Pats must be adept at adapting

FOXBOROUGH -- Before Randy Moss, before Wes Welker and the weekly air circus that was the 2007 season, the Patriots prided themselves on being amorphous. The Pats would run one week, throw the next, and all of it was predicated on the thing that Bill Belichick exploits better than anyone else: the matchup.

Opponents often had the choice to name the game.

And the Patriots would beat them at it.

Now here we are, smack-dab in the middle of a critical three-game divisional stretch, and a funny thing has happened: The Patriots just might need to show us again that they have the ability to adapt. New England effectively manhandled the Buffalo Bills yesterday by a deceiving 20-10 score at Gillette Stadium -- in the old days, did they ever win big? -- and next up is a New York Jets club that seemingly will require the Pats to do the things they have not done in the last several weeks.

One of which will be to rely on the quarterback.

"I think we're a more experienced team now," defensive lineman Richard Seymour said when asked how the Patriots have changed since defeating the Jets by a 19-10 score in Week 2. "Obviously, it was the second game of the season. We're better conditioned and we have a better understanding of our jobs, what we have to do in order to win. But every week is different."

Every week is different. Does any phrase more accurately describe the general philosophy of the entire Belichick era? Before last season, before Brady threw 50 touchdowns and Moss caught 23, the Patriots won games the old-fashioned way: with grit. They ran the ball and defended the run. They committed few penalties. They got mistake-free play from the quarterback and they made their kicks, and they relied on their coach to exploit every advantage on any given Sunday.

Now the Patriots are 6-3 and playing their best football of the season. With a change or two at Indianapolis in Week 9, they could be 7-2 and riding a four-game winning streak. The next test comes quickly, on Thursday night against the Jets, and on paper, at least, Belichick might need to place more on his quarterback's shoulders than he has at any point this season.

The reason? Entering Thursday night, the Jets rank fifth in the NFL against the run both in terms of yards per game (76.4) and yards per carry (3.2). Nose tackle Kris Jenkins has been playing as well as any defensive player in the league. The Jets also have scored more points than any team in the AFC thanks largely to a running game that has averaged a whopping 4.6 yards per carry, which creates an interesting dilemma for the accomplished coach of the Patriots.

If the Patriots are to score in this game, they likely will have to do it through the air, which places an onus on Cassel.

And if New England is intent on stopping the run, Belichick may very well be matching up a young and inexperienced secondary against the experienced (albeit mistake-prone) Brett Favre.

Decisions, decisions.

"The Jets, from what I've seen on TV, have got some good momentum, too," noted Patriots defensive back Ellis Hobbs.

With regard to Cassel, let's look at the facts. As well as the Patriots have played since getting their doors blown off (mostly through the air) by the San Diego Chargers, Cassel has thrown one touchdown pass (against three interceptions) in the last three weeks. In the last two games, Randy Moss has averaged 10.7 yards per catch. Come Thursday, New England's success might very well depend on Cassel's ability to go downfield, which means they cannot afford any dropkicks from people like Jabar Gaffney.

Barring a sensational performance from the New England defense, the Patriots are going to need to score more often than they have lately. And before anyone suggests that they implement the same game plan they used against the Indianapolis Colts earlier this month, remember that the rushing yards won't be as easy to come by against the Jets. Over the last two games, the Patriots have had an edge in time of possession totaling a mind-numbing 24 minutes and 8 seconds -- that is almost an entire half -- and the cumulative score is Patriots 35, Other Guys 28.

This team simply does not have margin for error anymore, though we have all known that since the Patriots lost the human navigational device known as TomTom.

Does this mean the Patriots cannot win? Au contraire. It just means that they have to do things differently, which always has been one of Belichick's strengths. In January 2005, on the way to their third Super Bowl title, the Patriots played two dramatically different games in the AFC playoffs. In the first, they took down the offensively explosive Colts by a 20-3 score; a week later, they dismantled the defensive-minded Steelers by a 41-27 count. While the Patriots flaunted their versatility, their opponents could not do the same.

Lest anyone think that the Week 2 meeting between the Pats and Jets will serve as any barometer for this week's affair, don't make that mistake. Both teams have changed considerably since then. The Patriots ran for 104 yards in that game, but LaMont Jordan had 62 of them and the team averaged a mere 3.2 yards per carry. Moss had two catches and the Patriots scored their only touchdown after Brandon Meriweather picked off Favre on the Jets' side of the field. Favre was playing just his second game with the Jets and New York averaged 5.0 yards per rush in what was otherwise a very defensive-minded game.

Maybe this game will be similar, but there is every chance it won't.

"The Jets look like they're playing well," said Seymour. "It's going to be a big game come Thursday, and then Miami [Nov. 23] and Pittsburgh [Nov. 30] after that. This is where the rubber meets the road."

This is where the Patriots of old excelled.

This might be where we learn if these Patriots can do the same.