The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Brady sets record, Pats, phantom call beat Jets, 24-17
Patriots aided when replay takes TD away from Jets
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Tom Brady’s record-setting victory was hardly smooth and easy. It also wasn’t the prettiest of his 187 regularseason wins.
Brady, who broke a tie with Peyton Manning and Brett Favre, had to rally the New England Patriots from a two-touchdown deficit in the first half before holding on for a 24-17 win over the New York Jets on Sunday to claim first place in the AFC East.
“I wish we had done better, but we won,” said Brady, who was limited early in the week with a sore left shoulder. “Probably a lot to learn from it. I wish we could have played better offensively. We got down early and came back. A good series before the half. We hung in there at the end.”
The Patriots (4-2) were playing their first game in 10 days after beating Tampa Bay 19-14 on Oct. 5, and appeared a bit rusty early as they fell behind 14-0 in the second quarter against the surprising Jets (3-3).
“This was something we needed,” said safety Devin McCourty, who had an interception. “We haven’t played particularly well in the fourth quarter. I thought this was big for us as a team to win when we had to play well in the fourth quarter.”
New York had a chance to tie the game after getting the ball back with 1:53 remaining, but the Patriots’ 32ndranked overall defense held on — forcing Josh McCown to throw incomplete on a desperation heave on fourth-and-16 from the Patriots 49, and ending the Jets’ three-game winning streak.
“The mood in this locker room,” running back Matt Forte said, “is we gave the game away.”
Brady, who already had the NFL mark for total victories, was visibly frustrated early, but got going in this one just before halftime as the Patriots tied it at 14-14 with 9 seconds left in the second quarter on a 2-yard TD catch by Rob Gronkowski .
Brady then marched the Patriots down the field on their opening drive of the second half, going eight plays and 75 yards to give New England its first lead at 21-14 with a 33-yard pass to Gronkowski.
After Stephen Gostkowski’s 28yard field goal made it 24-14 50 seconds into the fourth quarter, New York appeared to make it a one-score game again on its next possession as Austin Seferian-Jenkins took a short pass from McCown and reached over the goal line for a 4-yard touchdown .
But officials reviewed the score and said the video replay showed that Seferian-Jenkins slightly lost control of the ball when Malcolm Butler nudged it loose as the tight end was crossing the plane of the goal line. Seferian-Jenkins didn’t regain control until after he had stepped out of bounds, resulting in a touchback — despite the ball never hitting the ground. That gave the Patriots back the ball, with the Jets’ sideline irate.
“I feel like I scored,” SeferianJenkins said. “But at the end of the day, that’s what the refs called. I’m going to go with what the refs said. But I’ve got to have better ball security.”