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The national script for this game was supposed to be that the Patriots, widely considered Superbowl favorites, would have a tough test against a hungry Jets team that made life tough for the Pats last year.
Well...not exactly. The Patriots played like they were all outta bubblegum yesterday, kicking the Jets' butts up and down the field.
Want offensive highlights? Well, Brady and Randy Moss shushed the haters by connecting nine times for 183 yards and a TD. Brady also hit Wes Welker for his first New England score. Of course, a huge chunk of the credit has to go to Laurence Maroney, who established a solid early ground game, and the offensive line, which kept Brady's jersey spotlessly clean as the Jets failed to put any type of pressure on him.
Want defensive highlights? Nothing spectacular, but a solid effort all around, keeping Jersey's ground game bottled up and preventing Chad Pennington from doing any serious damage. And props to the Jersey fans, who really showed something by cheering and clapping when Pennington got injured in the third and dragged himself off the field. It wasn't nice cheering and clapping. You stay classy, Jets fans.
Want special teams highlights? Why anyone wouldn't take a knee at the far corner of the end zone on a kickoff is beyond us, but Ellis Hobbs didn't, and next thing you know, he was breaking away from the last Jet at the 40 and headed for the Holland Tunnel. 108 yard return, NFL record. And it started the second half on a nice note.
Want coaching highlights? Jets coach Eric Mangini is supposed to be a clone of Bill Belichick, but we can't imagine Bill doing what Mangini did, when he elected to punt on 4th-and-1 near midfield on the first drive of the season at home. We think Bill would have made a statement to his offense right there, that he can count on them to get that one yard. The game didn't turn on this one early play, but you've gotta show your O-line a little more confidence than that.
Down in Baltimore, Josh Beckett once again pitched very well (8 Ks), and the Red Sox got an 8th-inning single from Coco Crisp to make sure Josh got the well-deserved win. Papelbon smoked the O's in the ninth for his 35th save. The Devil Rays are in town tonight.
Randy Moss photo from the Globe.
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Great start for Pats. They only punted once and downed it at the 1, except for that odd "illegal touching" penalty. The guy on the radio today said that this was due to the Patriots player going out of bounds before coming in to touch the ball. OK. Whatever.
Still a little worried about their running game, but we'll see what develops with that.
Jets fans are pathetic. You only see them when things are going well for their team. Then, when their starting QB gets injured, they cheer. Absolutely no class. No matter how much Red Sox fans dislike JD Drew, no one in Boston would cheer if he were injured running into a wall or anything trying to make a play. Who knows what Jet fans would actually do, but I think they maybe gave us an indication yesterday with Pennington.
I don't know about Jets fans but the Jets team is pathetic. Awful. Terrible. Did I mention they're not very good?
The Pats offense looked great. That goes double for Randy Moss as he really brought it Sunday. I suspect SD might provide a bigger challenge for Week two, especially for the Pats defense.
Ellis Hobbs is one lucky dude. Bill "You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry'' Belichick might have gone Leviathan on him if his unorthodox return went awry.
Gloating can be tricky especially since the NFL supects the Pats were cheating Sunday by taping the Jets coaches. Boston fans aren't always overly sporting, either.
FYI, I think it's supposed to be Super Bowl.