Well maybe they didn’t exactly fly into first place. After jumping out to a 1st half 24 – 6 lead and ending up in overtime, maybe crash landing would be more appropriate. In the NFL they don’t grade you on style points. The Patriots demonstrated what everyone already knew, you never write off a champion.
Matt Cassel threw for 400 yards after attempting 51 passes. In the first half the Jets defense seemed to have all the answers. The Patriots never gave up and kept chipping away. The highlight being a game tying touchdown pass from Cassel to Randy Moss with 1 second left in the game.
In overtime the Jets won the toss and put together an effective drive. They won the game on a Jay Feely 34 yard field goal. It was a crazy game with plenty of ups and downs. The bottom line is that the Jets hung on, came back and won 34 – 31. This puts them in sole possession of first place.
Some notes from the game:
- Leon Washington – returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the first half and scored on a 7 yard pass from Brett Favre in the 1st quarter.
- Thomas Jones ran for 104 yards on 30 carries and scored a touchdown.
- Dustin Keller is the real deal. He is a true pass catching threat. He caught 8 passes for 87 yards and had numerous key catches. He also dropped an easy touchdown early in the game and the Jets had to settle for a field goal on that drive.
- Ty Law, despite giving up the late touchdown to Moss, he can still play. He is going to be the # 2 cornerback on this team.
- Nick Lowery gave up a touchdown to Jabar Gaffney with seconds remaining before the half. It was a very large turning point in the game and gave the Pats momementum. Lowery also dropped a possible interception late in the game that would have sealed the victory.
- Brett Favre made no mistakes and put the team on his back when they needed it most. Had a very big 4th quarter drive to put the Jets up by a touchdown and drove them in overtime to win the game. Overall Favre was 26/33 and threw for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns.
- Defense? They had 3 sacks but didn’t disrupt Cassel’s rhythm enough. Kerry Rhodes picked up a fumble.
- The defense seems to fall victim to the short passing game often. After a win and staking their claim to 1st place, that is a problem the Jets will gladly work hard to correct.
Discuss this game in our forums. Stay tuned for the JetNation.com Report Card.