoisted the white flag, running the ball throughout the second half instead of trying to hit home runs with long passes.  The only time they showed any life at all was when Von Miller started a brawl by blindsiding Dan Connolly after Brady booted a 48 yard punt on third and ten in the fourth, with the game well out of reach.

As for Tebow, the miracle worker who walks on water and heals the sick? No touchdowns and 136 passing yards with just nine completions (three in the first half) in 26 attempts.  He didn't throw any interceptions, but he helped give New England momentum by fumbling the ball early in the first quarter.  It was a disappointing, but rather predictable, ending to Tebow's three month stretch of glory.

Bundle up, Tim. It's gonna be a long winter.

Next Sunday, New England will square off with the winner of today's Ravens/Texans matchup.  The Texans will be a much easier matchup, since they don't have a quarterback, so hopefully they can beat Joe Flacco this afternoon.

Pats Clip Colts

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Patriots were coasting.  They'd thoroughly routed their winless rivals and, armed with a commanding 31-3 lead, just had to cruise through garbage time to earn their ninth win of the season.  All they had to do was play out the string, literally.

But then a funny thing happened.  The Colts, without Payton Manning yet again and sleepwalking their way to another defeat, suddenly came back to life quicker than a zombie in "The Walking Dead." Stand-in QB Dan Orlovsky rallied his troops with a pair of TD passes to Pierre Garcon (who enjoyed a monster day by hauling in nine passes for 150 yards) while Indy's D put the screws on New England's devastating offense and kept them off the scoreboard in the fourth. By the end of the game they'd dominated the final fifteen minutes and had somehow managed to cut New England's lead to a single touchdown.  And with every Patriot fan in Gillette sweating bullets, Deion Branch thankfully recovered the onside kick and Tom Brady took a knee to hold on for the win.

New England's defensive struggles and fourth quarter meltdown aside, this afternoon's game was just business as usual for the Pats.  Brady did his thing, leading the air attack with a very efficient 29/38 for 289 yards and a couple touchdowns to Rob Gronkowski (who made it a hat trick with a rushing TD) while keeping Wes Welker happy with eleven receptions and 110 yards.  New England didn't get much on the ground from BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who managed to score despite finishing the day with just fourteen rushing yards on six carries.  Even New England's much-maligned defense performed well for the most part, holding to Colts to just a second quarter Adam Vinatieri field goal before collapsing like a house of cards at the end.

The Pats take on the Redskins (4-8) in the nation's capital next Sunday as they continue to benefit from a soft schedule down the stretch.  New England will be gunning for its tenth victory of the season, and should get it there.

Patriots, Offense Bounce Back

The last month or so has been pretty rough on New England and its potent offensive attack, which had scored at least 30 points during its first five games but then failed to top 20 over its next three.  The Patriots rely so heavily on their passing game that they really struggled when defenses started keying in on Wes Welker, Chad Ochocinco went AWOL and Deion Branch didn't pick up the slack.  Consequently, Tom Brady's numbers took a hit and more often than not the team found itself kicking the ball away or settling for short-range field goals.

New England is #1...in the AFC East at least

But last night marked a return to form for Brady and his bunch, who beat the Jets (in New York this time) for the second time this year to reinforce their 30-21 triumph at Gillette during Columbus Day weekend.  In front of scores of veterans Tom was terrific once again, needing only 26 completions to total 329 yards and a trio of touchdowns.  Rob Gronkowski, who leads all NFL tight ends in six-pointers since the start of last season, hauled in two of them (Branch snagged the other) while Ochocinco contributed 65 yards on just two catches.  Stephen Gostkowski banged home three field goals, including a beautiful 50 yarder to get the scoring started in the first.

New England only led 13-9 at the half, but proceeded to pour it on after the break.  They started pulling away in the third by tacking ten points onto their lead while the defense held Mark Sanchez (306 yards, 20/39, one TD and two picks) and the Jets scoreless.  New York trimmed the lead to seven early in the fourth on a Sanchez-Plaxico Burress connection, but the Pats responded with two touchdowns of their own to put the game away.  The defense does deserve some credit for keeping New York off the board in the first and third quarters, whereas New England scored in all four.

The 37-16 win vaulted New England (6-3) into first place in the AFC East and proved they, not the Jets nor Bills (both 5-4), are still the top-dog in the division.  The Pats return home for their Week 11 Monday night tilt with a thoroughly mediocre Chiefs squad (4-5) in their last game before Turkey Day.

Brady, Pats Top Cowboys

Surprise! Brady does it again

The Patriots had just gone down, 16-13, and this series looked like their last chance.  2:30 to go, the pigskin (and the game) in Tom Brady's hands and his 30 start winning streak at Gillette on the line.

This was exactly the kind of pressure situation he relishes with circumstances he always seems to overcome.  Was there ever any doubt he would deliver the way has time and time again throughout the past decade?

Sure, he'd thrown a couple picks earlier in the game, but that might as well have been ancient history.  You just knew he was going to at least push New England into field goal range, regardless of his struggles against the Dallas defense that afternoon.

And wouldn't you know it, Tom Terrific delivered again.  He needed little more than two minutes to move the ball 78 yards, a methodical drive of short/medium passes underneath the coverage that culminated in a perfect throw to Aaron Hernandez cutting through the middle of the end zone with 22 seconds remaining.

Just another day at the office for New England's quarterback, who clocked out with 289 yards and a pair of TDs (the other went to his go-to target, Wes Welker, who had an otherwise quiet day) on 27/41 passing.  He spread the ball between Branch, Gronkowski, Hernandez, and Welker to keep the offense balanced against a strong defensive effort from Rob Ryan's D. 

Once again New England's much maligned defense was solid, coming up with a critical stop/forcing a punt in the series before Brady's game winning drive and limiting Tony Romo and the Cowboys to just one touchdown.  The Patriot D really shut the door on third down by holding Dallas to just four conversions in thirteen attempts.

Ironically, this game was supposed to be a high-scoring slugfest between two high-powered offenses, but it quickly dissolved into a sloppy mess of turnovers and failed drives.  Both teams combined for six turnovers (three picks and three fumbles) while settling for a pair of short-range field goals.  The Pats actually went up 13-3 in the second quarter but came up empty in the second half before Brady saved the day.

With the Bills falling to the Giants, 27-24, New England (5-1) grabbed first place in the AFC East.  They have a bye for Week 7, but will return to the gridiron the following week in Pittsburgh for a showdown with the Steelers.

Patriots 30, Jets 21

Green-Ellis eludes New York's defense

In their first meeting since the Jets sent the Patriots packing back in January, New England avenged its playoff loss to their hated rivals from New York last Sunday at Gillette.

The offense, for the second week in a row, proved it could put points on the board without relying on Tom Brady to heave the ball up the field.  Undeterred by New York's defense, the Patriots scored at least 30 points for the thirteenth consecutive regular season game.  Brady led the way with another solid effort, throwing for 321 yards on 24 of 33 passing but with only one TD to Deion Branch in the third quarter to show for it.  Top receiver Wes Welker snagged 124 yards on just five catches, but didn't quite find the endzone. 

Instead, the Pats gave the ball to Green-Ellis and let him do his thing, which on Sunday amounted to a pair of touchdowns and a career high 136 yards on a whopping 27 carries.  Boy, talk about moving the chains.  Ellis has been the unquestioned star of New England's ground game thus far, and can always be counted on when Brady and his receivers hit a rough patch. 

But the real story for New England was its improved defense, which has really picked it up over the past two games despite ranking among the league's worst.  It shut New York out in the first quarter, managed to hold Mark Sanchez to a meager 166 yards and limited the Jets to 255 net yards (New England had 446 by comparison).  Hopefully the D has turned a corner and can continue to get better as the season progresses.

The win moved the Pats to 4-1 while dropping the Jets below .500 to 2-3.  Dallas (2-2) comes to town on Sunday.

Pats Ready to Rumble

With the Patriots only two hours away from kickoff in Miami and memories of the NFL lockout quickly fading away, New England is ready for football season to begin on this beautiful Monday night.  That, and we really need something to take our minds off the slumping Red Sox, who have somehow turned an insurmountable wild card lead into a race with the Tampa Bay Rays. Boston's recent struggles have fans worried about a September collapse, the kind of epic choke that only the Red Sox are capable of.

Thankfully, there is much more optimism on the gridiron.  The Pats have assembled an impressive array of talent this season, leading some pundits over at The Sporting News to predict a 15-1 regular season (why not just go all in and mark 'em down for another 16-0?), especially since New England isn't saddled with a tough schedule this season.  I'm not as optimistic; 13 or 14 wins, the latter representing last season's total, sound about right, and I'm concerned the team might need some time to mesh before it really takes off.  I'm not sure how high-profile newcomers Albert Haynesworth, Chad Ochocinco and BenJarvus Green-Ellis will fit into Bill Belichick's system, and they may need some time to get comfortable and adapt to their new surroundings, teammates and roles. 

Adding big personalities to quiet, professional teams such as the Patriots can cause chemistry issues; look what happened to the New York Yankees from 2002-2008 when they added Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, and Johnny Damon, among others, and couldn't win a World Series.  On the other hand, the Pats thrived in Randy Moss's inaugural season and could enjoy a similar level of success four years later. 

But hopefully they've worked it all out during preseason (not that anyone cares, but they were 2-2) and are good to go tonight, because after the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and the Sox slipping on a banana peel this weekend, we just need to kick back, stoke up some nachos and enjoy a few hours of pure American entertainment. The Dolphins look like a mediocre bunch this year, so they shouldn't pose much of a challenge for Tom Brady and co.

All signs point to an easy win for the Patriots, which is exactly what this city needs.