Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Jets quarterback Geno Smith avoided two more Patriots while scrambling on his way to a third-quarter touchdown
.
John Dunn for The New York Times
Nick Folk connected on a 42-yard field goal to give the Jets the victory in overtime.
Now they were in overtime, in field-goal range, just one kick by Nick
Folk validating them, for this week anyway. When it was over, when
Folk’s 42-yarder clinched yet another wild victory for his team, the
Jets scurried off the field, as if they did not want to risk it being
taken away from them.
The Jets snapped a five-game losing streak to their fiercest rival
Sunday at MetLife Stadium, withstanding a fourth-quarter comeback by New
England to win, 30-27, and draw within a game of the first-place
Patriots in the A.F.C. East.
The ending was contentious. A 56-yard attempt by Folk had fluttered
wide, but a personal-foul penalty on Chris Jones of New England gave the
Jets a first down, and they took advantage. All four of the Jets’
victories have come when they have been trailing or tied in the fourth
quarter.
Trailing by 27-21, New England forced overtime with two fourth-quarter
field goals by Stephen Gostkowski, including the tying 44-yarder with 16
seconds remaining.
From afar, the Jets had watched all this before. They had watched Tom Brady
in the fourth quarter, watched him carve up opposing defenses and
engineer comebacks and lead New England to victory after victory.
Mostly, they watched it on television, including the latest edition,
last week against New Orleans.
Now they were watching it — Brady, New England, the comeback — on their
home field. Taking over at his own 8-yard line with 2 minutes 10 seconds
remaining, Brady drove the Patriots 66 yards, barely missing what could
have been a go-ahead touchdown when Rob Gronkowski, making his season
debut, could not make a one-handed grab of a high pass.
As if to inculcate the importance of Sunday’s game, Ryan ordered his
players to abstain last week from any chores or household duties, even
offering to write them the football equivalent of a doctor’s note. All
week the Jets took umbrage at the suggestion that they had little
influence on Brady’s subpar effort in the teams’ first meeting, on Sept.
12.
They held Brady to 22 for 46 and 228 yards, a performance that paled —
in the second half, certainly — to that of Geno Smith, who overcame a
first-quarter interception returned for a touchdown to finish 17 for 33
for 233 yards.
Trailing by 21-10 at halftime, the Jets adjusted. They generated
pressure on Brady, all from their monstrous front seven. Quinton Coples
and Muhammad Wilkerson and Damon Harrison sacked him. Antonio Allen
intercepted him, reviving the crowd with a 23-yard touchdown return. All
that occurred within the Patriots’ first nine plays in the second half.
Brady looked addled, flustered, discombobulated. He looked the opposite
of Smith. Under duress, Smith whipped a 27-yard pass on third down to
David Nelson, to the New England 20. On a third-and-14, he finished a
14-yard scramble by bouncing off Marquise Cole, then falling forward to
gain that final yard. His finest run came two plays later, when, flushed
right, he zipped past Cole, who tried tackling Smith’s ghost as he
rumbled into the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown, putting the Jets
ahead, 24-21, with 4:33 left in the third quarter.
The Jets’ first series was impressive. It was efficient. It was also a
first-half aberration. On that first drive, the Jets marched 80 yards in
12 plays, scoring their first touchdown in 15 possessions on a 12-yard
toss from Smith to Jeremy Kerley. Their next six drives produced more
points for the Patriots (7) than for themselves (3).
About those 7 points gifted to New England. The Jets’ 13-10 loss on
Sept. 12 irks Smith, has ever since the team bus left Gillette Stadium
that night. Smith regrets his poor throws, his bad decisions, his three
fourth-quarter interceptions that sealed the Jets’ demise — but all of
the remorse and penance he could muster did not mean that he would stop
making mistakes.
Logan Ryan stepped in front of a pass intended for Nelson and, with
acres of space ahead of him, galloped 79 yards for a touchdown. The
score lifted the Patriots to their first lead of the game, 14-7. Soon,
their advantage would swell, to 21-10, when Stevan Ridley closed the
first-half scoring with a 17-yard touchdown run.
