The New England Patriots are only two weeks into the National Football League season and they have barely held on for two victories against AFC East opponents. Last Thursday, the Patriots battled both the New York Jets and torrential rains before escaping with a 13-10 victory in front of a raucous home crowd at Gillette Stadium.

Before the game ended, the Patriots and Jets had been locked in a grudge match. Both defenses were particularly stingy, which held each opposing offense in check. The Jets held Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady to 19 successful completions out of 39 passing attempts, which resulted in only 185 yards and one touchdown.

Meanwhile, the Patriots had their way with the opposing quarterback, sacking Brady once and applying intense pressure another seven times which ultimately resulted in him being tackled.

The Patriots intercepted three passes from Jets quarterback Geno Smith, including one by Patriots cornerback Aqib Talib to seal the game. They also held Smith without a touchdown and sacked him four times in total.

Talib, who had two of the three interceptions, intercepted Smith's pass with 38 seconds left in the fourth quarter and brought the ball back toward the line of scrimmage before dancing out of bounds.

A late hit by Jets center Nick Mangold cleared both benches and ultimately saw two Jets-guard Willie Colon and left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson-get ejected.

Though they were in control during portions of the game, the Patriots were happy to leave Foxboro, Mass. with a win, givne that they entered the night without their top three offensive weapons: tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Danny Amendola and running back Shane Vereen.

The majority of Amendola's passes went to wide receiver Julian Edelman, who had 13 catches for 78 yards and was the only receiver from either team to record double digit-catches.
Aside from Edelman, the Patriots' wide receivers were relatively quiet, only recording six catches for 114 yards and a touchdown.

Brady's only touchdown came midway through the first quarter when he hit Aaron Dobson for a 39-yard touchdown, ultimately the longest play of the night. A Jets field goal by kicker Nick Folk was sandwiched by two Stephen Gostkowski field goals that left the Patriots with a 13-3 lead at halftime.

With just over five minutes left in the third quarter, the Jets' running back Bilal Powell, who finished with 48 yards on 12 carries, capped off a nine play, 58-yard drive with a three yard touchdown run to cut the Patriots lead to 13-10.

That was as close as the Jets got as the offense sputtered to three interceptions and two punts over their final five drives.

Though their opponents emerged with the victory, their counterparts did not fare much better. Not only did every Patriots drive in the second half end in a punt-except for Brady's kneel down to end the game-the longest drive was a mere 22 yards, which was vastly different from the New England team's opening series of 81 yards.

In the absence of Vereen, running back Stevan Ridley gained 40 yards on 12 carries, but the running attack was held largely in check by the Jets' defense.

Fortunately for the Patriots, their defense stood taller than their opponents to produce three turnovers that ultimately sealed the game.

The Patriots' offense, which appears to get Gronkowski back before next week, faces another tough defense as the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers will arrive in Foxboro next week.