We'll see about that.
From a neutral viewpoint, this was a sensational football game. The Jets dominated the first half, but the Patriots got back into it with a succession of excellent defensive stops, plus the right arm of Matt Cassel, who passed for an even 400 yards (a career high - obviously) and three touchdowns, the last being a 16-yard bullet to Randy Moss, who made a textbook, stretched-out maneuver on Ty Law on the right side of the end zone with one second left in regulation.
Yup, one second.
It capped a rousing eight-play, 62-yard drive that had begun with 1:04 remaining and the Patriots plumb out of timeouts. Included in this beautiful march to the end zone were two of the most disciplined rush-to-the-ball lineups by a football team trying to milk the most out of a desperate situation you will ever see. I'm telling you. If they're smart, every high school and college coach in America will get their hands on the tape of that final minute of regulation, just to see how a smart football team is supposed to operate under duress. It was an absolute clinic.
There was, of course, no remote thought given to going for 2 and rolling that set of dice. The Patriots had already pulled off one successful 2-point conversion. But in this circumstance you just don't do that. That's reserved for coaches who've got very little to lose. But when you lose the coin flip and you never get your hands on the football in OT, it probably doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
"It's very frustrating," acknowledged Cassel. "You want to be out there with the ball in your hands. Offensively, we had our opportunities in the third quarter and we weren't able to take advantage of them. We left scoring opportunities out there."
"We missed some opportunities in the third quarter," confirmed coach Bill Belichick. "We could have closed the gap. But that's the way it goes."
