Jets push Patriots, but New England remains undefeated

The Patriots faced their toughest challenge of the season against the Jets on Sunday, scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns against the NFL's top-ranked defense to remain undefeated with a 30-23 victory.

It is the fifth time in six games since 2009 that Tom Brady and the Patriots have been victorious against a team that entered the game with the top defense in the league.

With the Jets giving up just 82.6 rushing yards per game going into the afternoon, the Patriots abandoned the run (they totaled just nine carries, four of them from Brady) and made the decision to challenge New York's secondary instead. Brady attempted 54 passes, completing 34 to eight receivers for 355 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

Brady also scored the Patriots' rushing touchdown, a 1-yard sneak in the first half.

Despite a number of drops from his receivers, including Julian Edelman, who beat Darrelle Revis but dropped what should have been a touchdown, and Brandon LaFell, who made his season debut after beginning the year on the physically unable to perform list, Brady's teammates didn't fail him down the stretch, as he was 14-for-17 on the Patriots' final two touchdown drives.

On what was the game-winning touchdown, Brady found Rob Gronkowski, who was embarrassingly wide open a few yards shy of the goal line and jogged untouched into the end zone.

Down 10 points but with only 73 seconds left in regulation, the Jets did score a field goal and recovered the onsides kick to give themselves a chance for a few plays to potentially tie the game. But after a first-down completion to Eric Decker, the Jets' opportunity for a Hail Mary disappeared when Brandon Marshall was flagged for a false start. With only one second remaining, the mandatory 10-second runoff for the penalty ended the game.

With the Jets now 4-2 and New England 6-0, the Patriots have an early two-game lead in the AFC East and face the surging Dolphins next week. This is the third time in franchise history the Patriots have started the season 6-0; the others were 2004 and 2007.