2006 Playoffs
From JetsWiki
Wild Card Round
Sunday January 7, 2007 New England Patriots 37, New York Jets 16
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | ||
| New York Jets | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 16 | |
| New England Patriots | 7 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 37 |
at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
- Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
- Game weather: 50°F (Sunny)
- TV announcers (CBS): Jim Nantz(play-by-play) and Phil Simms (color commentator)
- Referee: Bill Vinovich]
- Game Attendance: 68,756
New England took the opening kickoff and stormed down the field, with Gaffney catching three passes for 34 yards on a 65 yard-drive that ended with Dillon's 11-yard touchdown run. Later in the quarter, Jets defensive back Hank Poteat recovered a fumble from Dillon on the Patriots 15-yard line, setting up Mike Nugent's 28-yard field goal to cut their deficit to 7-3. On their first possession of the second quarter, the Jets took a 10-7 lead after receiver Jerricho Cotchery (who finished with 100 receiving yards and 19 rushing yards) caught a pass from Chad Pennington and took it 77 yards for a touchdown. However, New England countered with Stephen Gostkowski's 20-yard field goal on their next drive to tie the game. Then, after forcing the Jets to punt, the Patriots marched to New York's 1-yard line. On third down with 11 seconds remaining in the half and no timeouts left, Brady took the snap, faked a handoff to Dillon, and then hit tight end Daniel Graham in the back of the end zone for a touchdown to give them a 17-10 halftime lead. Nugent kicked a field goal on the Jets' opening drive of the second half, but New England responded with another field goal from Gostkowski to retake their 7-point lead. On the Jets' ensuing possession, linebacker Rosevelt Colvin deflected a lateral from Pennington behind the line of scrimmage. Most of the players on both teams (including Colvin) thought the lateral was an incomplete forward pass and the play was over, but New England's Vince Wilfork realized the play was still ongoing and recovered the fumble. After picking up the ball, Wilfork ran 31 yards to the Jets 15-yard line before being tackled by Cotchery, setting up Gostkowski's third field goal to make the score 23-13. Early in the fourth quarter, Nugent kicked his third field goal to cut New York's deficit back to within a touchdown, 23-16. However, the Patriots responded with a 13-play, 63-yard drive that took 6:23 off the clock and ended with Brady's 7-yard touchdown pass to Faulk. Then on the first play of the Jets' ensuing drive, New England defensive back Asante Samuel put the game away by intercepting Pennington's pass and returning it 36 yards for a touchdown.
Scoring
1st Quarter
- NE - Corey Dillon 11 yd TD run (Gostkowski kick), 11:53. Patriots 7-0. Drive: 10 plays, 65 yards, 3:07.
- NYJ - Mike Nugent 28 yd FG, 2:36. Patriots 7-3. Drive: 4 plays, 5 yards, 1:30.
2nd Quarter
- NYJ - Jerricho Cotchery 77 yd TD pass from Chad Pennington (Nugent kick), 14:45. Jets 10-7. Drive: 3 plays, 80 yards, :17.
- NE - Stephen Gostkowski 20 yd FG, 10:57. Tied 10-10. Drive: 10 plays, 56 yards, 3:48.
- NE - Daniel Graham 1 yd TD pass from Tom Brady (Gostkowski kick), :11. Patriots 17-10. Drive: 15 plays, 80 yards, 6:54.
3rd Quarter
- NYJ - Mike Nugent 21 yd FG, 8:19. Patriots 17-13. Drive: 13 plays, 73 yards, 6:41.
- NE - Stephen Gostowski 40 yd FG, 4:22. Patriots 20-13. Drive: 8 plays, 52 yards, 3:57.
- NE - Stephen Gostowski 28 yd FG, :04. Patriots 23-13. Drive: 4 plays, 5 yards, 1:39.
4th Quarter
- NYJ - Mike Nugent 37 yd FG, 11:39. Patriots 23-16. Drive: 8 plays, 61 yards, 3:25.
- NE - Kevin Faulk 7 yd TD pass from Tom Brady (Gostkowski kick), 5:16. Patriots 30-16. Drive: 13 plays, 63 yards, 6:23.
- NE - Asante Samuel 36 yd interception return TD (Gostkowski kick), 4:54. Patriots 37-16.
