A Patriotic Effort - But Jets Fly Away With Win

I think I may have just saw one of the best football games of my life tonight between the New England Patriots and New York Jets [Jets win 34 to 31 in overtime]. What first looked like a boring blowout for the first two quarters ended up becoming a great game right towards the end of the second quarter when the Patriots got their act together. Even though the Patriots lost in overtime, the 18 point comeback, and the Randy Moss 4th down 16 yard touchdown catch from Matt Cassel [400 yds passing, 3TD's, 62 yds rushing] with one second left on the clock made the game worth the watch regardless of the outcome.

Due to the loss the Patriots move into second place in the division behind the Jets by one game. The Jets one game lead isn't one that is impossible to overcome [unlike if the Pats had won] because the Patriots won the first meeting between the two teams back in September. Other then Cassel and Wes Welker [7rec for 108yds], Jabbar Gaffney [7rec for 86yds, TD], Steven Gostkowski [3 for 3 one field goals], etc one player that really stoodout was the rookie linebacker Jerod Mayo. Mayo had 20 total tackles and was body-slamming someone on every single play that he was in. One of those hits including a 4th down stop in with less then 2mins left in the game that made the Jets punt and allowed for the Patriots to drive down the field for a tying touchdown. The other rookie [undrafted] linebacker, Gary Guyton also had a decent game with one tackle, one pass knocked down and a fumble recovery.

Overall, a loss is a loss. But like elections, some losses are more painful then other losses, and this loss wasn't too painful at all.