Jay Feely kicks a 34-yard field goal in overtime to win the game for the Jets.

Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson

FOXBORO -- When the New England Patriots locker room opened just before midnight, it was pin-drop quiet.

Mike Vrabel sat, still in his uniform pants, next to Tedy Bruschi, his hands clasped on top of his head, smudged eye black still streaked across his cheeks. Deltha O'Neal sat in front of his stall, his head bowed, until nearly all of his teammates had cleared out of the room.

Because really, there wasn't much more they could do. New England had forced overtime with a last-second touchdown pass, coming back from an 18-point deficit, only to see its opponent string together a 14-play drive - including a third-and-15 conversion -- that put it well into game-winning field-goal range.

And worst of all, the loss came at the hands of the rival Jets, with the top spot in the AFC East on the line.

Nothing has been decided, of course, but New York's 34-31 win may represent a changing of the guard -- temporarily, at least -- in the division, the division that New England has ruled for six of the last seven years.

The Patriots climbed out of a hole, saw their quarterback carry the load, scrapped in a way that would have made the man of the night, Troy Brown, proud.

But in the immediate aftermath, there were no small victories for some.

"I don't know how many victories we will take away from this. You can spin it any way you want, but it is still a divisional loss to the Jets," Bruschi said. "I don't think we will find any positives out of this one."

Bruschi may not have been able to find many, but Richard Seymour said it was hard for him not to look around the locker room and gain a measure of respect for his teammates, who didn't pack it in when they were down 24-6 in the first half, or when they were down 31-24 late in the fourth quarter.

"They came out and were ready to go, and we didn't make the plays we needed to early in the game and dug ourselves too much of a hole," Seymour said. "But you've got to like the fact that the team dug its way out of the hole and how we left everything out on the field."

Even Bill Belichick gave his players credit for fighting hard.

New England gave up a 10-play touchdown drive on the opening series of the game, then found itself down 17-6 in the second quarter after a 92-yard kickoff return by Leon Washington.

The Pats' special teams unit had altered its coverage on the play, trying to better contain Washington, who had returns of 30 and 37 yards on the first two kicks he fielded. But Washington found the one hole that was there, turning left around the 40-yard line and sprinting through the end zone untouched.

The Jets went up 24-6 with five minutes left in the opening half after the wart New England has tried so hard to cover -- the big play -- popped up again, this time in the form of a 46-yard completion from Brett Favre (26 for 33, 258 yards, two touchdowns, three sacks) to Jerricho Cotchery, who pinned the ball to his helmet, a la David Tyree.

New England did score again before halftime, then made the expected adjustments in the locker room, particularly on defense, though their first possession on offense didn't end all that well.

After Cassel completed what appeared to be a first-down pass to Benjamin Watson, Watson lost the ball, and it was recovered by the Jets' Kerry Rhodes. But New York went three-and-out. Over their first four drives of the second half, the Jets gained just two first downs, which both prevented them from shutting the door on the Pats and allowed New England the chance to wriggle back into the game.

A seven-play drive capped by a touchdown to a wide-open Watson and a two-point conversion to an equally uncovered Jabar Gaffney (who had his best game of the season by far: seven grabs, 86 yards, a touchdown and the two-pointer) put the home team down by a field goal.

And after a forced fumble, the Pats closed the gap with a 47-yard field goal from Stephen Gostkowski.

But New York wasn't going to let the momentum swing to the Patriots' side, getting their first points of the second half on the ensuing possession. New England didn't answer immediately, instead waiting until the last possible second, on a dazzling sideline catch by Randy Moss that held up after an official review.

In overtime, the Jets won the coin toss, Favre looked to rookie tight end Dustin Keller, and Jay Feely won the game with his 34-yard kick.

"It was a tough game," New England safety James Sanders said. "In the second half, we came out fighting, and we couldn't pull it off."

The Patriots are in a bigger fight now, one for a spot in the postseason and for the title they've held for five years.

smanza@projo.com