Patriots face Jets, look for 16th straight winning season

NEW ENGLAND (8-2) at NEW YORK JETS (3-7)

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS

OPENING LINE - Patriots by 9

RECORD VS. SPREAD - New England 8-2, New York 3-5-2

SERIES RECORD - Patriots lead 59-54-1

LAST MEETING - Jets beat Patriots 26-20, OT, Dec. 27, 2015

LAST WEEK - Patriots beat 49ers 30-17; Jets had bye, lost to Rams 9-6 on Nov. 13

AP PRO32 RANKING - Patriots No. 3, Jets No. 28

PATRIOTS OFFENSE - OVERALL (6), RUSH (6t), PASS (6)

PATRIOTS DEFENSE - OVERALL (17), RUSH (17), PASS (15)

JETS OFFENSE - OVERALL (23), RUSH (11), PASS (26)

JETS DEFENSE - OVERALL (11), RUSH (4), PASS (19)

STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES - With victory, Patriots would clinch 16th straight season with winning record and tie San Francisco (1983-98) and Dallas (1970-85) for most consecutive winning years since 1970 merger. New England would also have 31st winning season since merger to tie Dallas for second, behind only Pittsburgh's 33 in that span. ... Patriots looking for sixth straight road win. ... Tom Brady could tie Peyton Manning for most total wins by QB with 200. Brady has 177 in regular season and 22 in postseason. ... Brady 21-6 in regular season vs. Jets as starter, and could join Brett Favre as only QBs in NFL history with at least 22 wins vs. two teams. Brady has 26 victories vs. Buffalo; Favre has 26 wins vs. Detroit and 23 vs. Chicago. ... Brady needs 57 yards passing to become fifth in NFL history to reach 60,000 for career, joining Manning (71,940), Favre (71,838), Drew Brees (64,180) and Dan Marino (61,361). ... Rookie WR Malcolm Mitchell scored on 56-yard touchdown pass in fourth quarter vs. 49ers for first TD catch of career. Mitchell became 63rd player to catch scoring toss from Brady, second only to Vinny Testaverde (70) in that category. ... Julian Edelman had 12 yards rushing vs. San Francisco, giving him most by receiver in franchise history with 251, topping Darryl Stingley's 244. ... TE Rob Gronkowski expected to miss second straight game with chest injury after getting hurt vs. Seattle on Nov. 13. ... Patriots tied team mark with five first-half sacks vs. 49ers, finished one shy of franchise single-game record of six, set three times. ... New England has held opponents to NFL-low starting possession average at 24.6-yard line on kickoffs. ... Jets beat Patriots in OT in second meeting last season and look to beat New England in two straight for first time since winning last matchup in 2008 (34-31 in OT) and first of 2009 season (16-9). ... Ryan Fitzpatrick starting at QB after sitting out last game in favor of Bryce Petty with sprained left knee. In last three vs. Patriots, Fitzpatrick has thrown for 928 yards, seven TDs, one INT for 102.4 rating. ... RB Matt Forte has 458 yards from scrimmage in last four games overall, with four rushing TDs and one TD catch in that span. Forte ranks eighth in NFL with 732 yards rushing this season. ... WR Brandon Marshall looking for first TD catch since Oct. 9 at Pittsburgh, span of five games without reaching end zone. ... C Nick Mangold has missed last three games with sprained ankle, and uncertain to play vs. New England. Wesley Johnson has filled in. ... In last six weeks, Jets have held opposing QBs to 73.8 quarterback rating, third lowest in league in that span. Opposing QBs have league-low 6.0 yards per passing attempt in last five games. ... NT Steve McLendon has career highs in total tackles (34) and sacks (3 1/2) in first season with Jets after seven with Steelers. ... DE Leonard Williams leads Jets with six sacks and is tied for first with 16 quarterback hits and two forced fumbles. ... Fantasy Tip: With Gronkowski likely out again, TE Martellus Bennett is plug-in play who could cause some matchup issues for Jets linebackers and secondary.

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