FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts — It didn’t take the New England Patriots long to finish off the New York Jets on the way to the 41-3 victory on Christmas Eve at Gillette Stadium.
Malcolm Butler’s first-quarter interception of an overmatched Bryce Petty set up a short field for Tom Brady and Co. to march to a Martellus Bennett touchdown and a 10-0 lead that set the tone for the blowout.
New England (13-2) finished with four takeaways — including three for Butler who had two picks and a fumble recovery — as the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense held an opponent without a touchdown for the second straight week.
The Patriots won their sixth straight game as they roll toward the postseason, having already secured a first-round playoff bye and the clear favorite to head to another Super Bowl.
“I think it went back to the Denver game,” Brady said of his team’s mentality down the stretch. “We won that game and we got on an airplane and we said, ‘Look, we’re finishing strong. We’re putting the pedal to the metal.’ Last year we didn’t finish strong and we didn’t like the way that things ended.
“We need to keep playing well down the stretch. Different guys are contributing and all phases of the game are contributing. It’s been a lot of fun. Thirteen wins is pretty good. We’ve got to try to finish strong though next week.”
A year ago, the Patriots lost three of their final five games — including dropping division battles with the Jets and Dolphins — that had the team uncharacteristically limping into January action. There was a clear focus on that not happening in Saturday’s home finale again the Jets (4-10) and will be once again in Sunday’s season finale in Miami.
“I think everyone wants to talk about home-field advantage and playoffs and stuff like that. We just know the most important thing as a team is playing good football, and that’s going out, like I said during the week, executing during practice, playing and practicing at a high level,” Devin McCourty said. “We see it work. We go out there and have a good week of practice and then we come out here and play well so I think all across the board as a team, we know that, we understand it. It’s up to the older guys and the leaders to make sure we stick to it, especially on a week like that where it’s Christmas and the holidays, and we did that. It showed (against the Jets).”
What showed was a Patriots team that’s making plays in all areas and playing its best football heading into the playoffs. That’s a scary proposition for the opposition, but exactly what coach Bill Belichick wanted to see.
“We played good, complementary football. We got contributions from all three phases — offense, defense, special teams. We had some good field position on the turnovers and our offense was able to take advantage of that. Just a real solid week and solid performance,” Belichick said of the work against New York, before adding that the focus that he’s looking for isn’t outside the norm. “We try to do that every week, believe it or not. We try to be urgent. We try to win every week. We try to do that every single week.”