The Nest

I’m afraid we can’t lay the blame on the referees this time. The phantom holding penalty on Mike Vrabel in the 4th quarter gave Favre 4 new downs – replay showed no such penalty – and the Jets went on to score, going up by 7. It did make for an exciting finish though.

With a few exceptions, last night’s matchup with the New York Jets was all Jets.

Every time the Pats got something going, they’d do something to stall the drive. A Watson (unforced) fumble on the Jets 22 nullified a first down and gave New York the ball. Dan Koppen snapped the ball to Cassel who was busy handing out defensive assignments. The ball sailed past Cassel’s right shoulder. He recovered but the play lost 24 yards and stalled yet another drive.

Never was the impact of the growing injury list more apparent than last night. Blown defensive coverages, overly cautious pass attempts and generally sloppy play were the order of the day for the Patriots.

One of the few brightspots – the last Patriots drive in the 4th quarter did look Bradyesque. Cassel took the team down the field, looking for all the world like it was destiny. Then, on 4th and 1 with only 8 ticks left in regulation, the young QB avoided a near sack, rolled out to his right and hit Moss in the endzone who lept sideways for the ball dragging his big toe in the turf to tally the score.

Except for the luck of the coinflip at the beginning of OT and a blown coverage, 3rd down completion – when the Pats had Favre pinned deep in Jets territory with 3rd and 15, New England might have walked away with this one…

patriots jets koppen cassel nfl football

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