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ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall (15) on the line of scrimmage during the second half of an NFL football game today in Foxborough
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. » Brandon Marshall recovered an onside kick that gave the New York Jets a chance against the New England Patriots.
Then, his false start penalty led to a 10-second clock runoff that ended the game and left the Jets with a frustrating 30-23 loss to their AFC East rivals Sunday.
"Games like this, situations like this, it creates championship teams or it creates teams that fold," Marshall said. "We’ll take a day and get this nasty taste out of our mouth and come tomorrow and move on."
New York led 20-16 in the fourth quarter, outgained the Patriots 372 yards to 353, and held New England to just 16 yards rushing. But the Jets could not hold on, coming up short for the ninth time in their last 11 meetings with the Patriots, and losing a chance to move into a tie for the division lead.
The Jets (4-2) held New England (6-0) to just 16 points and 205 yard over the first three quarters. But Tom Brady threw for a pair of touchdowns in the fourth, completing 14 of 17 passes in the final 15 minutes.
The Super Bowl MVP was 34 of 54 for 355 yards overall — numbers that would have been even better if not for the 11 drops by his receivers, six by newly activated Brandon LaFell.
"Tom is great at dissecting any defense and that’s what he did down the stretch," said Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, who spent last season in New England. "He ended up making more plays than us. He ended up finding the matchups that he wanted to find and made the plays he needed to throw."
The Jets rallied in the final minute, kicking a 55-yard field goal on first down with 18 seconds left and then recovering the onside kick. But after a short pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick left the Jets 37 yards from the tying score, before Marshall’s penalty ended the game.
"There is a lot of fight in this team, but we know that," Fitzpatrick said. "We can’t really take any moral victories from it."
Fitzpatrick finished 22 of 39 for 295 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Ivory, who entered as the AFC’s leading rusher, was held to 41 yards on 17 carries while dealing with a sore hamstring he tweaked early in the game.
"He was in the game and he was healthy," coach Todd Bowles said. "You’ve got to give (the Patriots’ defense) credit. They get paid, too."
Fitzpatrick fumbled on the second play of the game, giving the Patriots the ball at the New York 19. After losing 1 yard in three plays — including Brady’s first sack of the game — Stephen Gostkowski kicked the first of his three field goals.
Folk tied it for New York and then the Jets went 83 yards on the next drive to take a 10-3 lead on Fitzpatrick’s 5-yard pass to Jeremy Kerley.
On the next New England possession, the Patriots stalled with a third-and-10 at the Jets 13, but Brady scrambled for 11 yards for the first down. James White was stopped short of the goal line and, after an incompletion to Gronkowski, Brady connected with the big tight end but he couldn’t get into the end zone.
On fourth down from the 1, Brady jumped over the line on a keeper to make it 10-10.
Gostkowski’s second field goal gave New England the 13-10 lead going into the half.
Rob Gronkowski had a career-high 11 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown, Danny Amendola had eight for 86 and a TD and Brady also scored on a keeper from the 1 to give the defending Super Bowl champions their ninth straight victory, dating to last year’s playoffs.
New York led 20-16 after Fitzpatrick hit Ivory for a 9-yard score late in the third and Nick Folk kicked the second of his three field goals. Brady was 7 for 8 for 85 yards on the next drive, finishing it off with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Amendola, who was upended before landing on the goal line.
The Jets went four-and-out and then Brady took over again, completing seven of nine attempts for 65 yards and ending it on a 15-yarder to a wide open Gronkowski, who trotted in untouched to make it 30-20.
"It’s Week 7," Revis said. "We knew what this game meant in terms of being on top in the division. But we’re fine. We’ve got a long season."
NOTES: Bowles said center Nick Mangold suffered a neck injury and would have X-rays on Monday to determine the extent of the injury. … Steve Weatherford averaged 40.3 yards on four punts for the Jets after being signed Saturday. Bowles said Ryan Quigley was fine during the week, but had a swollen right shin Saturday and was added to the injury report. "He couldn’t move it and it was black and blue," Bowles said, "and we had to get a punter."
