Defense seals the deal as Patriots ground Jets

Despite missing two days of practice with a sore knee, Brady completed 30 of 50 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday, becoming the fifth National Football League player to surpass 60,000 yards passing in his career.

Whether the Patriots can win one this season remains to be seen – one of their top competitors, the Seahawks, lost at Tampa Bay on Sunday – but this is the type of game that should give them confidence.

Brady and the Patriots then ran out the clock – helped by LeGarrette Blount’s 23-yard scamper – to win the closely played game that had been flexed out of a prime-time spot. The New England Patriots can win a thrilling nail-biter of a game, and nearly before the final result is taken off the scoreboard, a discussion is sparked about some of the issues ahead. But the Jets are still 2-5 in that stretch.

Patriots fans loudly chanted “Brady!”

Ever since Tom Brady returned from his four-game suspension the Patriots offense has been near dominant. I think I may have been praying on the field that we get another chance to win. I don’t blame them. This year we just can’t seem to put a complete game together on both sides of the ball and sometimes on special teams.

To get to that 200th win, Brady endured some pain. Who knows, next week, the record for most regular and postseason wins could be Brady’s and Brady’s only.

After winning the game, the Patriots remained on course with the Oakland Raiders for the number one seed in the playoffs.

Imagine being from Cleveland, loving football, having to watch Tom Brady play in late January nearly every single year, and thinking to yourself, “Why can’t that be us?” Revis was targeted just once over the Patriots’ first seven possessions – allowing a touchdown to Malcolm Mitchell that bore great resemblance to the one he surrendered to Doug Baldwin in Super Bowl XLIX, sans referee interference – but four times over their final four drives. The 39-year-old Brady led his team back time and time again on Sunday, before eventually hitting Malcolm Mitchell for the game-winner late in the fourth quarter.

Tom Brady & Co. are well on their way to winning the AFC East for the ninth straight year, while Todd Bowles’ team is relegated to the division’s cellar. “He’s come through in the clutch, so I’ll keep giving him opportunities”. Year in, year out, they’re just better than the Jets.

And Jets wideout Brandon Marshall: “Our fans are disappointed”. We want to deliver, but we haven’t. People are paying a lot of money.

What’s so interesting to me this morning is that I’ve seen reports bounce around that the Patriots won the game on Sunday led by their defense, or that the team’s defense showed signs of improvement.

“That just comes from practice”, Mitchell said.

“We all understand this is the business”.

After the game, Revis admitted that he and Brady have mutual respect, but didn’t expect his former teammate to go after him as much as he did.

Belichick no longer knows what he’s going to get out of his place-kicker. People are going to be disappointed. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a victor. You understand that, because it’s a part of the business.

Brady, at 178 wins in the regular season (an astonishing number when you really think about it), could inch toward the 186 wins that Manning and Favre got in the regular season, and he no doubt will be able to do it next year unless something really insane happens.