Jones’ FG block lets Patriots slip by Jets

PATRIOTS 27, JETS 25

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Chris Jones wasn’t going to make the same mistake he did last year when Nick Folk tried another potential winning field goal Thursday night.

This time, the New England defensive tackle didn’t commit a penalty to give the Jets kicker another chance.

Jones blocked Folk’s 58-yard attempt on the final play and the Patriots had just enough offense with Tom Brady’s three touchdown passes to edge surprisingly competitive New York 27-25.

“It’s good to feel that ball hitting my hand and it’s good to get the win,” Jones said. “I just played it legally and did all that I could.”

Last season, Folk was wide left on a 56-yard attempt in overtime, but Jones was penalized under a new rule against players pushing a teammate into the opponent’s formation. Folk then connected from 42 yards, giving the Jets a 30-27 victory.

“After what happened last year, I thought it was fitting that he made that play,” Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said.

Folk’s longest field goal in his career traveled 56 yards, but he had made all 13 of his attempts this year so the 58-yarder was makeable.

“It felt pretty good off my foot,” he said. “I did kick it low, in order to give it enough to get it there.”

But when Jones batted it down, the Patriots (5-2) raced onto the field in celebration of a victory that was much tougher than expected.

The Jets (1-6) suffered their sixth consecutive loss, the longest streak in Rex Ryan’s six seasons as coach, after taking a 19-17 lead with just under nine minutes left in the third quarter on Chris Ivory’s 1-yard run.

Stephen Gostkowski put the Patriots 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 two-point conversion was incomplete.

Ivory finished with 107 yards rushing.

Smith, last in the NFL in passer rating, had a solid game with 20 completions in 34 attempts for 226 yards and no interceptions.

Brady was 20 for 37 for 261 yards and no interceptions.

Each team played 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.

“As a whole offense we needed to step up,” running back Shane Vereen said. “You can’t replace Stevan.”

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

Judge dismisses lawsuit against Cowboys owner

The lawsuit between Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones against a former stripper from Oklahoma is no more.

A note posted on the Dallas County website Thursday said two scheduled hearings in the case — Jana Weckerly’s suit accused Jones of sexually assaulting her at a local hotel in 2009 — had been canceled after the case was settled “per mediator.” Attorneys for Weckerly and Jones later clarified that the suit was dismissed by the judge.

“We are pleased with the court’s judgment against Ms. Weckerly,” Levi McCathern II, the attorney representing the Cowboys and Jones, said in a brief statement sent to The Dallas Morning

News. “Ms. Weckerly’s allegations were false. This case is over.”

Thomas Bowers, Weckerly’s attorney, said he and his client “do not contest the judgment as entered by the court. Neither Jerry Jones nor the Cowboys organization has paid us any money.”

Weckerly, 27, of Ardmore, Okla., had been seeking more than $1 million in damages.

The attorneys were scheduled to meet in court Thursday to argue over McCathern’s motion to dismiss the suit. Jones’ attorney, who had denied Weckerly’s allegations from the beginning, filed documents last week trying to get the case thrown out. Jones’ latest filing said Weckerly’s suit should have been “time-barred by the applicable statutes of limitations.” The motion to dismiss notes that Weckerly claimed the assault took place in June 2009 but waited until September 2014 to file suit.

— Democrat-Gazette Press Services

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 threeand-out on two of their possessions in the half but made the most of the other two as Brady threw touchdown passes to 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 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.