Feely's kick sees the Jets triumph

The New York Jets held off their division rivals the New England Patriots 34-31 in a dramatic overtime victory to take control of the AFC East on Thursday night. Jay Feely kicked a 34-yard field goal to hold off a late rally by the Patriots and give the Jets first place in the division. "Believe me, that was not easy," the New York quarterback Brett Favre said after helping his team break a four-game losing streak against the Patriots. "It means a lot to beat the Patriots."

The veteran Favre led the Jets to their fourth straight win. On the first possession of overtime, Favre converted two third-down passes and drove his team 64 yards downfield into field-goal range. Favre threw for 258 yards, and had two touchdown passes. The Patriots quarterback Matt Cassell also had a strong showing. He threw for 400 yards, had three touchdowns passes and ran for another 62 yards.

He sent the game into overtime with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss along the right sideline with just one second remaining of the game, tying the contest at 31-31 following the extra point. Officials had to review the play as Moss just narrowly got both feet in bounds while holding the bullet throw. The move had crowned New England's comeback after they had fallen 24-6 behind. Cassel found Jabar Gaffney for a score in the second quarter, and Benjamin Watson for a touchdown in the third quarter to close to 24-21. After Stephen Gostkowski tied the game with a 47-yard field goal, Favre drove New York 67 yards to set-up a one-yard run by Thomas Jones to make it 31-24.

"I think anytime you can come back from a 24-6 deficit it's a building block," Cassell said. "Obviously you don't want to lose, and hopefully it's not something we have to do again, but I think it shows great character for the team." * Reuters