After poor start, Patriots' defense rises to challenge late

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — For the Patriots defense, it was deja vu all over again.

For the second-straight game, the group was able to make a game-saving play with the contest in the balance. Last week against Tampa Bay, the Patriots were able to keep the Bucs out of the end zone late to help preserve a 19-14 win. And on Sunday against the Jets, with a 24-17 lead and the clock ticking down, New England was able to hold off a New York offense that was driving for what would have been a game-tying score in the fourth quarter.



Jets quarterback Josh McCown engineered a drive that had the Jets at the New England 49-yard line with just under 30 seconds remaining, but a deep ball for Jeremy Kerley on fourth down was off the mark, and allowed the Patriots to sneak out of East Rutherford with the win. While there were numerous defensive breakdowns for New England over the first three quarters, the late stop down the stretch was just enough to allow the Patriots to top the Jets and move into first place by themselves in the AFC East.

“That was something I think we needed,” said veteran safety Devin McCourty of the late stop. “We haven’t played particularly well in the fourth quarter, and I thought this was big for us as a team to win a game when we had to play well in the fourth quarter.”

To McCourty’s point, it really was a tale of two halves for the Patriots D, which allowed the Jets’ offense to convert on five of its first six third-down chances. New York jumped to a quick 14-0 lead on its first two possessions, and it appeared that so much of the defensive progress New England had made as of late was going to go down the tubes against a surprisingly feisty New York team.

But ultimately, the defensive turning point for the Patriots came shortly before the end of the first half when cornerback Malcolm Butler snagged his first pick of the year, a nifty play along the New York sideline that stifled a burgeoning Jets’ drive and gave the ball back to the Patriots with under a minute left in the second quarter. New England was able to flip it quickly, as Tom Brady and the offense went 63 yards in six plays — culminating in a 2-yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski — to knot the game at 14 heading into the half.

The second half was a different story, as the Jets couldn't put the ball in the end zone on their last nine possessions. Meanwhile, the Patriots were able to put 10 second-half points on the board for the difference.

"We might bend," Butler said of New England's defense, "but we don't break."

“It was obviously not the start we wanted, but I think the thing is we have a lot of guys who have been here for a whole and understand it’s all about playing four quarters,” said veteran safety Devin McCourty. “I thought we did a good job of really flipping the game right in the first half, tying it up (and) giving the offense a chance to get the ball coming out of the half. We talk about that situation all the time as a team, and I thought we handled that well today.”

That flash of good complementary football was the start of good things for the Patriots. And while it wasn’t perfect down the stretch, a late stand for a second consecutive week with the game on the line allowed the much-maligned New England defense to finish the ballgame on a positive note.

“I think that’s a big boost for us defensively,” Dont'a Hightower said of the New England defense and its ability to finish off the last two opponents on their final drives. “We know how good our offense is. We have Tom Brady and all that other (expletive). But we know what we need to do as a defense. And we haven’t been playing as well as we (should) have.

“But, again, done is better than perfect. We showed up and we closed (it) out when we needed to. We’ll take this and build on it and hopefully keep progressing in the right direction.”