Maroney, Patriots Still Look Perfect

Patriots 20, Jets 10

FOXBOROUGH, Mass., Dec. 16 -- The New England Patriots didn't get to pile up points on the New York Jets as retribution for Spygate. The wind, freezing rain and slush at Gillette Stadium wouldn't allow it. But they did manage to become the second NFL team ever to go 14-0 in a season and to secure home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, making big plays on defense and special teams to beat the Jets, 20-10, Sunday.

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The formula was an unfamiliar one for the Patriots, who usually have relied on the passing of quarterback Tom Brady -- often while virtually ignoring their running game -- to compensate for a sometimes-creaky defense. But on a day when Brady threw for a season-low 140 yards and didn't have a touchdown pass, the Patriots had to find another way to win. And they did, moving to within two victories of a perfect regular season record.

"We dealt with the elements and all the other things that go into a tight game like this," Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said.

Belichick clearly enjoyed beating his protege turned nemesis, Jets Coach Eric Mangini. Belichick hugged Patriots tailback Laurence Maroney as he jogged from the sideline toward midfield after the game, grinning broadly. He and Mangini exchanged a halfhearted postgame handshake, then Belichick turned and pumped his fist over his head as he moved away.

The Jets were the opponent when the Patriots were penalized in the opening game of the season for using videotaping equipment to steal the coaches' play signals coming from the opposite sideline. It was thought that Mangini, formerly the Patriots' defensive coordinator, played a role in helping the league catch his former boss. Belichick was fined $500,000 by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for the infraction; the Patriots were fined $250,000 and stripped of a 2008 first-round draft choice.

The week leading up to this game was all about who did what to whom. But Belichick, naturally, didn't participate, and he refused to gloat publicly afterward.

"It's just like the other games," Belichick said. "It's good to win. It's good to win in the division. It's good to sweep the Jets and we'll move on to Miami."

Said Brady, "No matter what anyone says about anything, it ultimately comes down to the way you play."

The Patriots weren't their usual, overpowering selves. The conditions simply wouldn't allow it. The soggy footballs and the wind took away the downfield passing game and forced the Patriots to rely on Maroney, who ran for 104 yards on 26 carries.

"We've played in worse," Belichick said of the weather. "But it was a factor."

Belichick's team also leaned on a defense that had looked old and a few steps slow in narrow victories over the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens before regrouping to play better the week before against the Pittsburgh Steelers. On Sunday, the Jets (3-11) got inside the Patriots 20-yard line but managed only one field goal from those opportunities.

"The defense rallied," Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said. "We stuck together. We persevered, and today we made some plays."