The still-standing Pats

For those anticipating a sudden changing of the guard in the AFC's East Division in the wake of Tom Brady's season-ending knee injury, the defending division and conference champions New England Patriots gave a response to that notion. And for all we know, it didn't involve any sort of chicanery or shady covert operations.

This afternoon's 19-10 victory over the New York Jets in the first meeting between the rivals here at the Meadowlands since last year's infamous "Spygate" episode proved, at least for now, that the Patriots are still the standard-bearer in the division -- and possibly the entire AFC as well -- Brady or no Brady.

New England won partly because stand-in Matt Cassel (16-of-23, 165 yards, 0 INT) made one fewer mistake in his first NFL start than Brett Favre (18-of-26, 181 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) made in his 255th, and because a defense that was supposed to be past its prime played like a championship unit for most of the game. The Jets went three-and-out on four of their nine possessions during the afternoon and were held to 256 total yards by the Patriots' determined D.

With the next two games on the ledger coming against Miami and San Francisco, teams that combined for a total of six victories a year ago, a 4-0 start for Bill Belichick's bunch could be in the works.

New England is currently one of four AFC clubs that currently stand at 2-0, a group that could grow by one if Pittsburgh wins at Cleveland later tonight. Two of those teams, Buffalo and Denver, got there today by knocking off to the conference's preseason darlings. The Bills made their case for legitimacy by going into the tough environs of Jacksonville Municipal Stadium and coming away with an impressive 20-16 win over the Jaguars. The Broncos put AFC West favorite San Diego in an 0-2 hole with a thrilling 39-38 decision at Invesco Field, in which Mike Shanahan's gutsy decision to go for a two-point conversion with 24 seconds left paid off when quarterback Jay Cutler delivered a strike to rookie receiver Eddie Royal for the game-winning points.

Cutler, by the way, has racked up 650 passing yards and six touchdowns through the air following today's 350-yard, four-score masterpiece.

Quotable from Patriots-Jets

-"It's not ever about the doubters, it's always about the belief in yourself, and I've always had that belief in myself that I could go out there and do it," -- Cassel

-"(The Patriots) are well coached and well-disciplined, and every victory is going to have to be earned. We had a lot of positive things today, but there were too many missed opporuntities and too many things that we could have controlled, whether it be penalties or putting overselves in a bad position, that we didn't do a good enough job of." -- Jets head coach Eric Mangini