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Brady, Pats hold off Jets

Oct 17, 2014 - 5:11 AM Foxboro, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - The New England Patriots possessed the ball for less than 20 minutes.

It was still enough time for Tom Brady to make it work.

He sure loves Thursdays.

Brady tossed three touchdown passes and Chris Jones blocked Nick Folk's 58- yard field goal attempt on the final play of the game to help the New England Patriots hang on for a 27-25 win over the New York Jets.

Trailing 27-19, Geno Smith tossed a 10-yard score to Jeff Cumberland on a 3rd- and-6 with 2:31 remaining to get the Jets within two, but Smith overshot Jace Amaro on the ensuing two-point conversion.

New York's defense, though, forced a three-and-out after a failed onside kick attempt and the Jets regained possession at their own 12 with 1:06 left and no timeouts.

Smith led the Jets to the Patriots' 40, but Folk drove his kick too low and Jones got his right hand on the ball to preserve New England's third straight win.

Brady, who has thrown nine touchdown passes without an interception during the winning streak, was 20-of-37 for 261 yards for New England (5-2), which won despite possessing the ball for just 19:06.

Brady moved to 7-0 in his career on Thursdays, tossing 16 touchdowns compared to just two interceptions.

"They were 1-5 and they gave us everything we could handle," he said. "They played good. Played good on offense and played good on defense when they needed to. We didn't play as well as we can and need to get back to work tomorrow."

Another reason for New England's resurgence the last three weeks, the emergence of its tight ends. The Patriots received 188 total yards from their tight ends during their 2-2 start, but have supplied 391 since.

Shane Vereen, filling in for the injured Stevan Ridley, caught five passes for 71 yards and two touchdowns and added 43 yards rushing on 11 carries. Rob Gronkowski had five receptions for 68 yards in the triumph.

The Jets took advantage of the absence of Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo, keeping the clock moving and gashing the Patriots for 218 yards on the ground. New England came in allowing 111 yards per game rushing.

Chris Ivory carried the ball 21 times for 107 yards and a score and Chris Johnson supplied 61 yards on 13 totes for the Jets (1-6), who have dropped six straight games for the first time during the Rex Ryan era.

"I think we'll be just fine," Ryan said. "We're going to fight our butts off and it doesn't matter who's in front of us or whatever. We know we're good enough to win."

New York hasn't lost six in a row since 2007.

Geno Smith completed 20-of-34 passes for 226 yards and a touchdown and Eric Decker hauled in four receptions for 65 yards in defeat.

The Jets kept the ball for 22:03 of the possible 30 minutes in the first half, but settled for field goals on each of their four possessions and trailed 17-12 at the break.

They were able to find the end zone on their fifth touch.

Smith hit Decker for a gain of 14 yards on a 3rd-and-4 at the Jets' own 38 and then found him for 18 more yards to the New England 8 on an ensuing 3rd- and-12.

Ivory capped off the 11-play, 80-yard march with a 1-yard TD plunge to give New York a 19-17 lead.

Stephen Gostkowski nailed a 36-yard field goal on the following New England sequence to put it back in front late in the third and the Patriots' defense forced punts on the next three Jets' drives.

On a 3rd-and-goal from the Jets' 19, Brady was flushed to his left and Amendola adjusted his route upfield along the left seam before hauling in the 19-yard TD pass to give the Patriots a 27-19 advantage midway through the fourth.

Earlier, New England opened the scoring just 1:29 into the game after Vereen got free behind the New York secondary along the right sideline and made a diving catch at the 3 before sliding into the end zone.

The Jets drove into the red zone on their first two series, but a pair of holding penalties forced them to settle for two Folk field goals of 22 and 47 yards.

New York's next touch stalled inside the New England 30 again and Folk split the uprights from 46 yards out for its first lead midway through the second.

At this point, the Jets had racked up 10 first downs. The Patriots on the other hand had run just 10 total plays.

Brady, however, led New England down the field on its next possession and found Vereen for a 3-yard score for a 14-9 cushion with 4:22 to go until the break.

Folk and Gostkowski exchanged field goals of 27 and 39 yards, respectively, to close the half.

Game Notes

The Patriots were 6-of-13 on third down, while New York finished 9-of-16 ... The Jets outgained New England, 423-323 ... New York ran 80 plays compared to 53 for the Patriots.