Looking like a completely different team than the one we've seen the previous two weeks, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots earned a much-needed win Sunday night when they defeated the New York Jets 37-16. With the victory, the Patriots sweep the season series against the divisional rival and take over sole possession atop the AFC East with a 6-3 record.
Additionally, Tom Brady and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick set an NFL record for the most wins by a coach-quarterback combination in the Super Bowl era. This was their 117th victory which surpassed the legendary combo of Dan Marino and Don Shula.
The pressure was on the Pats to deliver after back-to-back losses to the Steelers and Giants. The entire team stepped up in a big way and contributed to the victory.
For Brady, his 26-of-39 completions for 329 yards and three touchdowns earned him a 118.4 quarterback rating during the game. On the other side, Mark Sanchez of the Jets had 20-of-39 completions for 306 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and a rating of only 64.7.
Tom Terrific also passed the 3,000-yard mark for the season in only the ninth game of the year to join Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints as the only quarterbacks to do so.
Of course Brady didn't earn the win alone with tight end Rob Gronkowski catching two touchdown passes and Deion Branch adding a third. Branch perhaps had the most flair after his catch as he mimicked notable Jets fan Fireman Ed in a touchdown celebration dance.
Brady spoke about Gronkowski and many other aspects of the game in his post-game press conference at MetLife Stadium.
"[Gronkowski's] a great player and we depend on him," Brady said. "I think he came up very big tonight. We needed him to come out big tonight. It was a tough match up. He's big, but he has good speed. He's a very good runner and he's a good blocker. We have to keep finding ways to get him the ball."
The quarterback also reflected on the sense of urgency to win the game, a pressure that was intensified by two losses immediately before this contest and a lingering bitterness from being eliminated from the playoffs by the Jets last season. But of course in true Brady fashion, he quickly turned his focus to next week when they meet the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football.
"Losing two games straight, you have 14 days of just feeling crappy," he added. "Every day at practice is harder. It's hard to build on losses. You are just trying to regroup. It feels really good to win this one. We had two really tough losses and then to come here and play a little bit better (was great). We have to play better next week. The good teams keep getting better this time of year. That's what we need to do."
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