A 41-yard reception by Jerricho Cotchery in the third quarter was wiped out because of offensive pass interference against Cotchery, and linebacker Calvin Pace was whistled for a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty against Matt Cassel during New England's final scoring drive.

"I wish I had some say in that," the Jets coach said of the call on Cotchery. "It's not my role to criticize the officiating. ... But I thought it was a heck of a throw and a heck of a catch."

On Pace's penalty, he said, "I don't think the hit was in any way malicious. He was going through and trying to sack the quarterback."

Mangini also noted there were times when Brett Favre got hit after releasing the ball. No penalties were called on the Patriots for roughing the passer.

--Mangini noted that field position was very important in Sunday's game. The Jets' average field position was their own 21. New England, on average, started at its own 42.

And although Mangini said that offense, defense and special teams all share the blame for the recurring poor field position, he also made it clear that punter Ben Graham must improve. Graham is 24th in the NFL in net punting, and his net average was 27.3 yards Sunday.

"It's a situation we'll look at," Mangini said, intimating the Jets may eventually try out other punters. "We'll look at it very closely, then we'll move forward here, see where the different opportunities are and evaluate them."

--In his first NFL start, New England's Matt Cassel was little more than a game manager.

He also was a winner, with a 16-for-23, 165-yard performance with no touchdown passes but also no turnovers. The Jets had trouble defending the Pats' screens to wide receiver Wes Welker and running back Kevin Faulk, which accounted for 122 of New England's 165 passing yards.

"They kept it simple," strong safety Kerry Rhodes said of the Patriots' offensive game plan. "They didn't want to lose the game, so they had a lot of screens and a lot of safe passes. They didn't really challenge the secondary."

--There were many Sundays in East Rutherford in which LaMont Jordan didn't get much of a workload, and this one seemed to be yet another until the Patriots' Laurence Maroney left the game in the second quarter because of a shoulder injury. In the second half, the former Jet became an integral part of the offensive game plan. He finished with 62 yards on 11 carries.

"He did a good job of running the ball when they needed it," defensive end Shaun Ellis said of his ex-teammate.

Jordan left for Oakland as a free agent in 2005 to become a starter, but never became a star and was released by the Raiders in July and made the Patriots' roster this summer. He knew he was in familiar surroundings when he heard the J-E-T-S chant early in the game.

"I came out and heard (the fans) yelling it," said Jordan, who rushed for 1,277 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Jets from 2001-04, and averaged 4.9 yards a carry in that span. "I said to myself, 'I hope this is the only time I hear it.'"