Patriots win it Ugly

Well, the Patriots certainly looked human on Sunday. Scoring only 19 points, their offense didn’t come close to resembling the juggernaut of last season. If you were Eric Mangini and the Jets, there was no better possible situation to ask for coming into this game. The Jets had Brett Favre and an improved defense, while New England had Matt Cassel and an aging defense. Unfortunately, the Jets couldn’t make the Patriots pay for settling for field goals most of the game.

The Patriots could not effectively protect Cassel for most of the day, giving up three sacks and multiple hits. The first-time starter often had a lineman in his grill, but still managed to complete workman-like sixteen of twenty-three for 165 yards. The running game only really materialized in the second half, ending up with 104 yards. The Jets defense did their job, holding the unstoppable Patriots to 260 yards of total offense, but other factors caused New York to drop this important division contest.

Who is most responsible for this loss? It was Brett Favre. As many plays as he made on Sunday, he had almost as many bone-headed ones. A perfect example came in the third quarter, as the Jets managed to find their offense. Thomas Jones found some holes to run through, which set up the Jets’ play-action pass. Favre just looked for it too much. On three plays on this series came long-drop backs, which Favre rolled out of to look at least twenty yards downfield. On one he found a receiver, another was called back for an offensive interference penalty, and the last was an interception on a poorly judged throw.

He wasn’t done there. If you haven’t seen Adalius Thomas’ now infamous “two-man sack,” you should. The Jets were starting a fourth quarter with a little over five minutes left, down by nine. Favre was under intense pressure on a drop-back and proceeded to try and spin-out of the tackle, a patented Favre move. Unfortunately, Mr. Thomas had no intention of letting go. Attempting to help was little tailback Leon Washington, coming over to block Thomas away from Brett. He actually managed to get between Favre and his attacker, but never removed the threat. Instead, Thomas brought them both to the ground for a twenty-yard loss, bringing up third and 23 inside the Jets ten-yard line. Favre and the Jets were out of luck from there out.

In the end, the Jets defense played as well as possible, but their offense never got on track against a veteran Patriots defense. They should feel better about their chances next time, as Brett will have had plenty of time to soak in this offense and will put up more than ten points. It wasn’t a dominating effort by any means, but the Patriots proved that at least for this week, that they are still better than the Jets.