FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New York Jets have 10 games to secure a wild card. They won't win the AFC East, not as long as Tom Brady is healthy and slinging passes for the New England Patriots. Sunday was the day to make that stand, but the Jets, as usual, got their hearts crushed by the ageless Brady, whose pitch count was so high he'd be asking for extra rest if Scott Boras were his agent.
The script was oh-so familiar: The Jets played well. They showed heart. They frustrated Brady for stretches. They made the Patriots one-dimensional.
Unfortunately for the Jets, that one dimension was Brady, who threw 54 times out of 66 plays. This time, it was a 30-23 loss for the Jets, whose postgame locker room sounded like 2014. Or 2013. Or pretty much any year over the past 15.
"I'm [angry], because I feel like we had them," guard Willie Colon said. "I feel like we were the better team out there, but obviously we weren't."
This is what happens in these "Border War" showdowns: If they're not setting records, the Patriots are turning the Jets into broken records. As Colon said, "It's tough to keep swallowing this pill." It was a maddening defeat because they blew a fourth-quarter lead, thanks to Brandon Marshall's butter-finger moment in the end zone, questionable clock management by Todd Bowles, a couple of breakdowns in pass coverage and the Hail Mary that never happened.
That's it, that's all it takes to lose to Brady -- just a few flubs.
"It's frustrating," linebacker Calvin Pace said. "It's why one day that guy will be in the Hall of Fame."
The Jets made it a 60-minute game, hanging in there on a day in which running back Chris Ivory was slowed by a cranky hamstring. Clearly not himself, Ivory was a pedestrian back, managing only 41 yards on 17 carries. Marshall was invisible for most of the day, airbrushed out of the picture by the Patriots' constant double-teaming. Still, the Jets didn't fold. If they had faced any other quarterback, the Jets probably would've won. But Brady was flawless, throwing for two touchdowns and 355 yards despite six dropped passes.
Unlike their most recent trips to Foxborough, the Jets' performance wasn't a fluke. This was a good team coming up a few plays short against arguably the best quarterback in history. In past years, from 2012 to 2014, they pushed the Patriots to the limit by playing over their head. Under Rex Ryan, they usually saved their best for the Patriots, losing with dignity. But you always knew they wouldn't be able to sustain it over the season.
This time, the feeling is different. The Jets (4-2) aren't going anywhere and, unless they're decimated by injuries, the rematch (Dec. 27 at MetLife Stadium) will mean something. The divide between the two teams no longer is Grand Canyon-esque.
"Very little," Marshall said, responding to the proverbial "gap" question that surfaces every time these teams play.
On this day, the Jets needed to be perfect. They needed Bowles to be perfect, and he wasn't. In the final 2:50 of the game, he let the Patriots run the clock, passing up two opportunities in which he should've used a defensive timeout. Earlier in the quarter, he played a soft Cover 2 defense on a third-and-17, leaving the middle open for Julian Edelman. It was Brady to Edelman for 27 yards.
"That was the backbreaker," cornerback Antonio Cromartie said.
The Jets made a long field goal, recovered an onside kick (a rare play by the special teams) and got into position for a Hail Mary. It never happened because of a game-ending penalty on Marshall. Instead, the day turned into a Hail Brady.
"I think they respect us, I do, just like we respect them," Pace said. "That doesn't win you championships, though -- respect."
Don't they know it.