He had a big hand in win

Washington applauded for special contributions

Ben Graham couldn't get this punt past the outstretched hand of Kelley Washington, a block that helped set up a Patriots TD just before halftime. (Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

FOXBOROUGH - Signed in the offseason from the Cincinnati Bengals to help bolster the Patriots' receiving corps, Kelley Washington is still waiting to catch his first pass this season. But that doesn't mean he hasn't contributed.

Yesterday, Washington had one of the biggest plays in the Patriots' 20-10 victory over the New York Jets, blocking a Ben Graham punt in the second quarter.

Washington's block, which was the first for the Patriots since Larry Whigham had one in a 24-9 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, gave the Patriots the ball at the 3-yard line and allowed them to take a 17-7 halftime lead on a 1-yard run by Laurence Maroney, the only offensive touchdown of the game.

"Yes, he made some big plays," said coach Bill Belichick. "I'll tell you we really work a lot on punt blocks. I know we haven't blocked a punt since I've been here, so it's hard for me to say that we're good at it, but that was a great time for it. . . . That was a huge play by Kelley."

In the first quarter, Washington also downed a Chris Hanson punt at the 3-yard line after Willie Andrews prevented the ball from crossing the goal line. That turned out to be a big play, as Jets quarterback Kellen Clemens, throwing from his end zone, was intercepted by Eugene Wilson, who returned the pick for a 5-yard score.

Washington has embraced his role as a special teams ace.

"I know that there are only so many balls to go around and there are other plays that you can help the team win [with] on special teams," he said. "Just like we showed, whether it's a blocked punt or whatever it may be. Those are game-changing plays.

"I love playing special teams. Not everybody can do it. You got to be physical and you got to be fast. All the attributes you have to have to play offense or defense you have to have on special teams. I love it and I'm going to continue to do it. I'm just loving being a part of this team."

Snow job

In what has become a Gillette Stadium tradition, fans celebrated each of the Patriots' big plays by throwing snow into the air. At halftime and again in the third quarter, the public address announcer asked fans to refrain from throwing snow. The third-quarter announcement was followed by a warning that the game would be stopped if the snow-throwing continued.

The snow continued to fly and the game was stopped with 3:55 left and the Patriots facing third and 6 from the Jets' 10.

Safety Rodney Harrison said he'd never seen such a thing. "First time here, so shame on the fans," said Harrison, tongue-and-cheek.

Some of the players thought the frosty fireworks celebrations, which were reminiscent of the Patriots' 12-0 win over the Miami Dolphins in 2003, were cool.

"I just looked up and I saw all this snow," said Washington. "I believe myself and Mel Mitchell said we've never seen anything like that. It's a great atmosphere to play in. I know we're all cold out there, but when you see things like that from your fans it just makes it that much better to play in."

Magic mark for Brady

With 140 yards passing, quarterback Tom Brady set a career high for passing yards. Brady now has 4,235 yards passing, eclipsing the 4,110 he had in 2005. But it was a tough day for No. 12, as he was held without a touchdown pass for the first time all season and threw a third-quarter interception to Darrelle Revis.

The weather, which wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, described as rough, hindered the passing game.

Brady said the conditions, which included wind gusts up to 27 miles per hour, made any deep passes or sideline routes challenging.

"Obviously, it's not very conducive to throwing the football," said Brady. "I wish we played in a dome every week. It's 65 degrees or 70 degrees in a dome and elements are never a factor. That's just not the case in Foxborough, but you play with whatever conditions are out there and you just try to do the best you can. I'm glad we got the win."

Moss diversifies his game

The Patriots showed off a new wrinkle on offense, twice lining up wide receiver Randy Moss as a fullback in the backfield.

"Well, you saw I motioned out to my wide receiver spot," said Moss. "That's really not me. My body is not made for that. But if it's third and 1 and they need me to get a block for Maroney all I could do is get in somebody's way."

Moss had five catches for 79 yards and hauled in a 46-yarder in the fourth quarter that set up Stephen Gostkowski's second field goal and put Moss over the 12,000-yard receiving mark (12,043) for his career, the 15th player to do so. His 1,343 receiving yards are the second-highest total in team history. Stanley Morgan had 1,491 yards in 1986.

Job satisfaction for Rhodes

Jets safety Kerry Rhodes said after the game that New York pretty much held the Patriots in check. The Jets coaxed the Patriots into season lows in total yards (265), passing yards (134), and points (20).

Twice on New England's first drive, Brady audibled handoffs to Maroney and was forced to keep the ball on busted plays. Maroney said after the game he didn't hear the alerts. "It was a miscommunication on a couple of them," said Maroney.

"I think we did a good job of moving around and making Brady's checks harder for him," said Rhodes. "He didn't have it simple. He had to go through a lot of possessions just to get into a good place."

Milestone for Welker

Wes Welker had three catches for 30 yards, enabling him to record his first 1,000-yard receiving season. Welker has 96 catches for 1,004 yards. He joins Moss as a 1,000-yard receiver, giving the Patriots two 1,000-yard receivers in the same season for the first time since 1979 . . . Kyle Brady left in the first half with an ankle injury and never returned . . . Rhodes said a teammate told him one Patriots fan threw a plastic rat on the field, as a symbol of the Jets complaining to the league about the Patriots' illegal filming of defensive signals in the teams' first meeting Sept. 9 . . . The Patriots tied the franchise record for victories with 14. They won 14 games in 2003 and 2004 . . . With the win, the Patriots evened their all-time series with the Jets (48-48-1) . . . Yesterday's 1 p.m. start snapped the Patriots streak of six straight games that kicked off at 4:15 p.m. or later . . . If you saw someone filming atop the Gillette Stadium scoreboard at the lighthouse end of the stadium, it was an NFL-paid cameraman who shoots player participation for data kept by the league . . . The Patriots were without three starters yesterday. Safety James Sanders missed his first game of the season with a knee injury. Tight end Benjamin Watson was out with a left ankle injury. Watson missed two games earlier this year after injuring the same ankle against the Dallas Cowboys Oct. 14. Right guard Stephen Neal missed his second straight game and sixth of the season because of a nagging shoulder injury. The other New England inactives were safety Rashad Baker, guard Billy Yates, and wide receivers Troy Brown and Chad Jackson. Matt Gutierrez was designated as the third quarterback

Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com.