FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – After relying on Nick Folk to stay within reach of New England early, the New York Jets couldn’t quite get their kicker close enough to finish off the Patriots.
Folk was perfect on four attempts before lining up for a 58-yard attempt that would have won it for the Jets at New England on Thursday night. The distance required Folk to kick it low and defensive lineman Chris Jones got a hand on it, sealing a 27-25 win for the Patriots over the Jets.
“I wouldn’t have told them I could make it from there if I didn’t think I could make it,” Folk said. “I gave it a ride. I felt like I hit it pretty good.”
The Jets (1-6) suffered their sixth straight loss, the longest streak in Rex Ryan’s six seasons as coach, after taking a 19-17 lead with just under 9 minutes left in the third quarter on Chris Ivory’s 1-yard run.
This one was painful. New York missed a two-point conversion attempt that would have tied it after Geno Smith’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Cumberland with 2:31 left.
New England recovered the onside kick, but New York wasn’t quite done and forced the Patriots to punt. Starting at their own 12 with 1:09 left to play and no time outs, Smith guided the Jets to the Patriots’ 40-yard with eight seconds left to play. Smith was incomplete on a quick out pass that would have gotten Folk a little closer, then the Jets had no choice but to kick it with 5 seconds left.
“I told them my line was the 40. That’s where they got it,” said Folk, who boosted his total to 13 straight field goals with four in the first half.
The end of the game was eerily similar to the team’s meeting in East Rutherford last year when Folk missed a 56-yarder in overtime. But Jones was penalized 15 yards for pushing the defensive line forward and Folk connected from 41 yards on his second chance, giving the Jets a 30-27 victory.
Jones atoned for his blunder last season by swatting away Folk’s attempt and the Patriots rushed the field to celebrate.
“I’m not shellshocked, but it’s extremely frustrating,” Ryan said. “This is like the third time in a row I thought we were good enough to beat them here. And we came away with a loss.”
Ivory finished with 107 yards rushing and Smith passed for 226 yards and a touchdown.
“Obviously, today was tough in the manner that we lost this game because we felt like we had them,” Smith said.
Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes and Stephen Gostkowski kicked a pair of field goals for the Patriots.
Each team played Thursday without two key starters who went on season-ending injured reserve after being hurt Sunday — cornerback Dee Milliner and left guard Brian Winters for the Jets and linebacker Jerod Mayo and running back Stevan Ridley for the Patriots.
Gostkowski put the Patriots (5-2) ahead to stay with his second field goal, a 36-yarder with 4:10 to go in the third. Brady’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola gave them an eight-point lead with 4:10 remaining.
The Patriots led 17-12 at halftime despite having the ball for just 7:57, while the Jets held it for 22:03.
The Jets got inside the New England 30 on all four of their first-half possessions. But they managed just four field goals by Folk, covering 22, 47, 46 and 27 yards.
The Patriots went three-and-out on two of their possessions in the half but made the most of the other two as Brady threw touchdown passes to Shane Vereen — a 49-yarder on their fourth offensive play and a 3-yarder that made it 14-9 with 4:22 left in the half.
After Folk’s fourth field goal, the Patriots got the ball with 55 seconds remaining in the half. On third-and-10 at the New York 44, Antonio Allen was called for defensive pass interference on Amendola, putting the ball at the 12.
An unnecessary roughness penalty against guard Jordan Devey pushed the ball back to the 27. After a 6-yard run by Vereen, Gostkowski kicked a 39-yard field goal on the last play of the half.
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