FOXBORO — The New England Patriots have been kings of the AFC East for five straight seasons.

The New York Jets think it’s time for a new ruler in the division.

On paper, there are many similarities between the teams, understandable since the Patriots’ coach is the former mentor of the Jets’ coach and they have similar philosophies.

New England thrives by varying its game plan week to week, customizing its attack to best take advantage of its strengths and exploit opponents’ weaknesses; ditto New York.

The Pats’ 3-4 defense is anchored by an elite nose tackle who is tough to knock off the ball and an island to try to get around; the Jets have one of those, too.

On offense, the Patriots’ run game has been highly effective in recent weeks, allowing the efficient quarterback to find his receivers. New York’s offense, led by a gunslinger who is trying to rein in his free-wheeling ways, is capable of doing that, as well.

But the beauty of football is that it’s not played on paper.

Things were different the last time these teams met, in Week Two. That was the first start of Matt Cassel’s career, and New England was still reeling from seeing its leader cut down the week before. Cassel was a game manager, asked not to win the game and certainly not to lose it. Now, he’s moved past managing and is winning games.

Yesterday, Cassel said he feels he’s a different player than he was on Sept. 14, and it’s hard to argue with that assessment.

The Week Two meeting was just the second start for Brett Favre with his new team, and arguably he had more to learn than Cassel. Cassel had a few years’ experience with the New England playbook and had thrown to his receivers and backs in the preseason and training camp. Favre was starting from scratch, clearing more than a decade worth of Green Bay plays from his mind and trying to create chemistry with a top receiver (Laveranues Coles) who was slow to embrace his arrival.

New York’s offensive line was a work in progress, as well, with a few new faces, and the defense, with Kris Jenkins at nose, was still jelling, as well.

New England maintained nearly all of the same personnel from last season, but as any coach will tell you, you don’t know what the personality of a team is until you’re about a third of the way through the schedule.

The teams share 6-3 records, but how they’ve arrived at that mark is certainly different. The Pats had a gut-wrenching, gut-check defeat to Miami in week three, an ugly loss in San Diego in week six, and a “how did that happen?” loss in Indianapolis two weeks ago. Outside of their blowout victory over Denver, New England’s wins have been balanced, requiring all three phases of the game to get it done.

The Jets, on the other hand, are capable of putting big points on the board. They hung 56 points on Arizona in week four and 47 on the Rams last week, but they also have had head-scratching losses, such as the overtime defeat at Oakland four weeks ago.

smanza@projo.com