Marcus Jones returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown in the final seconds of the game on Sunday afternoon, sending the New England Patriots past the New York Jets for a 14th straight time 10-3 at a cold and blustery Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Neither team could muster much of an offense the entire afternoon. In the first half, New York sacked Mac Jones three times and the Patriots defense also quieted the Jets offense holding them to 91 total yards. There was a total of six punts, with Nick Folk and Greg Zuerlein swapping a pair of field goals. Folk also missed one from 44 yards late in the second quarter that hit the crossbar. The anemic offensive play continued and the defenses took over once again in the second half. New York ended up punting 10 times in the game, and only mustered a total of 103 yards (12 in the second half). New England (6-4) had another missed field goal by Folk in the third quarter, and also a turnover on downs in Jets territory. It looked like New York was playing to send the game into overtime, but Braden Mann was again forced to punt with 26 seconds left. Jones caught it on the run at his own 16 yard line, sliced from left to right and found some space up the sideline where be broke loose of defenders and went into the endzone untouched with just five seconds remaining. It was the first punt return touchdown in the NFL this season.
Jones finished 23-27 for 246 yards passing in the win. Damien Harris rushed eight times for 65 yards, and Rhamondre Stevenson made six catches for 56 yards. Ja’Whuan Bentley had eight total tackles and Matthew Judon had 1.5 sacks to help lead the defense. Judon now has a career-high 13.5 sacks on the season. Zach Wilson had less completions (9) than New York had punts (10) in the loss. He finished 9-22 for 77 yards. He was also the leading rusher for his team with three attempts for 26 yards. C.J. Mosley had seven total tackles, and the Jets finished with five sacks on Jones. NY is now 6-4. New England has a short week as they play Thanksgiving night at 8:20 p.m. in Minnesota against the Vikings.
