OPINION

By Dave Goldberg

updated 8:55 p.m. ET Sept. 14, 2008

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Matt Cassel made no mistakes in his first NFL start — at least none that were costly.

Brett Favre, making his 255th straight, made a mistake that hurt the New York Jets badly in a 19-10 loss to New England on Sunday — an interception that led to the game’s first touchdown and gave the Patriots the momentum they needed.

Cassel smiled at the comparison.

“He’s a great quarterback. I used to watch him all the time when I was growing up,” Cassel said. “That’s the way this game goes sometime.”

The way this game went is the way a lot of games may go for the Patriots without Tom Brady. A lot of short and safe passes, a lot of running, a lot of defense. They did it last week against Kansas City and they did it again Sunday — limit Cassel’s mistakes and let Wes Welker, Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Adalius Thomas win it.

Last season, en route to an 18-0 season that was spoiled by a Super Bowl loss to the Giants, the Patriots started with 38-14 wins over the Jets and Chargers, then beat the Bills 38-7.

There will be few if any “38s” this year. Or any of the 48s, 49s, 52s or 56s they put up as they steamrolled through the first two-thirds of their schedule.

But there are likely to be a lot of games like Sunday’s and last week, when they beat the Chiefs 17-10 after Brady went down midway through the first quarter with the knee injury that ended his season. That’s actually closer to the style that won three Super Bowls this decade than last year’s wide-open offense, when Brady set a record for touchdown passes with 50 and Randy Moss set a mark for TD catches with 23.

Moss had just two catches for 22 yards on Sunday in the conservative offense the Patriots ran to minimize mistakes by Cassel, who backed up Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer at Southern California and hadn’t started a game since 1999, when he was a senior at Chatsworth High School in California.

In fact, one question about the Patriots might be how soon Moss reverts to the classic “me first” wide receiver persona he had eschewed since arriving in New England at the start of last season. In fact, he was elected a team captain this year, a tribute to his selflessness.

Special feature NFL's top shots A look at the best photos from Week 2, including a scuffle in Cincinnati. NBCSports.com

The difference for Moss in the post-Brady offense came five minutes into the fourth quarter, with the Patriots leading 16-10.

He broke by New York cornerback Darrelle Revis and was 10-15 yards clear for an easy score.

But Cassel saw him late and by the time he did, two Jets were bearing down on him. He heaved the ball as far as he could, but by the time it got to Moss, Revis had caught up and was able to knock it away.

Cassel never saw the play. “I was flat on my back,” he said. “I was hoping to hear an ’Ohhhhhh’ from the crowd because this was an away game. It never came so I got up and ran the next play.”

The next play was just what the Patriots did most of the game — a run over right guard by LaMont Jordan for 8 yards as New England slowly made its way down the field. The drive reached the New York 9 and Stephen Gostkowski kicked the 29-yard field goal that made it 19-10 and effectively put away the game.

The exclamation point? A 20-yard sack of Favre by Thomas, who at 6-feet-6 and 270 pounds simply ran over the 5-8, 200-pound Leon Washington and ground Favre into the turf.

All of that seemed to make Bill Belichick happier than he usually gets after his Patriots win — happier certainly than he was after some of those huge scores last season, when he didn’t like folks questioning whether he was running up the score in retribution over the fuss being made over “Spygate.”

“Spygate?”

Oh yes. That happened last year in the opener at the Meadowlands against the Jets, 53 weeks ago when a team employee was caught taping the Jets’ signals.

Funny how quickly that was forgotten when Brady went down and Cassel stepped in to his spot.

“That’s a real good win,” said Belichick, who after the game went around shaking the hands of all his assistants, not a characteristic move. “A lot of people didn’t expect us to do much today. I’m very happy with the way they played.”

Remember that Belichick grew up as a defensive coach. So as much as he may have liked those blowouts, he also loved the sack by Thomas and another by Seymour that ended a drive.

If that’s the way New England wins this season with Cassel at QB, it’s just fine with him.

NFL game stories Quick look at Week 4 games STEELERS 23, RAVENS 20, OT: Baltimore loses first game of season REDSKINS 26, COWBOYS 24: Dallas can't contain Portis in 1st loss BEARS 24, EAGLES 20: Goal-line stand boosts Chicago JETS 56, CARDINALS 35: Favre throws career-high 6 TDs BUCS 30, PACKERS 21: Ryan's 3 FGs lift Tampa CHARGERS 28, RAIDERS 18: San Diego tops rival 10th straight time BILLS 31, RAMS 14: Buffalo 4-0 for first time since 1992 CHIEFS 33, BRONCOS 19: Johnson rushes for 198 yards for K.C. BROWNS 20, BENGALS 12: Anderson throws TD TITANS 30, VIKINGS 17: Tennessee 4-0 for first time ever PANTHERS 24, FALCONS 9: Smith honors Lucas after TD JAGUARS 30, TEXANS 27, OT: Scobey kicks game winner SAINTS 31, 49ERS 17: McAlister scores first TD of year

MORE FROM NFL

NFL Section Front

Brady vs. Manning — who has the edge? Cimini: Patriots-Colts greatest NFL rivalry of 2000s   Slideshow: Peyton vs. Brady through the years   Video: Playing 'what if?' with Peyton's career PFT: Raiders' Davis reportedly wants to fire Cable Eagles-Bears matchup will remain Sunday night game PFT: Rest of league is catching up to Broncos PFT: Tomlinson hints at retiring after this season PFT: Ex-Packer Brown rips McCArthy PFT: Browns' Mangini knew about Quinn's incentives NFL Section Front   Add NFL headlines to your news reader: