Feely Kicks Field Goal In O/T To Blunt Patriots Comeback, Jets 34-31

Posted by Jeff Sack under New England Patriots, New York Jets

There is a new power on top of the AFC East, but it took an overtime battle for the New York Jets to get first place as they defeated the New England Patriots 34-31 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough Thursday night. New England looked like they were in line for an old fashioned butt kicking before Matt Cassel channeled Tom Brady and tied the game with 1 second remaining in regulation after throwing a touchdown pass to Randy Moss. New York would win the roller coaster affair in the the overtime as Jay Feely put a 34 yard field goal through the uprights for the victory.

The Patriots Jets rivalry although it does not have the history of the Red Sox Yankees, is starting to take on that type of intensity. There is no love lost between these two opponents, starting with the field generals New England coach Bill Belichick and New York coach Eric Mangini. These are not just another regular season game for these two division rivals, they are grudge matches, each one adding some more fuel to what is becoming a pretty heavy duty fire.

Jets quarterback Brett Favre looked like he was in store for a rather lopsided win early on. He connected with Leon Washington for a 7 yard pass that would take the Jets into the end zone. After Feely kicked the extra point, New York led 7-0 with 9:26 left in the first quarter. New England would get on the scoreboard as kicker Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 42 yard field goal to make it a 7-3 contest with 4:25 left in the period. Feely though would answer back kicking a 22 yard field goal with 6 seconds remaining in the first, and putting the Jets ahead 10-3.

The Patriots would once again get on the board via the foot of Gostkowski, as he kicked 31 yard field goal with 9:44 in the second, cutting the New York lead to 10-6. Leon Washington would wipe the smiles off the fans at Gillette Stadium when he then ran the kick-off return for a 92 yard touchdown. Feely’s kick was good and the Jets were up 17-6 with 9:32 left in the first half. The Jets looked like they were on the verge of breaking this game wide open as Favre hit Jerrico Cotchery with a 15 yard pass for a touchdown. With the extra point sailing through the goal posts, New York was suddenly on top 24-6 with 4:57 to play in the first half. The Patriots would finally get their first touchdown as Matt Cassel connected with Jabbar Gaffney for a 19 yard touchdown pass. The kick by Gostkowski was good, and with 15 seconds to go in the first half it was a 24-13 game. New England had gotten closer but they would have a tough uphill climb to possibly get back into this game.

The Patriots came out with a fire in the third quarter that they did not show in the first half of the game. The New England defense shut the Jets down for the entire quarter, and Cassel hit Benjamin Watson with a 10 yard pass as time was expiring in the quarter. The Patriots pulled off a 2 point conversion when Cassel hit Gaffney in the end zone, and at the end of three quarters it was a new game with the Jets leading 24-21.

New England tied the game at 24-24 as Gostkowski kicked a 47 yard field goal with 10:16 left to play. Thomas Jones put New York back on top as he ran the ball 1 yard into the end zone for a touchdown, Feely’s extra point was good and the Jets led 31-24 with 3:10 to go in regulation. Cassel then did a pretty good imitation of Tom Brady, as he engineered a drive down field resulting in a 16 yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss with 1 second to go. Gostkowski’s extra point was good and with time expiring it was all tied up at 31-31. However on the first drive in overtime Feely would give New York the victory with the field goal.

Favre was 26/33 for 258 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Cassel had by far his strongest game since taking over for Brady in week one. The Patriots QB was 30/51 for 400 yards 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Cassel also surprisingly enough was the team’s leading rusher with 62 yards, Thomas Jones racked up 105 yards for the Jets. New York is in sole possession of first in the AFC East since November 19, 2001 with a record of 7-3. They will travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans on November 23. New England is now 6-4, they will be in Miami to take on the Dolphins that Sunday.

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