2-0!

Life without Tom Brady might not be so bad for New England after all.

Matt Cassel was efficient running the offense in his first NFL start, taking over for the injured quarterback and leading the Patriots over Brett Favre and the New York Jets 19-10 on Sunday.

"I thought Matt did a good job," coach Bill Belichick said. "It wasn't perfect. We had some rough spots. He did a good job of making good decisions. He didn't put us in any bad situations and made some good positive plays. I thought he managed the game well."

Cassel, who hadn't started at any level since his senior year of high school, was 16-of-23 for 165 yards, Sammy Morris ran for a touchdown and Stephen Gostkowski kicked four field goals.

"At the end of the day, you've got to have more points than the other team and that's what we did, so I'm satisfied," Cassel said. "I didn't have too many butterflies going out. I've been in the system for four years, so I'm confident I know I can run it."

The Jets, slight favorites going in, and Patriots receiver Randy Moss said New England was still the team to beat even without Brady, who was lost for the season last Sunday when he injured his left knee against Kansas City.

The Patriots (2-0) then showed why, ruining the Jets' home opener and Favre's first regular-season home start for New York.

"We knew we had to play our best football to win," Favre said, "and we weren't able to do that."

New England won its 21st straight regular-season game, and beat the Jets for the eighth straight time at the Meadowlands.

"To come in here, to this hostile environment, and win when everyone picked you to lose, is great," safety Rodney Harrison said. "With all the stuff we had to go through and endure last week with Tom, this is a great victory."

Favre went 18-of-26 for 181 yards and a TD for the Jets (1-1), but the Patriots took advantage of a big mistake by the veteran.

With the Jets facing a third-and-22 from their 11, Favre ran out of the pocket to his left and flung a pass to Chansi Stuckey for 28 yards. Three plays later, though, Favre made a poor decision, hanging a pass intended for Chris Baker that was easily picked off by Brandon Meriweather. It was Favre's first interception with the Jets.

"I just underthrew it," Favre said. "I saw the guy and maybe I got a little greedy. ... I made a bad throw. I'd like to tell you something different."

On third-and-9 from the 30, Cassel threw a screen to Kevin Faulk, who got a few blocks and got down to the 8. Three plays later, Morris leaped over the pile for a 1-yard touchdown to make it 13-3.

"A lot of it is comfort level," said Cassel, who backed up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at Southern California. "I don't have as much experience as Tom, of course, but I think I was OK managing the game."

Gostkowski added a 28-yard field goal with 17 seconds left in the third quarter.

Favre led the Jets back into it, connecting with Stuckey for a 2-yard touchdown with 10:18 left, but Gostkowski kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it 19-10 as the Patriots ticked 5 minutes off the clock.

"We cut it to six and it was a chance for us to give them the ball back right away and give them a chance to go score, but we couldn't get it done," safety Kerry Rhodes said. "In those situations, you've got to make those kinds of plays."

The Jets went three-and-out on their next possession, and the Patriots ran out the clock to seal it.

"They kept it simple," Rhodes said. "They didn't want (Cassel) to lose the game, so they did a lot of screens and safe passes. They tried to keep it safe for him."



The Jets had their opening 11-play drive end with Jay Feely, filling in for the injured Mike Nugent, missing a 31-yard attempt. Cassel then led the Patriots on a 12-play drive, capped by Gostkowski's 21-yard field goal.

Gostkowski's 37-yarder gave the Patriots a 6-0 lead.

The Jets wasted an impressive drive that featured a vintage play by Favre. The veteran quarterback scrambled on third-and-9 from their 21, stepped up and threw across his body, finding Coles down the right sideline for 54 yards. A zigzagging 11-yard run by Leon Washington got the ball to the 3, but the Jets gave the ball to Jones three times for 1, 1 and minus-2 yards. They had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Feely.

"It's only one game," Coles said. "Our season doesn't hang on one game. We still have 14 more left to play."

Patriots’ defense focuses on shutting down opponents instead of dwelling on Tom Brady’s injury

Linebacker Tedy Bruschi, and New England’s defense have set their sights on grounding quarterback Brett Favre and the Jets at the Meadowlands tomorrow.



It seems as if everyone is concerned about the Patriots’ offense without Tom Brady running the show.


Everyone but the Patriots, that is.


New England defensive coordinator Dean Pees isn’t worried.


“There is only one group that can control the outcome of this game and that is the defense,” Pees said. “If they don’t score, then we either win or tie. We have the bottom line in this thing.
”

That, he said, is the message that he has been giving to his players since he first began coaching, 36 years ago.


“Our job on defense is to stop the other team from scoring,” Pees said.


Pees isn’t worried about the Patriots’ offense, because the Patriots’ defense, he said, has the ability to control the outcome of the game.


“It doesn’t matter if [our offense] puts up 50 or they put up six, it’s our job to keep [the opposing team] shut down and to keep the score down as low as we could possibly keep it. We try to keep them to zero if that’s humanly possible.
”

Many of the Patriots defensive players are echoing his statements.


“When you’re told something like that by your coach, whether it be your head coach, defensive coordinator, or positional coach, you’re going to take it to heart and really try to correlate that to when you play on the field on Sunday,” Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said.


So what is the key to containing the Jets’ offense, led by future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre?

“It’s just a matter of us going out there and executing our game plan, making tackles, making plays on the ball, and not giving up big plays,” Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said.


“We definitely have to win on first-downs so that we can get in situations where they can’t get back on track, and [keep them] in third-and-long type of situations,” defensive lineman Richard Seymour said. “…I think first down is always a big down and then third down to get off of the field…I think if we take advantage and do all of the things as far as stopping the run, no big plays in the passing game, and create turnovers, any team can be successful [if they do] that.
”

Last Sunday against Kansas City, Pees said that he was pleased that the Patriots’ defense won the majority of first-down plays, meaning that they consistently had Kansas City on second-and-7 or longer.


The Pats hope to do that again tomorrow against the Jets.


The Patriots allowed the Chiefs to convert on 8-of-16 third-downs, which Pees was upset about. The Patriots had the fourth-best third-down defense last season, allowing teams to convert on third down only 34 percent of the time.


“Last year, we did a fairly decent job on third down and we want to continue that,” Pees said. “Last week there were a couple of situations where we were very competitive on the routes but the guy still made the catch, basically [Tony] Gonzalez. Regardless of that, we have to do a better job on third down. When we went back and studied it, I always do a win-loss column on how we do on first, second and third down.


“It was probably the best we have done on first down in a long time. Our win percentage was very, very high. That is what you want. You want to get them to third down and get them off the field. We just have to do a little better job of playing our techniques and doing some things to get off the field. We have to get that number (third-down success rate) lower.
”

Pees said that the Patriots’ secondary must be patient to have success against Favre because Favre holds on to the ball a little longer than some other quarterbacks, which gives his wide receivers more time to get open.


“It’s always a challenge when any team can throw the ball vertically down the field,” Pees said. “You have to defend it and you don’t want to give up the big play. Anytime you are doing that, then there is more of a chance they are throwing the ball underneath. [Favre] has always been a challenge and always will be a challenge just because of that. The other reason that makes him a challenge is that he can make plays when things break down.
”

His defensive backs are taking his words to heart.


“We have to be patient,” Harrison said. “We can’t get frustrated. They’re going to make their plays. They get paid to. But at the same time there are certain things that we can control and we can control the way we tackle, the way we can try to control to stop the run, as well as not giving up big plays.
”

With the talk about Favre, people are forgetting about the Jets’ running game, Seymour said. The Jets ran the ball for 112 yards last week against Miami.


“I still think they are going to come in and establish the run but Favre does have a huge arm and he can make plays out of broken plays,” Seymour said.


“He always ad libs and I think he is the master at taking a play that doesn’t look like much or scrambling around and finding a guy wide open down field so I think our defensive backs have to do a good job of covering their guys for a few extra seconds and defensively that may give us a chance to get down on the quarterback and make a few plays. We’ll see how it turns out.
”

The Matt Cassel Story

This is a lesson for your son or daughter who maybe is not good enough to start on his or her high school soccer team.

Riding the bench? Don't worry about it, kid. Don't let it define you. Keep working and someday maybe they'll let you play.

Matt Cassel will start at quarterback for the New England Patriots Sunday. Eight months ago, the Patriots were regarded as the greatest team in the history of football and now their quarterback is a young man who never started a game in college. Oh, and just for good measure, the quarterback of the other team will be Brett Favre, one of the top 10 quarterbacks who ever lived.

Matt Cassel. The last time he started a football game was Nov. 24, 1999, when he quarterbacked Chatsworth High to a 49-42 loss to Palisades Charter High School in the third round of the Los Angeles City Invitational playoffs.

He is no ordinary bench-warmer/clipboard-carrier. Cassel's dearth of experience is owed to the people playing ahead of him more than his ability. Imagine trying out for the college debate team and discovering that Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt are already on the squad. Or maybe you run the 100 and you've got to beat Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay to represent your school. That's Matt Cassel.

Competitive sports represent the ultimate meritocracy. The best players move up to the next level. Every kid on a college scholarship was dominant in high school. Just about every kid in the pros was dominant in college.

Not Cassel. At Southern Cal, he played behind Carson Palmer, a Heisman Trophy winner. When Palmer went off to the pros, Cassel was passed over in favor of Matt Leinart. Leinart also went on to win the Heisman.

"I came in behind Carson," Cassel said yesterday when a couple dozen reporters surrounded his locker. "Carson obviously did very well in college and was the Heisman Trophy winner. Matt came in the year after I did and the coaches just decided to go that way. It's one of those things where you can't really look back and do the 'what if?' thing, but I definitely anticipated being a starter there and it didn't happen. At the same time, I ended up here now, so it all worked out."

Despite never starting, Cassel got drafted by the Super Bowl champions in the seventh round in 2005. Based on potential.

"I was pretty surprised," he said. "I'm not going to lie. Without as much college film, a lot of people have written me off already, and when the Patriots called I was pretty happy. It was a good day."

Cassel came to New England with no expectations of starting. This time, instead of playing behind a Heisman winner, he was backing up a three-time Super Bowl champ.

For the next three seasons, while Brady was winning games and adding to the third-longest ironman streak for quarterbacks in the NFL (128 games), Cassel was learning the system, getting the attention of Bill Belichick and staff. His apprenticeship was not without discouragement. He threw only 39 passes in three seasons and was yanked off the field after throwing an interception in mop-up duty against the Dolphins last season.

In the summer of 2008, there was some doubt he was still Coach Bill's choice as Brady's backup, but he did well enough in four exhibitions to keep his job. And then he got the call in the first quarter of Game 1. Now he is the starter. Just like that.

"For me, it's just go and play ball and try to have fun and realize it's a game," said Cassel. "Not watch a lot of TV and not read the papers and just go out there and study the game plan and focus on what I need to do when it comes to football. There's going to be a lot of outside distractions. There's going to be a lot of people that want your time right now. I need to focus on what's important and that's to help this team win. We're going down to the Jets not just to play well, we're going down there to win."

What was it like being an understudy all those years after being The Man in high school?

"It really hasn't been that big of a struggle for me," he said. "It's just go in and get your work done and get ready when that opportunity comes, and it's here now. Did I think that it was going to take as long as it did? No, but I had a great education at USC. I had a great experience there and then I came here and I've learned behind the best for the last four years. All in all, it's not that bad.

"You fall into that role and continue to work hard and you learn a lot from these different quarterbacks. From Carson, from Leinart, and from Tom, especially over these last four years, and you start to take little bits and pieces from each of their games and use that in your game and try to get better."

The Patriots believe the system is bigger than any player and that is why Cassel is the QB rather than an experienced backup from the NFL scrap heap. Belichick would rather have a young man who knows the playbook. The coaches will do the rest. They will put him in position to succeed. He will be asked to manage the game. He will not be asked to be Tom Brady.

"He knows us, and he knows our philosophy and he knows our playbook just as good as Tom does," said running back Laurence Maroney.

"I don't really like to make comparisons between myself and Tom," said Cassel. "Tom is who he is and he's the MVP of the league last year. I am who I am. I'm just going to go out and play my game and whatever that might be, we'll see come Sunday . . . If the coaching staff didn't believe I could execute the offense, I wouldn't be here right now. You have to rally and close ranks and move on. We'd all love for Tom to be here right now. Unfortunately, he's not and we've got to move on as a team and get ready for this week."

Against the Jets. Against Brett Favre. In the Meadowlands. His first start of the 21st century.

Jets-Pats rivalry transcends games

Their history involves stealing players, reneging on contracts, tattling to the commissioner, suing their bosses and then playing some football. All of it happens in the sports crucible that is Boston-New York contempt.

Now that's a rivalry.

The New England Patriots and New York Jets have established their series as the NFL's most intense.

They'll meet Sunday at the Meadowlands in a game that could symbolize a shift in the AFC East. The Patriots don't have star quarterback Tom Brady anymore and are considered the underdogs. The Jets have another first-ballot Hall of Famer in Brett Favre.

"The New England Patriots are the standard bearers in the AFC East," said former Patriots and Jets running back Keith Byars. "But the Jets smell a little blood in the water."

Sunday's matchup is compelling, but it's merely another episode in a series that has been nothing short of fascinating for a generation.

Head coaches Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini, sharing professional lineage and mutual disdain, have worked for both teams and accused each other of various transgressions (see the Spygate chapter in your Rivalry Handbook). Several assistants and 51 players have jumped back and forth since Bill Parcells became Patriots coach in 1993 and Jets coach in 1997.

"When Joe Walton was coaching the Jets, we weren't taking Jets-Patriots calls," said legendary New York sports talker Chris "Mad Dog" Russo. "It wasn't Boston versus New York like Red Sox-Yankees, but when Parcells got in the mix, that's when the Jets-Patriots rivalry began in earnestness and spiraled out of control.

"It's all off-the-field stuff. It transcends the actual games."

While Byars contended the rivalry is fueled more by franchise or coaching animosity, Curtis Martin, who also ran for both teams, said "it was more like competing against your brother. When you're competing against people that you know, it just brings a little extra out of you."

Going into a Patriots-Jets game, the players are fully aware of the added importance. They're well-versed on the story lines. They look across the field and see so many familiar faces. They feel the added hostility swirling around the stadium like a nasty wind.

"It almost feels combustible," said Martin, who bolted the Patriots for the Jets to reunite with Parcells. "You almost expect fans to get into a fight in the stands. There's that type of tension.

"You know the history. You know where both coaches come from. You know what's going on. You don't necessarily feed into the media, but you understand and you're not oblivious to it."

The Patriots-Jets blood feud has been rehashed often enough, but here's the CliffsNotes version:

* After 30-plus years of coexisting in relative harmony as AFL brothers, the Patriots hire lightning rod and former New York Giants head coach Parcells in 1993.

* Parcells, upset over being overruled by Patriots owner Robert Kraft in the 1996 draft, defects to the Jets at the end of the season. Kraft demands draft compensation. The NFL orders the Jets to surrender four picks over the next three years.

* Parcells signs Martin to a six-year, $36 million offer sheet in 1998, knowing the Patriots can't match. The Jets give up first- and third-round picks as compensation.
* Parcells leaves the Jets sideline after 1999 and abdicates to Belichick. On his way to the podium for his introductory news conference, Belichick scrawls a resignation note on a napkin.

* The Jets forbid Belichick from pursuing other jobs. Belichick responds by filing an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.

* Belichick becomes Patriots head coach in 2000 and goes on to win six AFC East titles, four AFC titles and three Super Bowls.

* In September 2001, Jets LB Mo Lewis delivers the sideline hit that changed the Patriots franchise. Drew Bledsoe suffers internal bleeding, and virtual unknown Brady takes over.

* Patriots defensive coordinator Mangini leaves to become Jets head coach in 2006. He tries to pick up his things the next day, but he's locked out of Gillette Stadium.

* Patriots file tampering charges against the Jets regarding WR Deion Branch.

* The Jets report Patriots videotaping violations to the NFL last year, and Spygate becomes an obsession well into the offseason.

The Patriots-Jets series, however, is more than good theater. These games have counted.

The Patriots have won six of the past seven AFC East titles. The Jets won the other one in 2002 in a three-way tiebreaker with the Patriots and Miami Dolphins.

They met in the playoffs two seasons ago. That year, they split in the regular season (the road teams won each time), and the Patriots beat the Jets 37-16 in the playoffs.

"It's always serious," Martin said. "One significance to this is that it seems the winner of these games usually wins the division. It's really taken serious. There's a lot at stake with these games."

Belichick on his team and Farve

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick took time off from being completely charismatic and engaging to talk to the media about last night's loss to the Ravens. Because it was a preseason contest, and more importantly, because Tom Brady didn't sniff the field, Belichick wasn't in mid-season uber-boring form, and he even talked about the AFC East's newest best quarterback, the Jets' Brett Favre:

When Belichick was asked his thoughts on the Jets' acquisition of Brett Favre, he said: "He's a great player, one of the best players in the last couple of decades. He has just about every record you could have at the position he plays. It speaks for itself. It's always a big challenge playing the Jets, even more so now.

They have a lot of talent and I'm sure we'll have our hands full every time we face them. But right now, that's not at the forefront of our concerns. We have a lot of other things before it would come to that and that's what we'll focus on. But he's a great player, there is no question about that."

To be fair, it wasn't much of a challenge playing the Jets last season. Not unless "challenge" means "that jerk Eric Mangini ratted me out to the league for cheating."

In all seriousness, is Favre enough to get the Jets over the hump? I mean, is this club suddenly a playoff contender and a threat to win the division? Well, considering that the 2007 version of this team didn't win four games solely due to the quarterback play, I tend to think not.