FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes to lead the New England Patriots to a 27-25 victory over the New York Jets that came down to the last play.
Chris Jones blocked Nick Folk’s 58-yard field goal attempt and the defensive tackle’s teammates rushed onto the field to celebrate their surprisingly tough win Thursday night.
It was Folk’s first miss of the season after he boosted his total to 13 straight with four field goals in the first half.
The Jets (1-6) suffered their sixth straight loss, the longest streak in Rex Ryan’s six seasons as coach, after taking a 19-17 lead with just under 9 minutes left in the third quarter on Chris Ivory’s 1-yard run.
Stephen Gostkowski put the Patriots (5-2) ahead to stay with his second field goal, a 36-yarder with 4:10 to go in the third. Brady’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola gave them an eight-point lead with 4:10 remaining.
The Jets made it 27-25 on Geno Smith’s 10-yard scoring pass to Jeff Cumberland with 2:31 left, but Smith’s pass for the 2-point conversion was incomplete.
Ivory finished with 107 yards rushing.
The end of the game was eerily similar to the team’s meeting in East Rutherford last year when Folk missed a 56-yarder in overtime. But Jones was penalized 15 yards for pushing the defensive line forward and Folk connected from 41 yards on his second chance, giving the Jets a 30-27 victory.
Each team played Thursday without two key starters who went on season-ending injured reserve after being hurt Sunday — cornerback Dee Milliner and left guard Brian Winters for the Jets and linebacker Jerod Mayo and running back Stevan Ridley for the Patriots.
The Patriots led 17-12 at halftime despite having the ball for just 7:57, while the Jets held it for 22:03.
The Jets got inside the New England 30 on all four of their first-half possessions. But they managed just four field goals by Folk, covering 22, 47, 46 and 27 yards.
The Patriots went three-and-out on two of their possessions in the half but made the most of the other two as Brady threw touchdown passes to Shane Vereen — a 49-yarder on their fourth offensive play and a 3-yarder that made it 14-9 with 4:22 left in the half.
After Folk’s fourth field goal, the Patriots got the ball with 55 seconds remaining in the half. On third-and-10 at the New York 44, Antonio Allen was called for defensive pass interference on Danny Amendola, putting the ball at the 12.
An unnecessary roughness penalty against guard Jordan Devey pushed the ball back to the 27. After a 6-yard run by Vereen, Gostkowski kicked a 39-yard field goal on the last play of the half.
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