Randy Moss pulls down Darrelle Revis after Revis intercepted Tom Brady in the first half of Sunday's game.

MCT photo / David Pokress, Newsday

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Many things in life are a matter of perspective. In this case, consider Darrelle Revis vs. Randy Moss.

Revis, the Jets' up-and-coming third-year cornerback, was lined up opposite Moss for most of the day, and Moss recorded four catches for just 24 yards.

After the game, Moss seemed unimpressed by Revis.

"All week he was talking about bring a shutdown corner, but there really are no shutdown corners in the league because they have help most of the game," Moss said. "I probably could be a shutdown corner if I had (Pats' safety Brandon) Meriweather over the top for the whole game. You have to give credit where credit is due; I'm not taking anything away from their whole defense, they made plays and we didn't get things done."

Meanwhile, Revis thought he did a good job against Moss.

"I just tried to be physical with him on the line. You can't let him get vertical; he will tear you apart if you don't put hands on him," Revis said. "I used a bit of a finesse game with him at the line to just try and mess with him with a fake jam, not a jam, then jam. (But) you can't give credit just to me; it was the entire defense."

Revis joked that he just wasn't going to leave Moss alone.

"I just covered him. If he went to the bathroom, I went too," he said. "I covered him any way I could."

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Rex Ryan chooses captains on a per-game basis, and on Sunday morning he clearly thought it would be funny to have the ex-Patriots on his team at the center of the field for the pre-game coin toss.

So he tapped special teamer Larry Izzo, offensive lineman Damian Woody and third-string quarterback Kevin O'Connell to serve as captains for the day. He added defensive lineman Shaun Ellis, the only non-New England alumnus, to the group as well.

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Mark Sanchez is now just the second rookie quarterback to beat the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick.

Coming into Sunday's game, the seven previous newbie signal-callers were 1-6 against the Pats, with Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger the lone victor.

Sanchez's numbers weren't outstanding and all came essentially in the second half – he was 14-for-22 for 163 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and was sacked twice – but the USC product continues to show poise.

Just don't ask him if he feels like a rookie.

"I don't know what a rookie is supposed to feel like," he said. "I feel like this is an amazing team. I feel like these guys have confidence in me. I feel like I'm getting more and more comfortable with the game plan each week."

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•The Patriots had 11 penalties for 89 yards in the game, including two holding penalties in the first half to kill a drive that started on a very short field thanks to a forced fumble and recovery by the defense. New England got a Stephen Gostkowski field goal out of the possession, but ended up losing 10 yards.

•After converting 63 percent of their third-down chances against Buffalo, New England went just 5-for-15 on the critical down on Sunday.

• Gary Guyton, filling in for the injured Jerod Mayo at middle linebacker, had a team-high 10 tackles (seven solo).

smanza@projo.com