Gronkowski and Brady injured

The Patriots managed to vanquish the Jets, 22-17, sealing the win with a late touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Malcolm Mitchell and a strip sack of Harvard’s Ryan Fitzpatrick by Chris Long. The Jets had two timeouts left, and the Patriots still had to get a first down.

Forced to miss two days of practice during the week, Brady fought through the pain to start against the Jets but looked uncharacteristically pedestrian for much of the late afternoon at MetLife Stadium. They don’t overwhelm anyone, but the Giants (8-3) do just enough to win and are in position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011, when they won the Super Bowl.

Brady further bolstered the case that he is perhaps the greatest quarterback in history.

It was also Brady’s 200th win, which tied him with Peyton Manning for the most in history.

“That was what we needed to do”, Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick said, lauding a defense that reversed a troubling trend of recent weeks by forcing two turnovers from the Jets. The Patriots are now 9-2 and, fortunately, fended off a bid by the surging Miami Dolphins to reduce their lead in the AFC East race to just one game.

“I’m glad it’s over”, Brady said of the buildup to Sunday’s game. He’s as good of a situational football player as I’ve ever been around. Jets safety Calvin Pryor is a great tackler but New England will challenge his coverage skills after pulling him closer to the line of scrimmage with the short passing game.

NOTES: Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski left in the first quarter with a back injury. He did not have a catch Sunday.

Brady did not practice Wednesday or Thursday and was listed as questionable on the team’s injury report announced later Friday.

“I just ran an out (pattern)”, Mitchell said. “It was a long week”. That would put a different paint job on things. And once again this season, a receiver – this time with the help of Brady – got the better of the former shutdown corner. Too many times the Jets have forgot about Brandon Marshall or Quincy Enunwa over the course of a game.

That has been a common refrain for Revis this season for the Jets (3-8). The Jets’ pass rushers hit Brady with regularity, and he completed only one of his first five passes.

The Chargers were up by four in the fourth quarter when Rivers evaded the rush and delivered a 25-yard pass to Inman.

Fitzpatrick orchestrated an eight-play, 73-yard drive that was capped off by a 22-yard touchdown pass to Enunwa, who continued to have a significant impact on this game.

The Patriots star tight end has been one of the league’s best playmakers this season with 77.1 yards per game and a ridiculous 21.6 yards per reception. The Jets got the ball back following Brady’s go-ahead touchdown toss with 1:56 remaining, down five points and needing a touchdown for the walk-off win.

“Not how we drew it up”, he said. Mitchell and Brady also hooked up for a 4-yard score in the second period while kicker Stephen Gostkowski booted three field goals.

Gostkowski kicked a 29-yarder midway through the third quarter, giving New England a 13-10 lead. The defense held the Patriots to their lowest point total since Tom Brady came back in the 5th game of this season, and held Brady to his worst completion percentage, worst yards per attempt and worst passer rating all year. Officials initially ruled him out of bounds and the pass incomplete.