11/13 — The Jets-Patriots Thursday night extravaganza opens with a 30-yard Leon Washington kickoff return, and the opening drive ends with a Green & White bang. The Jets score on a flip from Brett Favre to Washington, who is lined up as a flanker, shakes and bakes upfield behind a Damien Woody block and gets across the goal line behind Nick Mangold's end zone block. Five and a half minutes in, the Jets lead the Pats, 7-0.

Significant developments on the opening drive:

■ Head coach Eric Mangini challenges a third-down call that ruled that Laveranues Coles didn't have both feet inbounds when he made a sideline catch. Referee Gene Steratore agrees and reverses the onfield call, giving the Jets their first of three third-down conversions on the drive. It's Mangini's third straight successful challenge.

■ It is the fifth consecutive game the Jets have scored on their opening possession, after going the previous nine games without scoring on their opening drive.

■ The TD ends a red zone drought for the Jets at Gillette. They had scored one touchdown in nine drives inside the Pats' 20 in their last three games here.

■ The touchdown produces the largest lead for the Jets over the Patriots since the Jets' 2006 win in Foxboro, which they led, 17-6, in the fourth quarter.

But the night is young.

Indeed, the home team cuts into the visitors' lead on its opening drive. QB Matt Cassel converts his first two third-down passes for conversions before the Jets stiffen and Stephen Gostkowski comes on.

Gostkowski is down U.S. 1 with his 42-yard field goal to make it 7-3, Jets. Not surprising, since Gostkowski has now converted 14 of 15 FGs and 15 of 15 PATs in his seven-game career vs. the Jets.

The Jets' second drive is almost as productive as their first. Favre-to-Dustin Keller for 12 yards picks up a first down — Favre wasn't kidding when he said last week he wished he'd had Keller when he was a younger QB, but he's making up for lost time the last two games.

Also featured is Brad Smith at QB and Favre at WR. Smith has Washington behind him for the "option," but he stays with Option No. 1, splits two New England defenders and goes for 17 yards to the Pats 5.

Three plays net 1 yard and Jay Feely comes on to calmly put through a 22-yarder and the Jets' lead is back to seven at 10-3.

With six seconds left in the opening period, Patriots rookie LB Jerod Mayo walks a little gingerly off the field, presumably to receive medical treatment.

Second Quarter

The Patriots aren't going anywhere except into the Jets' red zone. They drive to the Jets 13 before they stall, as on second down Cassel overthrows Randy Moss, who's signaling for the ball while Darrelle Revis is providing tight coverage — too tight, according to the Gillette Stadium fans. Then on third down Cassel throws wide of TE Benjamin Watson, so Gostkowski steps into a 31-yarder and the Jets' lead is trimmed to 10-6.

And then with a lightning bolt, the Jets' edge is up to its largest of the night, 17-6, thanks to the neon that is Leon. Washington takes the kickoff at his 8, strides up briefly behind his wedge, then veers left through a small gap provided by blocks from Brad Smith and Wallace Wright. And he's off to the races, outdistancing Gostkowski and two other Pats pursuing from the backside.

It's a 92-yard kickoff-return TD, the fourth of Washington's career and his first this season. It sets the Jets' franchise record for most KOR TDs in a career — Leon and the just-released Justin Miller had been tied for the record with three.

And while the Jets are celebrating, in the end zone and on the sideline, the home crowd gets quiet indeed.

After forcing a New England punt, it's now time for the Jerricho Cotchery show. J-Co makes three receptions, each better than the previous one, to put the Jets up by the amazing score of 24-6.

Cotchery's first grab is for 18 yards on a slant off of Favre play action to Thomas Jones, which gets the visitors out from the shadow of their goalposts to the 31.

The next is a Favre pump and load for Cotchery, who makes a David Tyree-style grab off his helmet as he's going down from being interfered with by CB Ellis Hobbs. That play goes for 46 yards to the Pats 16.

Then for the score, J-Co catches a ball thrown slightly behind him by Favre, starts to go down as he nears the goal line, so he clamps the ball in his right hand, stretches without having his knees touch, and breaks the plane with the ball for a 15-yard score. Brilliant.

This is the largest Jets lead over the Patriots in their last 17 games, or since 2000, when they opened a 31-10 lead in the third quarter at the now defunct Foxboro Stadium.

The Patriots move again toward the Jets end zone on a 43-yard catch-and-run from Cassel to WR Sam Aiken. But the Jets defense seems to have the answers to almost everything the Pats try. Coach Bill Belichick decides to go for it on fourth-and-3 at the Jets 23, but the result is a first down not for the Pats but for the Jets after C.J. Mosley gets the first sack of the game right before the two-minute warning.

It would be a beautiful thing if the Jets could tack on another score before halftime, but they can't and instead the Patriots get the ball back and maneuver into the red zone again. And this time they score as Cassel lays a 19-yard TD pass to Jabar Gaffney over the defense of rookie CB Dwight Lowery.

That's a disappointment but one of the few in an otherwise rousing first half that closes with the Jets holding a 24-13 lead at intermission.

Jets-Patriots: Second Half

Jets Claim 1st Place: Oust Pats in OT, 34-31

'It Wasn't Going to Be Easy. We Got It Done.'