The Patriots gave Mark Sanchez two things: good field position, and plenty of time. And Sanchez made them pay.
Punting from deep within their own territory after the third sack of the game on Tom Brady, the Patriots had only 50 yards at their backs when Mark Sanchez took the ball. While a false start and an incompletion set up a 3rd-and-6, the Patriots couldn’t get any pressure when they needed it most. Sanchez scrambled a little, pointed downfield, and found Braylon Edwards all the way in the red zone. With Darius Butler coming up short on the coverage, it was eerily reminiscent of Week 2.
From there, it was just a matter of a quick pass to LaDainian Tomlinson out of the backfield to put the Jets up 7-3.
Tom Brady and the Patriots just gave up a quick 3-and-out, and the Jets will have the ball on their own 20.