All week long, you couldn’t pick up a newspaper or turn on your television without hearing someone from the New York Jets talking trash about how they were going to beat the New England Patriots in an AFC Divisional Playoff matchup. For the most part, the Patriots stayed quiet as head coach Bill Belichick put the kibosh on any smack talk from his team.
Well the Jets backed up their trash talk on Sunday as they stunned the Patriots 28-21in front of a sold-out crowd at Gillette Stadium and nationally-televised audience.
For the Patriots, who rolled through the season at 14-2 and hadn’t lost at home all year, the season is over. It’s also the third straight loss for quarterback Tom Brady and Belichick in the playoffs.
The Jets get back to the AFC Championship for the second straight year and will face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field next Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on CBS.
The Patriots won the opening coin toss and deferred until the second half giving the Jets the ball. After two plays the Jets got a first down but the Patriots stopped them on the next three plays to force a punt who would takeover on their own 16.
Things were looking good as the Patriots began to roll down the field as they went 30 yards on their first two plays. They continued to move the ball down the field and 1st and 10 at the Jets 28, Brady tried to throw a screen to Ben-Jarvus Green-Ellis but was intercepted by by Jets linebacker David Harris. He returned it 58 yards down the Pats 12 as Alge Crumpler made the tackle and saved a touchdown.
The Patriots defense helped Brady out though as they stopped two Jets running plays for a loss of eight yards. And after LaDainian Tomlinson was stopped on third down, Jets kicker Nick Folk missed the field goal wide left by a foot.
After forcing a three-and-out, the Patriots would drive down the field and get on the board first with a Shayne Graham 34 yard field goal. But that would be the last time the Patriots would hold the lead in the game.
The Jets would get on the board early in the second quarter when Mark Sanchez hit Tomlinson for a seven-yard square. The score would remain that way until late in the second quarter when the Jets got the ball back after a blotched fake punt by Patrick Chung at his own 38. Sanchez and the Jets made them pay for the mistake as it took them just four plays to get into the end zone as Sanchez found Braylan Edwards for a 15 yard touchdown pass.
Trailing 14-3, the Patriots were unable to score on their first two drives. The good thing for them was the Jets weren’t able to either. On the Pats third drive, Brady would get them back to within in eight with a two yard touchdown pass to Crumpler and two point conversion by Sammy Morris.
But the Jets answered quickly as they went down the field in five plays culminated by a great diving catch by Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone. After that score, the Patriots held the ball for the next seven and a half minutes but walked away with nothing after Brady’s pass to Deion Branch fell incomplete on 4th down.
The Patriots got the ball back with 3:29 remaining and kicked a field after the two-minute warming. They went for an offside kick but Antonio Cromartie returned it 25 yards to the Patriots 20. Two plays later, Shonn Greene found the end zone to make it 28-14. New England would go down the field in seven plays and score a touchdown on Brady’s 13 yard pass to Branch.
They were unable to recover the ensuing onsides kick and that’s how the game would end with the Jets celebrating on the field.
This was definitely not the result we were expecting. The Patriots, while looking good at times, really were unable to figure out the defensive schemes being thrown at them. Plus when they did have an answer, the defense was unable to make the big stop. And that’s what ultimately hurt the Patriots in the end.
We all expected them to win the Super Bowl and now we’ll be sitting here wondering what happened. Boston Red Sox spring training can’t start soon enough.
Jets at Patriots Gamebook. This includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.
Game Recap via team website.
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Turning Points of the Game
The Patriots had the ball on 4th down at their own 38 yard line with 1:16 left in the first half. They lined up to punt the ball but decided to go for the fake that was called by Patrick Chung, who ended up botching the snap. He was stopped and four plays later the Jets were in the end zone to go up 14-3.
Offensive Players of the Game
Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez wasn’t spectacular but was 16-of-25 for 199 yards and threw three touchdown passes.
Defensive Player of the Game
Shawn Ellis had five tackles including two big sacks of Tom Brady for a total loss of 16 yards.
Game Notes
The starters for the Patriots were:
On offense:
LT: Matt Light
LG: Logan Mankins
C: Dan Koppen
RG: Dan Connolly
RT: Sebastian Vollmer
TE: Rob Gronkowski
TE: Aaron Hernandez
QB: Tom Brady
WR: Brandon Tate
WR: Julian Edelman
RB: Danny Woodhead
On defense:
DE: Gerard Warren
NT: Vince Wilfork
DE: Brandon Deaderick
OLB: Eric Moore
ILB: Jerod Mayo
ILB: Gary Guyton
OLB: Rob Ninkovich
CB: Devin McCourty
CB: Kyle Arrington
S: Patrick Chung
S: Brandon Meriweather
Inactives for the game:
Patriots
WR Taylor Price
RB Fred Taylor
RB Thomas Clayton
CB Tony Carter
LB Marques Murrell
OL Rich Ohrnberger
T Mark LeVoir
DL Myron Pryor
Jets
WR Brad Smith WR
FB John Conner FB
LB Vernon Gholston LB
DT Jarron Gilbert DT
TE Matthew Mulligan TE
TE Jeff Cumberland TE
DT Marcus Dixon DT
QB Kellen Clemens, third quarterback
The Patriots overall franchise record is 401-363-9. They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXIII, XXXIX) in 6 appearances. Before this season, they last appeared in the Playoffs in 2009 losing at home to Baltimore, 33-14. They last appeared in a Super Bowl in 2007 losing to the New York Giants 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII. They won the AFC Conference Championship that season with playoff wins over Jacksonville and San Diego.
New England is 11-3 at home in the playoffs. Besides Sunday’s loss, the other losses were last season to Baltimore and in 1978 to Houston.
The Patriots are 21-15 overall in the playoffs including 8-6 in AFC Divisional Round.
Before Sunday’s loss, they had beaten the Jets twice in the playoffs. In the 1985 Wild Card round, they won in New York 26-14 on their way to the franchises first Super Bowl appearance and in the 2006 Wild Card round they won 37-16 in Foxboro.
Bill Belichick is 16-10 in his career against the Jets. He is 15-9 against them as the head coach in New England and that includes one playoff win in 2006.
Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 162-94 in 15 NFL seasons. He is 126-50 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland. He is 15-6 in the playoffs, 14-5 as the head coach of the Patriots in the postseason. When you combine the regular season and postseason Belichick is 177-100.
Belichick after a bye week in the playoffs in 4-1, he is 9-2 after a bye week in the regular season.
This is Tom Brady’s 11th NFL season, he is 14-5 against the Jets, including 1-1 in the playoffs.
Overall Brady is 111-32 as a starting QB and is 14-5 in the playoffs for an overall record of 125-37.
Brady played in his 19th career playoff game in a New England uniform. Only Tedy Bruschi (22) and Troy Brown (20) have played in more playoff games for the Patriots.
Brady was picked off for the first time since October 17 on the Patriots first drive of the game.
Brady threw two touchdown passes which gives him 30 for his playoff career. Those 30 TD passes puts him into a tie for 5th with Terry Bradshaw on the NFL’s all-time playoff touchdown passing list.
It was also his 17th straight game throwing a touchdown pass in the playoffs. That’s good for second all-time behind Brett Favre who had 20.
Alge Crumpler’s 28-yard reception was his longest in a Patriots uniform and his second longest in a playoff game.
It was also the third straight game that Crumpler had caught a touchdown pass from Brady.
Deion Branch’s TD catch was his 4th (three receiving, one rushing) in the playoffs as a member of the Patriots. That ties him for third on the Patriots all-time list with Corey Dillon.
Rob Gronkowski’s 37 yard catch in the third quarter was his longest of the season.
Sixteen Patriots made their career playoff debuts tonight: S Sergio Brown, DL Landon Cohen, OL Dan Connolly, LB Jermaine Cunningham, DL Brandon Deaderick, LB Dane Fletcher, RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis, TE Rob Gronkowski, TE Aaron Hernandez, DL Kyle Love, CB Devin McCourty, P Zoltan Mesko, DL Eric Moore, OL Quinn Ojunnaka, LB Brandon Spikes, and WR Brandon Tate.
Eleven of the Patriots’ 22 starters were making their first career playoff start: Tate, Connolly, Gronkowski, Hernandez, Deaderick, Moore, McCourty, RB Danny Woodhead, LB Rob Ninkovich, CB Kyle Arrington, and S Patrick Chung.
Linebacker Eric Moore injured his hamstring and linebacker Rob Ninkovich injured his knee.
Offensive tackle Todd Light said after the game he’s had a “great 10 years” as a Patriot. Light is a free agent at the end of the season.
Deion Branch said after the game that some of the Jets players were still classless after their win.
Wes Welker was benched by Bill Belichick before the game. He did get into the game as the punt returner on the first series but sat out the Patriots first offensive series.
After being scratched, running back Fred Taylor is unsure of his future.
Punter Zoltan Mesko said that Patrick Chung has had the green light to run a fake punt all season long.
Rex Ryan is 20-12 in his 2nd season as a head coach. For the second season the Jets are an AFC Wild Card team. He is 4-1 in the playoffs for an overall record of 24-13.
Mark Sanchez is 18-12 as a starting QB and is 4-1 in the playoffs for an overall record of 22-13. Sanchez was the Jets 1st round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft out of Southern California.
Bill Leavy was the game referee. The temp at kickoff was 30, with a WNW wind of 14 MPH which made it feel like 19.
Post Game Interviews
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick; quarterback Tom Brady; Jets head coach Rex Ryan
FINAL AFC East Standings
- Patriots – 14-2/5-1
- Jets – 11-5/4-2
- Dolphins – 7-9/2-4
- Bills – 4-12/1-5
Next Game
The Patriots are done for the season. And with a potential lockout coming up, there’s no telling when the Patriots will step on the field again in 2011.
Photo credit: Elsa-Getty Images
