Final, Patriots win 27-25: Geno Smith delivered a pretty good drive, surprisingly, giving the Jets a shot at a 58-yard field goal that would have won it. But Nick Folk’s attempt was blocked by Chris Jones, saving the victory for the Patriots.
Fourth quarter, 1:06, Patriots 27-25: Needing a first down to ice the game, the Patriots simply play things close to the vest, forcing the Jets to use their final timeout and running on third and long to give the ball back to the Jets with just over a minute on the clock.
If Smith can lead the Jets on a quick scoring drive — which would probably mean a complete transformation from his usual performance — he’ll have to earn it.
Fourth quarter, 2:30, Patriots 27-25: It’s Amendola’s night. The much-maligned wideout recovers the onside kick, making him twice the hero in this game.
Fourth quarter, 2:31, Patriots 27-25: Geno Smith led his team down the field and got the touchdown the Jets needed. But he couldn’t finish the job.
Smith led the Jets on a 12-play, 86-yard drive that culminated in a 10-yard pass to Jeff Cumberland for a touchdown to bring New York within two. But Smith’s two-point conversion pass to Jace Amaro sailed long.
The drive may have ended in a touchdown, but the length of the drive left the Jets in dire straits. They now need to recover an onside kick, as they have only one timeout remaining.
Fourth quarter, 7:49, Patriots 27-19: Enough of this.
Given a chance to finally give themselves some breathing room, the Patriots found the endzone. Given the way the Jets’ offseason is moving (or not), it should make New England mighty confident of its chances to win this game.
The seven-play, 46-yard drive, ending in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Amendola, was not without drama. The Patriots marched all the way down the field and had first-and-goal from the 3 before a negative run and two penalties dropped them back nearly outside the red zone.
Amendola saved the drive by reaching behind him to haul in a laser by Brady. Gostkowski’s extra point pushed the Patriots’ lead to a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
Fourth quarter, 10:51, Patriots 20-19: The Patriots forced the Jets to punt once again, this time on a pass breakup by Darrelle Revis on a Geno Smith attempt to Eric Decker. Smith left for one play after injuring his knee.
Fourth quarter, 12:29, Patriots 20-19: The Patriots went three-and-out again. A nice punt and holding penalty has pinned the Jets on their own 4-yard line. Maybe the Patriots can get some points on defense?
Fourth quarter, 13:30, Patriots 20-19: Chandler Jones recorded his requisite sack on Geno Smith. Jones had four sacks on Smith in college, and he had three on the Jets quarterback last year. He’s sacked Smith every time he’s faced him.
The Jets went three-and-out and the Patriots have the ball on their own 34-yard line.
End third quarter, Patriots 20-19: The Patriots are holding onto a 20-19 lead with 15 minutes left. The Jets have the ball on their own 33-yard line, with a second-and-6 scenario.
Third quarter, 0:44, Patriots 20-19: The Patriots responded with a three-and-out of their own. They had a chance to break the game open and couldn’t take advantage.
Third quarter, 1:37, Patriots 20-19:Â New England finally forced a punt! The Jets went three-and-out, and the Patriots have the ball on their own 13-yard line.
Third quarter, 4:10, Patriots 20-19: The Patriots couldn’t finish their drive, and had to settle for a 36-yard field goal to take a one-point lead.
Julian Edelman had two key plays to keep the sticks moving, first on a short first-down reception, and then on an 8-yard jet sweep.
The Patriots have to figure out a way to stop the Jets’ running game, or else they have a chance of losing this game.
Third quarter, 8:58, Jets 19-17: The Jets have the lead after an impressive six-minute drive to start the half. The Gillette Stadium crowd is deflated.
The Patriots have allowed 167 yards in two and a half quarters. This is what everyone feared would happen with Jerod Mayo out. Chris Ivory has 18 carries for 101 yards with a touchdown.
End half, Patriots 17-12: Well, this definitely hasn’t been the prettiest half of football, but the Patriots lead 17-12.
The Patriots had to settle for a field goal after Jordan Devey was flagged for a personal foul. He hit Jets linebacker Antwan Barnes after Brady was hit after he threw the ball. It should have been called a late hit on New York, too.
Second quarter, 1:04, Patriots 14-12: The Jets’ offensive play-calling has been, uh, interesting. The Patriots are allowing 4.8 yards per carry, and New York passed on third and 3 in the red zone. Shocker: The pass went incomplete.
The Jets had to settle for their fourth field goal.
Second quarter, 4:22, Patriots 14-9: The Patriots have retaken the lead after a shaky first half. Vereen has been heavily involved in the passing game, already pulling in two receiving touchdowns. His touchdown on this drive was for 3 yards. He has three catches for 60 yards.
Brady already has 149 passing yards and two TDs. Brandon LaFell has three receptions for 50 yards. He’s been a big addition to the offense over the last three weeks.
Vereen has two carries to Gray’s two. Brandon Bolden hasn’t seen an offensive snap yet.
Second quarter, 7:52, Jets 9-7: The Jets lead, and Patriots fans can begin to panic a little.
The Patriots’ defense is allowing the Jets to cruise down the field without much of a problem, and only some questionable play-calling is halting New York.
Folk hit a 46-yard field goal — his third of the game.
The Jets also are eating tons of clock. They lead the time-of-possession battle 18:42 to 3:26.
Second quarter, 13:57, Patriots 7-6: The Patriots went three-and-out again. Rex Ryan is doing a nice job of controlling New England’s offense after that first drive.
End first quarter, Patriots 7-6: After the first 15 minutes, the Patriots are barely holding onto a 7-6 lead. They tore the Jets apart on the first drive, thanks to a wide-open Shane Vereen. But the offense has stalled since.
Brady is having trouble getting the ball to Gronk. His first pass to the Patriots tight end sailed, and Gronk slipped on the second attempt.
The Patriots have the ball on their own 12-yard line.
First quarter, 0:19, Patriots 7-6: The Jets moved down the field again on the Patriots, but a holding penalty on guard Willie Colon pushed them back, and quarterback Geno Smith couldn’t rebound.
Smith threw a beautiful pass earlier in the drive to wideout Eric Decker. Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis swatted at the ball and whiffed.
Folk kicked another field goal, and the Patriots lead by 1.
First quarter, 5:41, Patriots 7-3: The Patriots didn’t get much of anything going as they went three-and-out. Jonas Gray got his first NFL carry, and it went for 5 yards. Brady threw incomplete passes to Rob Gronkowski and Shane Vereen.
Vereen was hit hard by Jets cornerback Darrin Walls and dropped Brady’s third down attempt.
First quarter, 6:29, Patriots 7-3: The Patriots’ defense had some trouble on that opening drive, and allowed the Jets to move all the way down the field. Only a holding call on Jets guard Oday Aboushi prevented New York from scoring a touchdown.
Brandon Browner got the start, the Patriots used a lot of five-defensive back sets to replace Jerod Mayo early. The Patriots also showed a 3-4 with Casey Walker at nose tackle in the base defense. Darrelle Revis was tracking Jets wideout Eric Decker.
Jets kicker Nick Folk kicked a short field goal.
Dont’a Hightower wore the green dot communication helmet and led the Patriots’ defensive huddle.
First quarter, 13:31, Patriots 7-0: The Patriots already are off to a hot start. After a Shane Vereen rushing attempt and two completions to Brandon LaFell, Tom Brady had more time than he knew what to do with and fired a touchdown to a wide-open Vereen.
The Patriots went all the way down the field in just one minute and 29 seconds.
First quarter, 15:00: The Jets won the toss and chose to defer. The Patriots will receive the kickoff to start the game.
8:04 p.m.:Â Based on pregame warmups, Jordan Devey will start at left guard for the Patriots. Nate Solder was at left tackle, Ryan Wendell was at center, Josh Kline was at right guard and Sebastian Vollmer is playing right tackle.
Dont’a Hightower and Deontae Skinner were on the field in the starting defense.
7:21 p.m.:Â For the fantasy football players, I’d expect Shane Vereen to see an uptick in touches, and Jonas Gray and Brandon Bolden will each get a fair share of carries, though Bolden will get the first chance to prove himself.
White’s deactivation is a bit surprising, but he’s more of a backup and insurance to Vereen than he was to Ridley. Gray was more Ridley insurance.
7:06 p.m.: The Patriots, as usual, have some surprise inactives. Rookie running back James White is inactive, along with wide receiver Aaron Dobson, guard Dan Connolly, center Bryan Stork, offensive lineman Cam Fleming, cornerback Malcolm Butler and safety Nate Ebner.
Newly called up running back Jonas Gray and guard Chris Barker are active. Cornerback Brandon Browner will make his Patriots debut. Defensive lineman Dominique Easley and linebacker Dont’a Hightower are back from injuries.
6:58 p.m.: Jonas Gray is among the Patriots’ players warming up on the field. It’s looking like he could be getting some playing time tonight. Inactives will come out momentarily.
6:38 p.m.: The tarp is off, and some of the Patriots and Jets have taken the field. Dont’a Hightower went through tests with training staff, and it was unusually brief. That might be a good sign for his availability tonight.
Danny Amendola is doing laps around the field. Brian Tyms, Duron Harmon and Tavon Wilson also are out there.
5:20 p.m. ET: Anything can happen in a New England Patriots-New York Jets matchup, and the unpredictability of Thursday night’s game will be heightened by some less-than-ideal weather conditions.
The tarp is still down on the Gillette Stadium field a little over three hours from kickoff. The rain is light but steady for now in the Foxboro area.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady generally plays well in the rain, though if the ball is slipping and sliding too much, both teams might be forced to revert to the run. In theory, that would benefit the Jets more than the Patriots, since New York has a stout run defense and New England will be missing linebacker Jerod Mayo, defensive tackle Sealver Siliga and running back Stevan Ridley.
The Patriots have a much better team on paper, however, and they shouldn’t have much trouble trouncing the 1-5 Jets. The 4-2 Patriots have played much better over their last two games, beating the Cincinnati Bengals 43-17 and the Buffalo Bills 37-22.
Stay here on NESN.com for updates and analysis throughout the night. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:25 p.m.