But one factor makes the Jets' defenders very wary.

"It's just the unknown," strong safety Kerry Rhodes said. "I'm sure (Cassel) is capable of doing it but he hasn't proven it yet."

The Patriots' fourth-year quarterback will be making his first start since he was a high school senior in California in the fall of 1999. He replaces Brady, who had started 128 consecutive games for New England, including playoffs, before suffering a severe knee injury in the first quarter against Kansas City on Sunday.

Cassel's last start was for Chatsworth (Calif.) High School. He sat behind both Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC, and was in his fourth year of being Brady's understudy before fate intervened in the form of Bernard Pollard's low hit on Brady's left knee.

The Jets certainly would like to get some pressure on Cassel, and make him uncomfortable in the pocket.

"With any quarterback that hasn't played a lot," Rhodes said, "you want to send a message to him."

The Jets also would like to slow down New England's ground game.

"That's another plus," Rhodes said, "when you can stop the run against a young quarterback and try to make him beat you passing."

"Every time we play them," defensive end Shaun Ellis said, "the main goal is to stop the run because when they're moving the ball, running the ball, it gives Brady a lot more opportunities to make plays down the field. ... The idea (Sunday) is to stop the run and make the young quarterback one-dimensional."

Of course, the Jets' mindset in the past wasn't to dare Brady to beat them through the air, because more often than not, he did. Brady is 12-2 as a starter against the Jets, and had 17 touchdown passes and only six interceptions in those games.

But while Cassel wasn't quite Brady-like against Kansas City, he was efficient enough in relief to guide the Patriots to all of their points in a 17-10 victory. And although the Patriots ran the ball more after Brady left, they didn't abandon the passing game. In fact, Cassel threw a 51-yard pass to Moss on third-and-11 from the New England 1, sparking a 98-yard touchdown drive. Moss had three receptions from Cassel for 66 yards and a touchdown, and will be a major part of the game plan, even without Brady.

"Any team that has Randy Moss," free safety Eric Smith said, "they're going to try to get the ball to Randy Moss."

"When you have guys like that who can make plays," Rhodes said, "they can make any quarterback look good."

The Jets, who were beaten by Buffalo's Trent Edwards in his first NFL start last September, also have a healthy respect for the system in which Cassel has been immersed for the last four seasons.

"It's not necessarily the guy," linebacker David Bowens said. "It's the concepts. We saw how efficient he was in the game when Brady went out. That just lets you know it's not necessarily (Cassel), it's the way they do things. ... Those guys are going to run their offense. They're going to do what they're going to do no matter who's doing what."

SERIES HISTORY: 96th meeting. Jets lead series, 48-46-1. The Patriots have won 12 of the last 14 meetings, including a wild-card playoff game in the 2006 postseason. But all of those games were with Tom Brady at quarterback for New England. Drew Bledsoe was the last quarterback to start a game other than Brady for the Patriots, and it was on Sept. 23, 2001 in a game won by the Jets, 10-3. Bledsoe suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest because of a hard but legal hit from Jets LB Mo Lewis, and was replaced by Brady, whose streak of 128 straight regular-season and playoff starts will end Sunday when Matt Cassel starts.