Patriots 30, Jets 21

Green-Ellis eludes New York's defense

In their first meeting since the Jets sent the Patriots packing back in January, New England avenged its playoff loss to their hated rivals from New York last Sunday at Gillette.

The offense, for the second week in a row, proved it could put points on the board without relying on Tom Brady to heave the ball up the field.  Undeterred by New York's defense, the Patriots scored at least 30 points for the thirteenth consecutive regular season game.  Brady led the way with another solid effort, throwing for 321 yards on 24 of 33 passing but with only one TD to Deion Branch in the third quarter to show for it.  Top receiver Wes Welker snagged 124 yards on just five catches, but didn't quite find the endzone. 

Instead, the Pats gave the ball to Green-Ellis and let him do his thing, which on Sunday amounted to a pair of touchdowns and a career high 136 yards on a whopping 27 carries.  Boy, talk about moving the chains.  Ellis has been the unquestioned star of New England's ground game thus far, and can always be counted on when Brady and his receivers hit a rough patch. 

But the real story for New England was its improved defense, which has really picked it up over the past two games despite ranking among the league's worst.  It shut New York out in the first quarter, managed to hold Mark Sanchez to a meager 166 yards and limited the Jets to 255 net yards (New England had 446 by comparison).  Hopefully the D has turned a corner and can continue to get better as the season progresses.

The win moved the Pats to 4-1 while dropping the Jets below .500 to 2-3.  Dallas (2-2) comes to town on Sunday.