EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) - The Patriots were in a festive
mood following a Thanksgiving Day battering of the New York Jets on
Thursday with quarterback Tom Brady devouring a turkey drumstick during
an interview after New England's emphatic victory.
Brady could be forgiven for enjoying a rich post-game meal after he and
his team mates had already helped themselves to an NFL feast, piling on
seven touchdowns, including five in the second quarter, in a lop-sided
49-19 victory at Metlife Stadium.
The win was the Patriots' fifth
in a row and lifted their season record to 8-3, four games clear of
their nearest rivals in the AFC East division.
With
five regular-season games remaining, a playoffs berth seems a formality
for last season's Super Bowl runners-up, who were seemingly unaffected
by the loss of tight end Rob Gronkowski to a broken arm last week.
For the Jets, the mood was one of despair. With a captive
national audience watching, they produced one of their worst
performances in years.
"We're about as wounded as you can possibly be but we're not dead," Jets head coach Rex Ryan said.
At 4-7, the Jets still have a mathematical chance of
making the playoffs but even their most loyal fans were showing signs of
losing faith.
Thousands of spectators headed for
the exit gates before halftime when the Jets gave up 35 points in a
farcical second quarter and more than three-quarters of the 80,000 seats
were empty long before the end.
"Thirty-five
points in a quarter, I thought that was almost impossible to do but they
found a way to do it," Ryan said.
"You have to
give them credit, they're a great football team but they didn't any help
from us and 35 points in a quarter is ridiculous."
After a scoreless first quarter, the game ended as a contest in the
blink of an eye when the Patriots scored three touchdowns in 52 seconds.
Brady, who threw three touchdown passes and ran in one
himself, connected with Shane Vereen for an 83-yard touchdown after New
York's Shonn Greene turned the ball over.
Two plays
later, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez ran into the back of his own team
mates and fumbled the ball for New England's Steve Gregory to return it
32 yards for a touchdown.
Joe McKnight then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, allowing Julian Edelman to score from 22 yards.
The Jets kicked a field goal just before halftime then
responded with consolation scores in the third and fourth quarters but
were never able to mount a challenge to the visitors, who added two more
touchdowns in the final quarter.
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