09/09 — The inability to force a New England punt on first-and-20 may be the last gasp. The Pats have softened the Jets up so that Laurence Maroney is running crisply, Brady is keeping the visitors humming and the clock running with nine consecutive completions.

Now it's 10 in a row as Brady slings a pass out to Jabar Gaffney. Darrelle Revis is on the coverage and makes a nice tackle, but it's not quick enough to prevent a first-and-goal by a yard.

The Jets defense holds with Revis making a nice shoestring tackle on Moss. But it's not enough to prevent a Stephen Gostkowski 22-yard field goal — out of the hold of punter Chris Hanson, not backup QB Matt Cassel as in the second quarter. Not to be pessimistic, but that's a crusher, making this a three-score game with 6:51 to play.

Patriots, 31, Jets 14

Kellen Clemens is now back in the game, with Chad Pennington standing on the sideline, his helmet still on, a white towel over his left shoulder. And there's no dead-cat bounce with Clemens, who completes one of three before Ben Graham punts again. Pennington finishes with decent numbers, 16-for-21 for 167 yards, two TDs and a 130.5 rating, but he was sacked four times and comes out of the game with a throbbing right ankle.

Maroney continues to run up the middle and the Patriots are in firm control, validating the early predictions that they are still the cream of the AFC East and a solid Super Bowl contender and the Jets and the rest of the division are behind them.

The Jets defense was not ready to slow Tom Brady and the offense, as touchdown drives of 91, 73 and 85 yards, a 75-yard march to the Gostkowski field goal, and the 53-yard final-nail touchdown drive

Some fans will say Bill Belichick is piling on when, with Brady still in the game, he challenged the ruling that Heath Evans was inches short of a touchdown on the play before the two-minute warning. After all, the Pats lead by 17 points. Referee Jeff Triplette comes back and says the ruling on the field stands.

So the Pats return with a formation that has linebackers Junior Seau and Mike Vrabel in the formation. Evans keeps and leaps and with 1:58 left it's ...

Patriots 38, Jets 14

"The Jets have got to regroup," Phil Simms says as Clemens mops up and CBS begins to wrap up its broadcast and shift into U.S. Open Tennis mode. But you can hear Eric Mangini saying it now, even before he takes the podium in the postgame interview room: We'll put this behind us the same way we always do, by focusing on the next practice, the next day, the next week, the next game.

The next game comes Sunday at Baltimore against the brawny Ravens.