In The Red Zone

Patriots Lead Charge in Jets Demise

Just how bad were the New York Jets on Thursday night in the 49-19 loss to the New England Patriots?

  • QB Tom Brady had 323 yards passing it was the most given up by the Jets defense in a game this season.  The most passing yards allowed in over a year when Brady got them for 329 yards last November.
  • TD passes by Brady of 56-yards to WR Julian Edelman and 83-yards to RB Shane Vereen were the two longest TD passes the Jets have allowed in 2012.  They were also the two longest passes allowed and the two longest plays from scrimmage allowed this season by Rex Ryan’s vaunted defense.
  • Brady had 3 TD passes it was the third time this season the Jets defense has allowed three TD passes in a game.
  • Vereen’s 91 receiving yards and WR Wes Welker’s 7 catches (twice before) were the most allowed in those categories this season by New York.
  • Edelman’s 32-yard punt return was the longest allowed by the Jets this year.
  • The Patriots 2 sacks and 1 INT of Sanchez also matched season highs for New York.
  • The Jets 5 turnovers were a season high and the minus 4 turnover ratio for the game tied a season worse that also occurred on September 30 vs. San Francisco.
  • The 475 total yards by New England shattered the previous season high allowed of 390 to Buffalo on September 9.
  • The 4 fumbles lost set a season high for the Jets.
  • The Patriots also have put up the most points in a game (49) against New York in 2012 and scored the most TD’s with 7.
  • This season the Jets are 0-2 at night and 0-7 when they are negative in the turnover column.
  • S Steve Gregory and Edelman each returned a fumble for a TD the most allowed in one game in Jets history.
  • The 475 total yards by New England was the first time the Jets have allowed more than 400 total yards in a game since December 2011 vs. Philadelphia (420).
  • The 49 points by New England was the first time the Jets have allowed more than 40 points in a game since December 2011 vs. Philadelphia (48).

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Belichick Gets 200th Win

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick reached another milestone on Thanksgiving night when he won his 200th NFL game (regular season and post season combined) in his 18th season as head coach.

After an inauspicious start in Cleveland with the original Browns in which he went 37-45 he has developed into one of the best coaches in NFL History thanks to Patriots owner Robert Kraft felt he was worth a chance and some draft picks prior to the 2000 NFL season.

Kraft’s allegiance to Belichick has paid off handsomely as the coach has gone a remarkable 163-62 run including playoffs as the head honcho in Foxboro.  It also includes the three biggest wins in franchise history that are represented by the three Lombardi Trophies that call Gillette Stadium home.

He is just the 8th coach to achieve 200 wins joining Dan Reeves (201), Marty Schottenheimer (205), Chuck Noll (209), Curly Lambeau (229), Tom Landry (270), George Halas (324) and Don Shula (347). 

For Patriots fans the arrival of Belichick has brought nothing but success.  Coupled with the ownership of the Kraft family the Belichick-era is achieving never before seen heights in New England and there hopefully is no end in sight.

News and Notes

New England DE Jermaine Cunningham was suspended for four games by the NFL on Monday for violating the performing enhancement drug ban per the CBA.  The suspension begins immediately and he will be eligible to return for the seasons final game against Miami on December 30th in Foxboro.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had his weekly day after conference call with the media on Monday.  (patriots.com)

QB Tom Brady had his weekly Patriots Monday call in. (WEEI)

Offensive snaps by skill players vs. New York  (ESPN Boston)

Defensive snaps played vs. Jets (ESPN Boston)

Vereen’s 83-yard TD catch started the ball rolling (ESPN Boston)

How the game was won in 52 seconds (ESPN Boston)

It was a happy homecoming for Gregory (Boston Globe)

It’s been a dominant two games from Wilfork (Boston Globe)

Laughable Jets stage performance of unparalleled ineptitude (Boston Herald)

Patriots defense delivers again (Boston Herald)

Best and Worst Patriots vs. Jets (Boston Herald)

The Patriots revel in beating Jets like this (Boston Herald)

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 155-64.

New England now has a 5-game winning streak after starting the season 3-3.

New England is 3-2 on Thanksgiving games.  The lost in Dallas in 1984; lost to Detroit in 2000 and then beat the Lions in 2002 and 2010 before destroying the Jets tonight.

All three road teams (Houston, Washington and New England) won the Thanksgiving games this year.

Since 2001 the Patriots are 70-16 in games played on Thanksgiving or later.

Since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994 the Patriots are 26-14 vs. the Jets.

The Patriots have swept the Jets 15 times in the series including the last two seasons and they’ve done it 6 times in the Belichick era (2003-05, 07, 11-12)

New England is 57-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001 in the regular season. 

The Patriots are now a combined 19-0 in the second half of the season since 2010.  Their last loss in the second half was in 2009 in the season finale at Houston.

Belichick’s 200 wins are good for 8th all-time.  Former Broncos, Giants and Falcons head coach Dan Reeves is 7th with 201 wins.

Belichick is 20-10 vs. the Jets in his career.  He is 19-9 against them as the head coach in New England and that includes two playoff games (1-1).

Belichick is 3-1 as a head coach in Thanksgiving games.

Tom Brady is 18-5 vs. the Jets including 1-1 in the playoffs.  Overall including playoffs he is 148-44.

Brady has 324 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 43 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 88-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

Brady has 52 games in his career with 300 or more passing yards he is tied for 5th all-time with Kurt Warner.

He has not thrown an INT since Week 6 in Seattle.

Brady tied his career high with his 3rd rushing TD of the year.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 112 consecutive games including playoffs, 95 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker had 7 catches for 71 yards and 1 TD.

For the second game in a row Julian Edelman scored a special teams TD this one on fumble recovery (1st) off of a kick off return.

For the second game in a row Julian Edelman has two TD’s.

Edelman has 4 TD’s in a span of 5 quarters.  Prior he had 4 TD’s in 3.5 years.

Edelman suffered a concussion in the 3rd quarter when he fumbled (1st) after a catch and did not return to the game.

RB Stevan Ridley (21 carries for 97 yards) and RB Shane Vereen (10 for 42) combined for 139 rushing yards on 31 carries.

Vereen also had 2 catches for 91 yards including an 83-yard reception for a TD.

Both second year backs each had a TD.  It was Ridley’s 8th and Vereen’s 4th (1st receiving).

TE Aaron Hernandez returned and had 2 catches but he played every offensive down except two.  He appears fully healed which is huge with the absence of TE Rob Gronkowski.

For the second consecutive game the Patriots scored a TD on offense, defense and special teams.

The Patriots scored 21 points in just 0:52 seconds off of an 83-yard TD pass, a fumble recovered for a TD by the defense and a fumble recovery on a kick off return by the special teams.

The Patriots scored 35 points in the second quarter tying a franchise record vs. Tennessee, 2009.

LB Jerod Mayo had 11 tackles (8 solo) and continues to lead the team in tackles.  Unofficially he has 136 tackles (78 solo).  The team usually adjusts the counts based on coaches film study so in the Friday game preview we will have Mayo’s official total.  He is on pace for another 200 tackle season.

In addition Mayo also had a sack, 1 tackle for loss and 1 QB hit.

LB Brandon Spikes also had 11 tackles (7 solo), a pass defensed and a forced fumble.  He is second on the team in tackles behind Mayo with 104 (67 solo).

DE Rob Ninkovich had a fumble recovery on Thursday it was his 4th recovered fumble of the season.  He leads the team in that category. 

There were 3 QB hits by the Patriots 1 each by Mayo (2nd), LB Dont’a Hightower (5th) and DE Justin Francis (2nd).

S Steve Gregory had an INT (2nd) and 2 recovered fumbles (1st and 2nd), one was returned for a 32-yard TD.

DB Kyle Arrington had 2 passes defensed (8th) Thursday night, CB Alfonzo Dennard (6th), Spikes (5th) and Gregory (3rd) each had 1 a piece.

DB Devin McCourty (2nd), Gregory (1st), Dennard (1st) and Spikes (5th) all had a forced fumble on against the Jets.  Spikes is now tied with Ninkovich for the team lead and they share the franchise record with Mike Vrabel.

McCourty (2nd, 3rd), LB Mike Rivera (2nd, 3rd), WR Matthew Slater (12th, 13th) and S Derrick Martin (4th) all had special teams tackles against New York.

The Patriots had five takeaways on Thursday and all five of them led to touchdowns.

The Jets have 22 turnovers on the year and 15 of them belong to Sanchez.

The 108 combined points scored in the last two games against Indianapolis and New York set a new franchise record, the previous mark was 101 points set in 2007 vs. Washington and Miami.

In the last four games the Patriots have score 190 points the second highest four game total in NFL history only to St. Louis’ 208 scored in 2001.

In their five game win streak New England has outscored opponents 219-107 and are averaging 43.8 points per game during the streak, while allowing 21.4.

New England scored 5 TD’s on 12 possessions. They also had 3 punts, a missed FGA, a fumble, safety and the end of half clock expired.  For the second game in a row they had 5 TD’s on offense.  They also scored once on defense and once on special teams.

New York had 13 possessions.  2 TD’s, 1 INT, 4 fumbles, 4 punts, 1 field goal, and end of game clock expired.

The Patriots sacked New York QB Mark Sanchez 2 times, while Brady was not sacked.

New England is PLUS 24 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 3 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 14 INTs and 18 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots were 3 for 3 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 3 TDs.

New England was 11 for 15 (73%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan is 3-6 vs. New England in his career including playoffs.  Overall he is 36-28.

Mark Sanchez is 3-6 vs. the Patriots including 1-0 in the playoffs.

Sanchez has fumbled in 5 of his last 7 games.  The 5 fumbles have led to 24 opposition points and the ending of an overtime game in a loss to New England.

The Jets are 1-2 vs. New England at Met Life Stadium, overall they are 27-26 as the home team all-time in the series.

New York is 36-35 vs. the AFC East in the regular season since 2001.

WR Clyde Gates suffered a concussion in the second quarter and did not return.

New York was 3 for 10 (30%) on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 3 (33.3%) on 4th down attempts.

The Jets were 2 for 4 (50%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TD’s, 1 FG and lost the ball on downs once.

New York is MINUS 3 in turnover differential.  The offense has given up 10 INT and 12 fumbles, while the defense has 8 INT and 11 fumble recoveries.

Next Week

The Patriots visit the Miami Dolphins on Sunday December 2nd at Sun Life Stadium in Miami FL.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

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