The NY Jets always seem to give the New England Patriots all they can handle, and such was the case yesterday as the Pats hung on for a 24-17 win in East Rutherford.
The Jets certainly got off to a great start, putting Tom Brady and company into a 14-0 hole on two scores, one which came after a fumble by Pats running back Mike Gillislee, so Brady had to play comeback kid again at the age of 40. Brady tied the game at 14 just before the end of the first half after connecting with Brandin Cooks on a great fade pass down the sideline, good for 42 yards, which set up a short touchdown pas to Rob Gronkowski, who would also haul in a 33-yard pass in the third quarter to push New England's lead to 21-14. The Jets looked as if they'd closed the gap to just three points late in the fourth quarter when Austin Seferian-Jenkins grabbed a short toss from Jets quarterback Josh McCown and just got across the orange pylon while being tackled by Malcolm Butler, but on video replay the refs ruled that Sefarian-Jenkins didn't have full control of the ball and only recovered it after he was forced out of bounds and the ball was turned over to the Patriots. It was an odd call because the ball never touched the ground, so it's hard to understand how Sefarian-Jenkins was ruled to have recovered a ball that never actually left his grasp, but the Pats were glad for the call and held on to secure their fourth win of the season, which puts them alone in first place in the AFC East.
Butler and Devin McCourty each had interception for the Pats and Dion Lewis ran for a one-yard touchdown, while Brady shattered yet another NFL record, passing Peyton Manning and Brett Favre for most regular season wins by a quarterback with his 187th.
The NY Giants went into Denver's Mile High Stadium last night without a win, and the Denver Broncos had yet to lose at home. The Giants were without six of their starters due to injury, including their all-star wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., so guess what happened? Yep, the Giants came away with a 23-10 win.
Jason Pierre-Paul had three sacks for the Giants, and the defense also created points when Janoris Jenkins picked off Trevor Siemian for a 43-yard interception touchdown return just before the half. New York went into the locker room with a 17-3 lead and never looked back in notching their first win of the season, while the Broncos drop to 3-2.
Other notables from around the league include the Kansas City Chiefs losing for the first time, a defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers, so there are no longer any undefeated teams in the league, and the Green Bay Packers will be without their best player the rest of the season, after all-star quarterback Aaron Rogers broke his collarbone in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Chicago Cubs will have to climb out of a fairly deep hole if they want to repeat as World Series champs because last night in Los Angeles the Dodgers went up two games to none over the Cubs in the National League championship series when third baseman Justin Turner did his best Kirk Gibson impression, hitting a walk-off, bottom of the ninth, three-run homer to give the Dodgers a 4-1 win.
And Turner's heroics came on the 29th anniversary of the night in 1988 when the most famous Dodgers home run in franchise history was hit by Gibson in game one of the World Series off all-star closer Dennis Eckersley, a walk-off that propelled the Dodgers to an upset win over the heavily favored Oakland A's. It was also the last World Series title for Los Angeles, so Turner's walk-off last night against John Lackey has folks in L.A. thinking about breaking that nearly three decade drought.
The series shifts to Wrigley Field tomorrow night, and tonight in the Bronx the NY Yankees will try to dig out of an 0-2 hole they also find themselves in against the Houston Astros. CC Sabathia has been the Yankees best starter in the playoffs and he gets the ball tonight against Charlie Morton for Houston.
In the NHL, the Boston Bruins look lost on the ice without their best player, Patrice Bergeron, who's nursing an injury that's kept him sidelined for the team's first five games, and the Bruins dropped to 2-3 on the year after a 3-1 loss against the expansion Golden Knights in Las Vegas.
The UVM men's hockey team picked up a 3-2 road win against Union last night, with the eventual game winning goal scored by Max Kaufman, his first collegiate tally. The goal came late in the second period to break the 2-2 tie. Craig Puffer and Matt O'Donnell also scored for the Catamounts to even their record at 2-2.
The UVM women's soccer team took on Hartford in a rematch of last year's America East semi-final playoff, with yesterday's match going to double overtime before Hartford won it on the only goal of the game by Julia Carr in the 102nd minute, her fourth tally of the year for the Hawks.
UVM's field hockey team also went to double overtime with a better result, securing a 1-0 win over UNH on a strike by Rachel Phillips just over a minute into the second overtime. It's the first league win for the Catamounts, who upped their overall record to 5-9 with the victory.
Julia Richards scored a hat trick to lead Middlebury to a 7-0 romp over Husson, as the Panthers improve to 11-2 on the season.
