Thursday Night Football Recap
Going into Thursday’s game (Arian Foster’s least favorite kind of football game), no one with even a passing knowledge of football gave the Jets much a chance to beat the Patriots.
Thursday night was projected to be a dull blowout for good reason: quarterback is the most important position in football, and the Pats have the Super Bowl-winning, supermodel-dating Tom Brady under center. Brady took over as starter for New England in 2001, and in that first year Brady led the team to a Super Bowl victory. The Pats haven’t had to worry about the quarterback position ever since.
The Jets, on the other hand, have very much had to worry about the quarterback position. In the same 13-year span of Brady’s reign in the AFC East, the Jets found moderate success in Chad Pennington, and then dealt with a string of bad choices including a well-past-his-prime Brett Favre, Mark “Butt Fumble” Sanchez, squeaky-clean Tim Tebow, and, their latest installment, pouty Geno Smith.
And even outside of quarterback, the Jets have a monstrous d-line, but they are outmatched in every other area by the Pats.
Thursday’s game ended up being much more competitive than anyone thought it would be. There was a number of lead changes, and at halftime the lowly Jets, coming into this matchup on a 5-game losing streak, were only down 17 – 12. This score was arrived at by two receiving touchdowns from running back Shane Vereen for the Pats and 4 straight field goals from the golden toe of nick Folk.
The first score of the 3rd quarter was a 1-yard touchdown run courtesy of Chris Ivory, pushing the Jets up 19 – 17.
Ivory contributed much more than his lone touchdown, finishing the game with 107 yards on 21 carries. The Jets took full advantage of an injured Jerod Mayo and ran all over the Patriots. Chris Johnson had 61 yards on 13 carries and Geno Smith 37 yards on 7 carries, giving the Jets over 200 yards total rushing on the day.
It wasn’t enough. A field goal and a touchdown later, the Patriots were up 27 – 19 with less than a quarter left to play. The Jets did give the Pats a good scare, mounting another touchdown drive and then forcing a three-and-out after a failed onside kick.
It all came down to a last-second field goal try. The score was 27 – 25, just 12 seconds remaining, over 50 yards out, but Nick Folk is one of the league’s best kickers and a perfect 4 for 4 in the game. And the kick is blocked. Game over. Patriots win, and all the pundits can sleep easy knowing they made the right call on their pre-game shows.
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