It had been 29 years since the New York Jets had last played three straight road games.

With a struggling offense and a tired defense pushed beyond its limit, the Jets probably wouldn’t mind if it’s at least that long before they see a similar road trip again.

After a 2-0 start at home, road-weary New York (2-3) dropped its third straight game, to the New England Patriots, 30-21, while allowing at least 30 points in a third consecutive game for the first time in nine seasons.

It was enough to make the Jets homesick.

Following double-digit losses in Oakland and Baltimore, the Jets (2-3) played better at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Sunday. But, thanks to an inept offense, New York’s exhausted defense couldn’t make one last stop it needed to make, allowing the Patriots (4-1) to clinch a victory with a late field goal drive of over six minutes.

The Jets’ offense struggled mightily for a second consecutive week, going three-and-out seven times over the first three quarters, leaving New York’s defense on the field for almost 34 minutes (to the 26:05 the Jets had the ball).

While New York’s offense faltered, New England scored on two of its first four possessions to jump out to a ten-point lead.

After quarterback Tom Brady (24-33, 321 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 4 sacks) completed a 32-yard pass down the middle to wide receiver Wes Welker (5 catches, game-high 32 yards), running back BenJarvus Green Ellis (27 carries, game-high 136 yard, 2 TD) ran three straight times for eight yards each, before capping a five-play, 64-yard drive on a 3-yard touchdown run that gave the Patriots a 7-0 lead with 7:32 left in the opening quarter.

New England then went a mere 18 yards on six plays, but that was good enough for a 44-yard field goal by kicker Stephen Gostkowski to give the Patriots a 10-0 lead with 11:15 left in the first half.

New York finally got its offense going on a 13-play, 78-yard drive, which consumed 7:49. Quarterback Mark Sanchez (16-26, 166 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 2 sacks) completed all four of his passes (for 43 yards) and running back Shonn Greene (21 carries, 83 yards, 1 TD) rushed eight times for 34 yards on the drive, as Greene finished the possession with a 3-yard touchdown run that pulled the Jets to within 10-7, with 3:21 left in the half.

The Patriots didn’t need long to extend their lead in the second half. Brady completed a 73-yard pass to Welker down the middle on the first play of the half. Three plays later, Brady connected with wide receiver Deion Branch (7 catches, 74 yards, 1 TD) on a 2-yard touchdown pass to put New England up 17-7, just 2:15 into the third quarter.

However, Joe KcKnight, who returned a kickoff 107 yards for a touchdown last week, brought the ensuing kickoff back 88 yards to set up the Jets’ next score.

Greene rushed for four and seven yards before Sanchez passed to rookie wide receiver Jeremy Kerley (3 catches, 35 yards, 1 TD) on a 9-yard touchdown pass that cut the Patriots’ lead to 17-14 just 1:43 after New England’s earlier score.

Late in the quarter though, New England traveled 77 yards on 11 plays to increase its lead to 24-14 on another 3-yard touchdown run by Green-Ellis with 1:20 left in the period.

A short six-play, 19 yard drive (following another New York punt) culminated with a 24-yard Gostskowski field goal that gave the Patriots their largest lead, 27-14, with 12:57 left in the game.

New York was able to answer on its next possession, going 85 yards on 11 plays to trim New England’s lead to 27-21 on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Sanchez to wide receiver Santonio Holmes (4 catches, team-high 60 yards) with 7:24 remaining.

At that point, there was still plenty of time for the Jets to mount one last drive to pull out a victory, but their earlier offensive struggles prevented a fatigued defense from being to stop the Patriots.

Instead, New England methodically used up 6:05 while going 69 yards on 13 plays for a game-clinching 28-yard field goal by Gostkowski that closed the scoring with 1:02 left.

After being outgained by almost 200 yards (446-255) and coming up winless on their three-game road swing, the Jets will be more than happy to return home for the first time in a month to host hapless Miami (0-4) at MetLife Stadium next Monday night, at 8:30 pm ET.

When Rex Ryan boasted all summer about how his team would win the Super Bowl this season, the type of performance he saw from his team in the second half of the Jets’ game with the New England Patriots on Sunday was exactly what the New York Jets’ head coach envisioned.

After failing to back up Ryan’s words with a lackluster season opening effort in a loss to Baltimore last week, the Jets (1-1) turned it on after halftime on Sunday, outscoring the New England Patriots (1-1) 18-0 in the second half to rally for a solid 28-14 victory at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

Unlike last week, the Jets took the conservative reigns off of quarterback Mark Sanchez, and it paid off, as Sanchez outdueled Patriots’ star quarterback Tom Brady, going 21 of 30 for 220 yards, and 3 touchdowns for a 124.3 quarterback rating.

Brady meanwhile, was 20 of 36, for 248 yards, and two touchdowns, but he threw two picks and lost a fumble on New England’s final drive.

That was just part of the havoc the Jets’ defense caused the Patriots, as that unit was able to step without star shutdown cornerback Darrelle Revis, who left just before halftime after aggravating a hamstring injury he suffered in practice earlier in the week.

Sans Revis, the Jets’ defense took over the game in the second half, during which the Patriots committed all three of their turnovers, while gaining a total of just 14 yards and punting twice on their other two second-half possessions.

The Jets also played a lot more disciplined football than last week, when they lost one turnover and committed 14 penalties for 125 costly yards. Against New England, New York avoided any turnovers and cut the penalties down to just 6 for 58 yards.

It all added up to a much more successful formula, and a much-needed AFC East victory before the Jets travel to AFC East-leading Miami (2-0) next week.

The game didn’t start out that way for the Jets, however.

New England moved the ball well on its first two drives, while New York went three-and-out on its first possession.

The Patriots took the opening kickoff and went 53 yards in 13 plays, but kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a 37-yard field goal. On their next drive though, the Patriots went 75 yards on 15 plays in 8:10, with Brady throwing a 6-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Wes Welker, to give New England a 7-0 lead 1:43 into the second quarter.

The Jets then responded the next time they touched the ball, tying the game, 7-7, on a 12-play, 62-yard drive in 6:47, scoring on a 10-yard touchdown pass to the left side of the end zone to wide receiver Braylon Edwards (5 catches, 45 yards, 1 TD).

After the teams then traded punts, Brady needed just four plays and 48 seconds to get the Patriots back in the end zone. Brady threw a couple of incomplete passes, but then connected with rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez (who became the unlikely Patriots’ leader on the day with 101 receiving yards on 6 catches) for 46 yards to the Jets’ 34 yard-line. That set up a 34-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Randy Moss, who burned Revis before making a brilliant one-handed right-handed grab at the back of the end zone, to put New England ahead, 14-7, with 53 seconds left in the first half.

That was just enough time for Sanchez to direct the Jets with four completions in six attempts during a 7-play, 49-yard drive that culminated with a Nick Folk 49-yard field goal which trimmed the Patriots’ lead to 14-10 as the first half expired.

After that, the Jets took control of the game, especially holding the Patriots’ two biggest receiving threats –- Moss, and Welker — in check, with newcomer defensive backs Antonio Cromartie and Brodney Pool each grabbing second-half picks.

Moss’ touchdown (the 150th of his career) before halftime was his last reception and other than that catch, he caught only one other ball for a mere four yards. And, although Welker matched Hernandez’s 6 catches, the usual Jet killer finished with just the same 38 receiving yards that Moss had.

A frustrated Brady, put it very succinctly after the game, saying “We couldn’t do anything there in the second half… we couldn’t run it, we couldn’t throw it, we just sucked.”

In sharp contrast, the Jets, after a three-and-out to begin the second half, scored the game’s final 18 points on three of their next four possessions.

New York drove 80 yards on 10 plays in 4:47 to pull within 14-13 on a 36-yard field goal by Folk with 4:53 left in the third quarter. The key play on that drive was a 39-yard connection from Sanchez to tight end Dustin Keller, who led all receivers in catches (7) and receiving yards (115).

The Jets took the lead for good on their next possession, on a 6-play, 70-yard drive in 3:02 that was highlighted by a rushing game that outgained New England 136-52, led by running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who finished with a game-high 76 yards on 11 carries.

A good portion (31) of those yards came toward the end of that drive on a nice run up the right side which set up a two-yard touchdown toss from Sanchez to wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery. Sanchez then completed to Edwards on a two-point conversion to put the Jets up 21-14, with 38 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, New York put the game out of reach, capping an 8-play, 63-yard drive which took 4:59, on a 1-yard touchdown throw from Sanchez to Keller, to give the Jets a commanding 28-14 lead with 6:09 left in the game.

With the Patriots trying to rally, linebacker Jason Taylor sacked Brady on a first down from the New York 16 yard-line, forcing a fumble that was recovered by linebacker David Harris (who had 4 tackles) with 4:06 left in the game.

The Jets were able to run out the clock on the ground from there, and take a lot of the pressure off of themselves that that Ryan’s unchecked swagger had placed on his team for months.

After all of the preseason Super Bowl talk, the prospect of playing in a media market like New York at 0-2, heading to first place Miami in Week 3 would have created a difficult situation for the Jets to handle and in which to succeed.

But, setting Sanchez free with Keller, Edwards, and Cotchery, and the contributions from newcomers like Cromartie, Pool, Tomlinson, and Taylor, were enough to at least for one game, have the Jets finally looking like the team Ryan told us his Jets would be this season.

It’s late August. A time of the year when panic sets in for teams who are not progressing in efficiency with the first unit through their preseason schedule.

Putting aside one’s belief on the importance of games that may get cut in half by 2012 if the NFL goes to an 18 game regualr season schedule, one element is certain. Stay healthy. For the Jets, with one game left before attention turns to Baltimore and the opener, the loss of Calvin Pace, the teams best pass rusher, puts an already compromised defense in another quandry.

Pace, whose outside blitzes from the hybrid position of OLB and DE has been one of the only sources of pressure without Rex Ryan calling on the secondary in blitz packages, injured his foot on Friday night vs Washington. What does this mean? Perhaps there will be a reuniting of Ryan and foprmer player LB Adelius Thomas, cut by the Pats this Summer. Thomas has expressed interest in joining the Jets and with Pace out for at least the first four games which include Tom Brady and the Dolphins with Brandon Marshall and a healthy Ronnie Brown returning form a season ending injury in 2009, the Jets can’t slip from the solid production that Pace brought: Reports today have painted the Jets as NOT interested until Thomas until after week one. If this is true, the Jets clearly want to see what Jason Taylor and Vernon Gholston can do prior to going outside of the organization.

The newly acquired Taylor appears out of shape and perhaps not ready for a majority of the snaps just yet. Even if Taylor gets his wind back, questions still remain as to whether he can he still wreak top flight havoc in enemy backfields at the age of 35. This brings us to third year Jet, the former 6th pick overall in 2008,Vernon Gholston. Gholston struggled his first two years but was shrewdly moved from LB to DE by defensive genius Ryan and the move has shown signs of serious life. Gholston has had a great camp. One that included solid play against Carolina and pressures on Skins QB Rex Grossman in the first half. Due to both the injury of Pace, and the durability and remaining ability left regarding Taylor, the emergence of Gholston has now gone from a project under development, to under the microscope, requiring immediate results.

A dangerous scenario awaits the Jets should quarterbacks have time to throw while receivers make moves without all world cover CB Revis on their tail. Pace, while not a prototype pass rusher, gave the Jets just enough last year to get by in that department. NG Kris Jenkins is back and his addition back on the line will undoubtedly help Jets ends receive less attention.

Nonetheless, the spotlight shines both on Taylor, given his terrific resume, and Gholston. Should Gholston continue to make plays as he has so far this Summer, the Jets may be able to survive the first quarter of a season that looks to be no easy task. With a tough schedule, a Jets offense under development, led by a second year quarterback in Mark Sanchez, and now the loss of Pace, the Jets all of a sudden need Gholston to emerge. Now. Many who make up Jets nation, for the first time, feel he may finally be ready to do so.

Follow TJ Rosenthal on twitter @thejetreport