Notebook: Rob Gronkowski, Dion Lewis step up against Jets

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- In his first contest back after missing the Tampa Bay game because of a thigh injury, tight end Rob Gronkowski had arguably his finest outing of the season, coming away with six catches on a team-high 10 targets for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Sunday's 24-17 win over the Jets.

“It went smooth — we got the victory,” Gronkowski said after the game, his first multi-touchdown contest since he scored three in the 2015 season opener against the Steelers.



“Everything didn’t go as well as you thought it would,” he added. “But what’s most important is coming out with the win. And every time you come out to New York, it’s going to be a dogfight. Those guys played hard. The whole defense played hard, They hit hard. They’re always physical. They don’t back down.”

Gronkowski and quarterback Tom Brady connected on their 70th touchdown, a 2-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and their 71st connection, on a 33-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. It’s the second-most TD connections between a quarterback and a tight end in NFL history, trailing only the 85 pulled off by San Diego’s Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates.

Another guy who had been quiet offensively as of late but had a nice breakout afternoon was running back Dion Lewis. The undersized Lewis saw extended reps in the running game — partially because Mike Gilislee fumbled in the first half — and ended with 11 carries for 52 yards and a touchdown.

“Whenever you get a chance, you have to make plays,” Lewis said. “That’s my job. I was just happy to go out there, move around a bit and help my team.”

“He ran great,” Brady said of Lewis, who made his first start of the 2017 season. “He’s gaining confidence every week. He ran with a lot of confidence in himself. It was great to see.”

Ex-Pat Ealy helps Jets almost pull off upset

Defensive end Kony Ealy, who was released by the Patriots this summer, started and had a pair of passes defensed for New York. Ealy said the Jets had the right mindset coming into the game, but in the end, his old team made the plays when it counted.

"I thought we were going to win. Everybody else thought we were going to win. We put in the work, the effort to win. They made more plays than we did, and that's the name of the game," he said. "I'm literally at a loss for words. It was that close. It was just a couple of plays. We can definitely clean some stuff up. We're fighters and we have a real good football team."

Road warriors keep rolling

The win over the Jets on Sunday was the 11th straight regular-season road win for the Patriots, one shy of the franchise and AFC mark of 12 set by New England from Dec. 24, 2006, through Oct. 5, 2008. That 12-game stretch is second in NFL history to the 18 consecutive road wins by the 49ers (1988-90). … While Brady is the all-time overall NFL leader with 212 career wins as a starting quarterback, Brady has now won 187 regular season games to move past Brett Favre and Peyton Manning for the most regular season wins by a starting quarterback in NFL history. Brady downplayed the honor — when he was asked about the accomplishment after the game, he said, “I wish we would have done better, but we won.”