FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots would have liked to finish more decisively what they started in Sunday night’s 43-40 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs — a game they won at the final gun with a 28-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal.

But the end result was still pretty sweet, as these are the types of games — with just one punt between the teams and a tense finish in which clutch plays needed to be made down the stretch — that can build championship mettle.

“I think we’ve got a lot of clutch players. I think we have no problem grinding it out,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “That’s what the football season’s all about.”

Even better for the Patriots: By improving to 4-2, and dropping the Chiefs to 5-1, it keeps them out of what could have been too deep of a hole from which to recover for possible home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs.

Of course, that’s a long way away.

The Patriots next visit the Chicago Bears, who were one of the surprise stories of the NFL after their 3-1 start but came off their bye Sunday and fell to quarterback Brock Osweiler and the Miami Dolphins, 31-28 in overtime.

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The Patriots led 24-9 at halftime, which at their home stadium is one of the most ironclad locks in professional sports. Since Brady took over as the starter in 2001, the Patriots are 95-1 in the regular season at home when leading at the half.

The lone loss came to the Chiefs (in the 2017 season opener), and in a stunning second-half turnaround Sunday night, it looked as if the Chiefs were ready to do it again.

A Patriots defense that forced two turnovers in the first half suddenly became vulnerable to the big play after halftime. Uncharacteristic decision-making from Brady led to a strip sack that Kansas City quickly turned into a third-quarter touchdown.

“I don’t think we’ve seen our best. We can all play a lot better,” Brady said. “And that’s what we plan to do.”

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Tom Brady floats the ball deep to Rob Gronkowski for a 39-yard gain, setting up Stephen Gostkowski for a 28-yard field goal to win the game.

But the Patriots showed fortitude in overcoming the slippage — a clutch play with the game on the line as old reliable Rob Gronkowski reeled in a 39-yard catch to set up the winning field goal as time expired — in what was a playoff-type environment.

“I’ll keep throwing to him in the biggest moments,” Brady said of Gronkowski, whose big catch was the 500th of his career. “We talked about competing for 60 minutes, and that’s what it took — right down to the last three seconds.”

In doing so, the Patriots improved to 94-2 at home with Brady as a starter when they get a double-digit lead.

“A lot of us had been expecting that all week, knowing that’s a high-powered offense,” Patriots receiver Josh Gordon said. “We had one of our own, so we were expecting to take it the full length of the game.”

An investigative series by the Boston Globe reveals that former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who killed himself in prison last year, was sexually molested as a young boy.

The previously undisclosed information came from the Globe’s “Spotlight Team” from interviews, thousands of court and government records, and text messages, emails and images Hernandez sent and received while in a Massachusetts prison, where he was serving a life sentence without parole for the 2013 slaying of onetime friend Odin Lloyd.

The newspaper’s six-part series, the first installment of which was published Saturday, included details about Hernandez’s childhood, sexuality and drug use. Among them:

• Hernandez and his brother, Jonathan, were often beaten by their father, Dennis, while growing up in Bristol, Connecticut. The beatings were sometimes related to Dennis Hernandez’s drinking.

• Aaron Hernandez started smoking marijuana in high school with a teammate before school, before football practice and after games.

• The teammate, Dennis SanSoucie, told the Globe that he had a sexual relationship with Hernandez in junior high and high school and that the two tried to hide it.

• Jonathan Hernandez told the Globe that Aaron Hernandez disclosed later in his adult life that he had been molested as a young boy. One of Aaron’s lawyers in his criminal case also said Aaron spoke to him of sexual abuse as a child. Neither was willing to identify the perpetrator to the Globe.

• Aaron Hernandez was close to a cousin, Tanya Singleton, and he was crushed when he learned that his mother, Terri, was in a serious romantic relationship with Singleton’s husband, Jeff Cummings.

The report Saturday included information gleaned from recordings of nearly 300 phone calls Hernandez made from jail over a six-month period.

Hernandez was found hanging from a bed sheet in his cell on April 19, 2017, just days after he was found not guilty of two counts of murder in the killing of two men in a drive-by shooting outside a Boston nightclub five years earlier.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Wide receivers Brandin Cooks and Cooper Kupp are expected to clear the concussion protocol before the Los Angeles Rams play the Denver Broncos on Sunday at Broncos Stadium at Mile High.

“We’re right on track,” Rams coach Sean McVay said after practice Friday, adding that doctors could give a final clearance as soon as Saturday. “Looking positive in that direction.”

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  The Broncos are the latest to get a crack at slowing down the Rams’ offense. Evaluators provide a blueprint.

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  Winners and projections for every matchup. Fantasy nuggets to get you through the weekend. Catch up on Week 6 here.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. walked off the field and into the locker room before the final play of the first half of a 34-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night. He did not return to the sideline until after the opening kickoff of the second half.

There were two seconds remaining in the first half and the Giants were trailing 24-6 when Beckham strutted into the tunnel. The Giants ran one final play before halftime with their offense on the field.

Beckham was nowhere to be seen when Sterling Shepard caught a desperation 20-yard pass on the final play of the half. Two weeks ago, Beckham left early in a loss to the New Orleans Saints to get an IV. He returned in that game for the start of the second half.

It all seems to be spiraling out of control once again for Beckham and the Giants, who at 1-5 own the worst record in the NFL. According to a report by Fox Sports, the star receiver was fined for comments he made in an interview last week with ESPN’s Josina Anderson.

Beckham had two catches on four targets for 12 yards in the first half on Thursday night, as the Giants’ offense was a discombobulated mess. Quarterback Eli Manning was 10-of-23 passing for 163 yards with an interception as the Giants managed just two field goals in the opening 30 minutes.

But Manning was just 1-of-10 on passes of 3 or more air yards in the first half, according to ESPN Stats & Information. He had at least five passes that came close to being intercepted before halftime.

The Giants were clearly frustrated, from their quarterback to their receivers to their coach. Manning at one point showed a rare display of emotion when he yelled at running back Wayne Gallman after a miscommunication between the two on a second-quarter play.

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Odell Beckham Jr. continues to express his frustrations on the sidelines as he head-butts a cooling fan.

Coach Pat Shurmur was even caught on camera in the second quarter appearing to say, “Throw the ball!” after Manning dumped a second-and-long pass to Cody Latimer in the flat. Manning then dumped a third-and-long pass well short of the first-down marker before the Giants punted.

The frustration spilled into the second half, when Beckham banged his head and threw light jabs at a fan on the sideline. He needed to be calmed by rookie running back Saquon Barkley, who had just run for a 50-yard touchdown to make it 31-13 in favor of the Eagles.

Barkley, who finished with 130 yards rushing and 99 receiving, was the Giants’ lone positive from the disappointing effort. He had two 40-plus-yard runs in the contest and 229 total yards. The Giants had just two 40-plus runs from 2015 to ’17.

Beckham had six catches on 10 targets for 44 yards.

There was optimism with the Giants’ offense heading into Thursday night’s game. It had scored 30 points for the first time since the final week of the 2015 season Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.