Generally when two division rivals hook up in a meaningful football game on National TV it’s usually a knock down, drag out affair. Such was not the case in the Thanksgiving Night game between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford NJ even though the first quarter was scoreless.
In the second quarter New England exploded for a franchise record 35-points (tie, Tennessee 2009) and 21 of the points came in a mind boggling 0:52 seconds on their way to a 49-19 rout.
After QB Tom Brady hit WR Wes Welker with the games first score to give New England a 7-0 lead New York coughed the ball up on the ensuing possession when RB Shonn Greene fumbled the ball on 4th down while trying to reach for the down marker. The ball ended up being recovered by Patriots S Steve Gregory. On the very first play Brady threw a pass down the left sideline to RB Shane Vereen who hit top gear and was gone 83-yards for a 14-0 lead.
After the Jets got the ball back Sanchez proceeded to fumble the ball when he ran into his G Brandon Moore who got pushed into him by Patriot DT Vince Wilfork. The ball popped free, Gregory grabbed it on a bounce and raced 32-yards into the end zone for a 21-0 Patriots lead.
On the ensuing kickoff Jets RB/KR Joe McKnight got popped by Devin McCourty and the ball went straight up in the air into the arms of New England’s Julian Edelman who returned it 22-yards untouched into the end zone and it was 28-0.
The Patriots would tack on another 7 points when Brady hit Edelman on a 54-yard bomb and it was 35-0.
The Jets would get on the board with a Nick Folk field goal prior to the half but this game was for all essential purposes done.
After a stellar four down goaline stop inside the five-yard line New England got called for a safety on a chop block that gave the Jets two points. The Jets would get a rushing TD from RB Bilal Powell in the 3rd quarter to cut the lead to 35-12.
The Patriots would add a pair of 4th quarter TD’s on a 1-yard QB sneak by Brady and RB Stevan Ridley would go into the end zone from 9-yards out untouched to make it 49-12.
Jets TE Dustin Keller would grab a meaningless TD pass from Sanchez late in the fourth to complete their scoring.
So one week after hanging 59-points on Indianapolis, the Patriots post 49-points on the Jets while only allowing 24-points and 19-points respectively.
It’s safe to say it’s the second half and yet another Bill Belichick team is hitting it’s stride and it’s down right scary if you’re a team left on their schedule.
Patriots at Jets Gamebook includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.
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Turning Point of the Game
Three Jets turnovers lead to the Patriots scoring 21 points in a 52-second span in the 2nd quarter to blow open a 7-0 game.
Offensive Players of the Game
QB Tom Brady 18 of 28 for 323 yards 3 TDs and 0 INTs plus 1 rushing TD and WR Julian Edelman who had a 56-yard receiving TD and recovered a fumble for a 22-yard TD on special teams.
Defensive Player of the Game
S Steve Gregory had 5 tackles (5 solo) and had 1 INT and 2 fumble recoveries, 1 returned 32-yards for a TD.
Game Notes
Starters for the Patriots were:
On Offense:
LT Solder
LG Thomas
C Wendell
RG Connolly
RT Cannon
TE Hernandez
TE Fells
WR Welker
WR Lloyd
QB Brady
RB Ridley
On Defense:
DE Ninkovich
DT Wilfork
DT Love
DE Cunningham
LB Mayo
LB Spikes
LB Hightower
CB McCourty
CB Arrington
S Gregory
S Talib
Inactives for the Game:
Patriots
1. TE Rob Gronkowski (forearm/hip)
2. T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee)
3. SB Marquice Cole
4. DE Jake Bequette
5. DE Chandler Jones (foot)
6. G Markus Zusevics
7. G Logan Mankins (ankle/calf)
Jets
1. QB Greg McElroy
2. RB Kahlil Bell
3. CB Aaron Berry (quad)
4. DL Damon Harrison
5. G Caleb Schlauderaff
6. G Hayworth Hicks
7. TE Hayden Smith
The spread (Patriots MINUS 7) WAS covered. The over/under (48) WAS COVERED. I GAVE the points (Patriots) and took the OVER. I am now 3-8 vs. the spread and 8 of 11 calling the under/over.
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.
This is the Patriots 5th Thanksgiving game in franchise history, the first at night.
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.
An AFC East rival has not swept the Patriots in a season series since 2000 when Miami and New York swept them.
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.
Bill Belichick is now 200-107 including playoffs in his career.
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 ets 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 had 323 passing yards to move past Dan Fouts (43,040) into 10th place (43,278) all time.
Brady now had 3,299 passing yards for his 10th 3,000-yard season.
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.
S Steve Gregory had an INT and 2 recovered fumbles, one for a TD.
For the second game in a row Julian Edelman scored a special teams TD this one on fumble recovery 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 and did not return to the game.
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.
Roster moves Saturday:
- Activated G Markus Zusevics from the exempt non-football injury list and placed him on 53-man roster.
- Released WR Greg Salas.
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.
New York has lost 15 of the last 22 meetings with New England including playoffs.
The Jets have lost the last five regular season meetings between the teams.
The Jets have swept the Patriots 14 times in the series the last time was in 2000.
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.
Fireman Ed was so embarrassed he left at halftime and deleted his Twitter account @FiremanEd42
Mike Carey was the game referee. The temp at kickoff was 46 and clear.
Attendance – 79,088 (96% of capacity) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford NJ.
Post Game Interviews
(links will be posted once they become available) Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conference via patriots.com
This Week in the AFC East
Buffalo is at Indianapolis Sunday at 1 p.m.
Miami hosts Seattle Sunday at 1 p.m.
AFC East Standings
Patriots 8-3/4-0
Dolphins 4-6/1-2
Bills 4-6/1-3
Jets 4-7/2-3
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.
Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII
photo credit: ap photo
