WHEN THE PATRIOTS HAD THE BALL: Matt Cassel performed as well as the Patriots could have expected, throwing crisp, accurate passes and not making any costly mistakes. Early in the game, he made heavy use of Wes Welker, who made four of his seven catches in the first quarter, including plays that gained 18 and 27 yards. Cassel and his receivers did have a few mixups, including one play early in the fourth quarter, when Randy Moss appeared to change a route and got wide open deep down the field, but Cassel’s pass was underthrown and Moss was unable to make the grab on what might have been a sure touchdown. But the Patriots did not turn the ball over all afternoon, and Cassel made good use of timeouts when he did not like what he saw from the Jets defense. Running back Lamont Jordan, who had a minimal role in the Patriots’ Week 1 win, played a big role in the second half, after Laurence Maroney left with a shoulder injury. Jordan had 11 carries for 62 yards, all after the intermission.

WHEN THE JETS HAD THE BALL: The Jets had three solid drives in the game, but went three-and-out on four occasions. This helped the Patriots dominate the battle for field position and helped keep the pressure off Cassel. Brett Favre, though, faced pressure for much of the afternoon. The Patriots got important sacks from Richard Seymour and Adalius Thomas, and they forced the only turnover of the game, a Brandon Meriweather interception that set up New England’s lone touchdown drive. Early in the second quarter, New England stopped Thomas Jones on three occasions to prevent New York from scoring a touchdown after it had first and goal from the 3-yard line, preventing the Jets from taking the lead.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Stephen Gostkowski had a nearly perfect afternoon. Not only was he 4 for 4 on field-goal attempts, he kicked the ball through the end zone on his first five kickoffs of the game. On his sixth and final kickoff, he kicked the ball midway through the end zone; Leon Washington returned the ball, but was coincidentally was stopped at the 20. Punter Chris Hanson failed on two tries in the second quarter to pin the Jets deep inside their own territory when he was unable to keep the ball out of the end zone, but he had a big 59-yard punt early in the third quarter after a Patriot drive had ended inside New England’s 20-yard line. After the Jets offense had rolled down the field on the game’s first possession, Jay Feely shanked a 31-yard field-goal attempt to the right, making an inauspicious Jets debut.

COACHING: Eric Mangini and the Jets defensive coaching staff failed to rattle Cassel, a quarterback Mangini had been able to observe when he was a Patriots assistant. Bill Belichick’s teams have now held Favre to just one touchdown pass in their last two meetings with him, once with Green Bay and yesterday. The Patriots won both games.

INTANGIBLES: The Jets crowd, and probably the Jets team, had hoped to make a statement after a lost 2007 season and the Spygate scandal, but they never held a lead. Cassel was calm and collected from the start, taking his team 76 yards down the field on his first possession as a starter and putting to rest any concern that he would be affected by nerves.