The knock on the New England Patriots (4-3) entering Sunday’s game against the Jets (3-4) was that they couldn’t close out a game. The team has crumbled in every clutch situation it faced, losing three games by a combined four points.
 
New England came through Sunday at Gillette Stadium , showing the Foxborough crowd that it can win a tight game by coming from behind to knock off the Jets, 29-26, in overtime. But the win didn’t come in the dominating fashion that will silence critics.
 
Yes, Tom Brady led the Patriots on a field-goal drive with 1:37 remaining the fourth quarter to force overtime, but that only came after he went three-and-out with a little more than five minutes remaining, up 23-20 with a chance to close it out.
 
And those looking for things to criticize will also note that Brady and the Patriots couldn’t pull the paper from the many gifts the Jets gave them in the first half, when New England easily could have put the game out of reach.
 
But, as TE Rob Gronkowski said, a win's a win, and this one is even better because the Patriots managed to move into first place in the AFC East with it.
 
“I’ll take it whatever way,” Gronkowski said. “You can win some ugly, and you can win some pretty. It just doesn’t matter.”
 
When the game turned: This game never turned in a definitive direction until the very end when DE Rob Ninkovich delivered the game-winning strip sack on QB Mark Sanchez in overtime. Until that point, it was a back-and-forth affair that looked to be heading New York’s direction, until it wasn’t.

Highlight moments: Devin McCourty ’s 104-yard kickoff return in the first quarter will certainly be a play that will be on the countdowns Monday morning, but so will his fumbled fourth-quarter return that allowed New York to take a 26-23 lead. … LB Brandon Spikes ’ crunching hit on RB Shon Greene that temporarily knocked him out of action in the fourth quarter should also get some play. … WR Jeremy Kerley made a nice play on CB Alfonzo Dennard where he went up and tipped a pass to himself for a big gain.

Top-shelf performances:

· Jets WR Jeremy Kerley – Seven receptions for 120 yards

· Patriots LBs Brandon Spikes and Jerod Mayo – 21 tackles combined

· Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski – Six receptions, 78 yards, two touchdowns

What they said about New England’s comeback win:

· Jets coach Rex Ryan: “This kid [Brady] has been doing it, you … he’ll probably go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game. We’re not the first team he’s ever done that against, so you have to give him credit. … We had our best out, I wish we had a few things back, but you have to give them credit.”

· McCourty: “My teammates saved my life today [after fumbling in the fourth quarter]. Things didn’t go our way the whole game today. We made enough plays when we needed to for the win.”

· Brady: “It really wasn’t our best day of execution in terms of assignments, we have to nail those things down. A lot of those inconsistencies, you do’t score points, and didn’t score as many as we needed to. Those last couple of drives, we moved the ball better. I wouldn’t say they were great drives, but they were good enough.”

Numbers you should know: The Patriots allowed five plays of 20 or more yards. They led the league with 33 entering action. … The win was Brady’s 35th career comeback win. … He was 9 of 13 for 95 yards on the final two drives.

Injury update: Patriots – OLD Dan Connolly left the game in the first quarter due to illness. WR Matthew Slater re-aggravated a leg injury he suffered last week against the Seahawks. CB Ras-I Dowling left the game in the fourth quarter with a quad injury. Jets – TE Jeff Cumberland suffered a hand injury and was seen leaving the stadium with a cast on.

Going forward: Patriots – New England heads to London this week to play the Rams before going on a bye week. Jets – New York will host Miami before taking a week off.
 
Nick Underhill covers the Patriots for MassLive.com. Follow him on Twitter @CBSPats or @Nick_Underhill.