New England Patriots | Post Game Report | Week 5

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New England Patriots | Post Game Report | Week 5

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Game 5 | New England vs New York​

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In an effort to get back to .500%, the New England Patriots got back in the win column against the New York Jets, their first win since Week 2. The Jets have struggled this year but fought with the Pats until the very end.

The Patriots started off strong, forcing a punt and then marching down the field with the running game. Javia Locke had a handful of carries for ~40 yards and Brandon Bolden punched in his 5th rushing touchdown of the year to give them the early lead. That was almost the end of New England's running game however, as the Jets really buckled down on that department as the game progressed. New York answered back with two field goals before the next Pats Score, which was a 20+ yard pass to Rob Gronkowski. New York again answered with a field goal, before taking their first lead late in the 4th quarter on a hard fought Ray Rice receiving touchdown.

Rice fights into the end zone for the Jets lead
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The Patriots got a big kick return on the ensuing kick to set them up with good field position, which they converted into a field goal. New England was able to hold off the Jets from scoring and sent it into overtime! The Jets won the toss and elected to receive and they began marching down the field. Once they crossed the 50, New England knew they needed to limit them to a field goal to have a chance at staying in this game. However, free agent acquisition Tony Carter had other plans. Carter jumped a short route on 3rd down to record his 2nd interception of the year, which he took to the house to give the Pats the win! Carter has two interceptions since being picked up before Week 3, both of which he has returned for touchdowns.

Carter wins it for the Patriots​

After starting the game strong on the ground, the Patriots only finished with 84 rushing yards, 58 coming from rookie Javia Locke on 14 carries. Bolden had 4 attempts for only 5 yards, but did pick up a score. Newly re-added Danny Woodhead got 2 carries for 5 yards and Jimmy Garopollo scrambled once for 9.

The defense did well against the run, limiting Zac Stacy to 46 yards on 17 carries, 65 overall as a team. Both teams threw for under 200 yards, with young quarterbacks often missing open targets on both sides. Geno Smith had a touchdown and two interceptions on 21 of 33 passing for 196 yards. Garopollo had one touchdown and one interception on 12 of 25 passing for 183 yards. Neither signal called was very impressive.

The Patriots spread out their air attack with Miles Austin picking up 41 yards on 2 grabs, Rob Gronkowski also picking up 41 yards on 2 catches with one for a score, Brandon LaFell led the team with 64 yards on 4 catches, Scott Chandler had a 12 yard catch and Javia Locke and Julian Edelman both had one catch for 5 yards. The Patriots are going to have to find more ways to get Edelman involved on offense.

Gostkowski made his only field goal attempt and Ryan Allen booted it 5 times with 1 falling inside the 20. Pat Chung led the team with 6 individual tackles, the team picked up 0 sacks and Logan Ryan and Tony Carter each had an interception.

The Patriots won 23-17 and are 2-3 for the season, with a matchup against the 4-1 Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6.