The New England Patriots have been the talk of the league in these first six weeks. The majority of the chatter has been towards head coach Bill Belichick and his QB Tom Brady. Brady has been patronized and attacked for not being the QB America has known during his successful career. 

Brady and the Patriots quieted some of the hatred last week when he threw for 361 yards and 4 touchdowns against the Buffalo Bills.

This week’s challenge came in a quick turn around against a fierce division rival, the New York “football” Jets. Brady and the Patriots were thrown all they could handle while barely squeaking out the 27-25 win at Gillette Stadium. 

The two teams had previously met four times before Thursday night, with the Patriots owning the 3-1 advantage. Their Thanksgiving 2012 meeting featured the infamous “Butt Fumble,” where past Jets QB Mark Sanchez ran into his own lineman and fumbled the football. Sorry your time was wasted in telling you what the “butt fumble” is as everyone knows what it is from it being replayed for 2 years on ESPN. 

Jets tight end Jeff Cumberland caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Geno Smith with 2:31 to play. The Jets then attempted a two-point conversion to tie the game, but Smith’s pass for tight end Jace Amaro was off the mark.

The Jets lined up to kick the onside hoping to give them one last chance, but Patriots wideout Danny Amendola recovered the Jets’ ensuing kick.

Then the New York Jets do what they do best. Show up big in big moments against the Patriots. The Jets forced a three-and-out which gave themselves one more chance. 

With no timeouts remaining, the Jets had just slightly over a minute to march down the field to put themselves within field-goal range for kicker Nick Folk.

Folk stood on the sideline with confidence as he was 4-4 in FG attempts.

The Jets ended up making their way down field to just get close enough to line up for a 58-yarder. Except this time, Folk’s kick was blocked to end the game. Patriots defensive end, Chris Jones recorded the block.

Brady followed up his strong game by going 20-of-37 for 261 yards and three touchdowns. His main target on the night was running back Shane Vereen, who had five receptions for 71 yards and two touchdowns. Vereen added 47 yards rushing in his added workload due to Steven Ridley’s injury last week. 

Jets fans will undoubtedly be dispirited by the loss, but the running game showed signs of life in addition to Smith’s promising display. The team has a couple of winnable matchups on the schedule ahead in the coming weeks.

New York is at home for two of its next three games. The Jets play the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers at MetLife Stadium. In between, they travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs. Their bye comes in Week 11.

The Patriots stay on the road for the next two weeks. They have the Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos before their bye in Week 10.