Brady-less Pats spoil Favre's home debut

Apparently even without their multiple MVP winner Tom Brady under center the New England Patriots are a pretty good football team. And while no one is suggesting that they wouldn’t rather have Brady calling the signals, so far so good with Matt Cassel leading the team. The Patriots and their backup QB were good enough to spoil Brett Favre’s home debut as a New York Jet as they prevailed by a 19-10 margin.

The Patriots took the lead on a Stephen Gostkowski FG late in the 1st quarter and never trailed. They went up 6-0 on another Gostkowski FG early in the 2nd, though the Jets did manage to cut it to 6-3 at the half courtesy of a FG of their own from Jay Feely. After the intermission, however, the Patriots put the game away with a Sammy Morris rushing TD and another Gostkowski FG. The Jets managed to make it interesting early in the 4th quarter when Brett Favre hooked up with University of South Carolina product Chansi Stuckey cutting the New England lead to 6. The Patriots put the game away with just over 5 minutes remaining on yet another Gostkowski FG.

While Cassel’s numbers may not have been MVP-worthy they were certainly solid: 16 of 23 for 165 yards and no interceptions. Favre was 18 of 26 for 181 yards with a TD pass and an interception. The Patriots overall performance mirrored their QB’s—nothing overwhelmingly impressive, just solid and mistake free football.

The win was New England’s 21st consecutive regular season victory, as well as their eighth straight win over the Jets at the Meadowlands. A favorable scheduling setup during the next few weeks should allow Cassel to get even more comfortable with his role as starting QB—the Patriots host the Miami Dolphins next Sunday and should feast on an opponent that has lost 11 straight away from home. After a bye week, the team will travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers. The next significant challenge will be a 10/12 game against the Chargers in San Diego.

The Jets, meanwhile, will travel to San Diego next week for a Monday night game with the Chargers. The resurgent Arizona Cardinals come to town on 9/28 and after a bye week the team will host Cincinnati. This is a pivotal stretch for the Jets, as while all three contests are “winnable” with the possible exception of the Bengals they represent a decent challenge. It could be that New York fans are expecting miracles from a team that was 4-12 a year ago, or perhaps Favre’s leadership was just what was needed to get the team to play up to their potential.