Patriots beat Jets to take first place in the AFC East

The Pats had struggled to win close games on the season - Bill Belichick’s squad had lost three games, none by more than a field goal - but eked out a win to put them on top of the AFC East at 4-3. They looked ready to do that again Sunday, but as Patriots blogger Greg Knopping writes in his postgame recap at Pats Pulpit, the team turned the tables and got the win.

Of course, there was a lot to be disappointed with for Patriots fans, who were concerned that their team again allowed their opponent back into the game in the first place.

Fantasy Impact: Fantasy owners who have held on to the tight end since the start of the season have to be pleased with the performance. He was the safety valve that the Jets have desperately needed to help out a pair of struggling quarterbacks, and an undersized and inexperienced corps of receivers.

Now that he’s apparently healthy, you can expect a sizable number of targets going forward. A good pass catcher will normally catch just four or five passes on seven targets, however, so expect Keller to regress to the mean a bit. The Jets’ offense has yet to look good two weeks in a row, so bear that in mind as well.

- Which team is the Jets

- Which team is the Patriots

Sanchez completed 68 percent of his passes, throwing for 328 yards, along with one touchdown and an interception on the day. There were some ill-advised decisions by the quarterback, but also several times he was let down by his receivers, including a critical late drop by rookie Stephen Hill which allowed the game to go to overtime.

After the break, the Jets and Patriots exchanged scoring drives in the third quarter, but New England retained its 10-point advantage.

The Jets then scored ten in a row in the fourth quarter before getting their revenge on McCourty by forcing a fumble on a kickoff return that put New York in position to win the game. Ultimately, the Jets wasted the opportunity by only getting three points and allowing the Patriots to move down the field to send the game to overtime with a field goal.

Why can’t McCourty just have a good day? I have a feeling that if he found a Boardwalk sticker while playing the McDonald’s Monopoly Game, he’d find that on his next trip his 20-piece Chicken McNuggets was actually a 20-piece court summons for unpaid parking tickets.

Despite Mark Sanchez nearly “Sanchizing” the opportunity with a sack on third down, Nick Folk kicked a 43-yard field goal to give New York a 26-23 lead with only a little over a minute remaining. The ensuing kickoff return was just a boring old kickoff return. My expectations were set much higher.

Gronk now has five TDs on the season. He’s been everything Pats fans and fantasy owners could ask for. He probably won’t reach his record heights of last season, but there’s no question that he’s one of the best tight ends in the league.

Also he’s a very thirsty man.

To give him credit where credit is due, Sanchez first pump-fakes an interception before throwing one:

Sure, maybe this was the smart play. But we all know Sanchez’s famous backup would have just found a way to score a touchdown on this play. Or at least cure cancer.

And to think that I have always given NFL analysts a hard time for being wrong so often. Indeed, this fellow seems quite ‘good.’ Stay tuned for more “Patriots score again” posts.

Well, that had to be disheartening.

McCourty took the kickoff 104 yards on just the eighth kickoff return of his career, tying the score at 7-7 in the middle of the first quarter. Tebow will likely have to join the coverage unit now.

Here is the full list of inactives for the Jets on Sunday:

Here is the full list of inactives for the Patriots: