Patriots’ Day Finally Arrives in AFC, 26-14

It was somewhere between the first and second bounce of Mark Gastineau’s helmet on the Giant Stadium tundra Saturday that the Raiders may have guessed whom they would meet in next Sunday’s AFC divisional playoff game.

By then, the New England Patriots had moved comfortably ahead of Gastineau’s New York Jets on their way to a 26-14 victory as well as to a rare, almost extinct, postseason win. Not since 1963, when the Boston Patriots would play home games in Fenway Park, had they advanced to a second playoff game. Now they face the Raiders, a team responsible for one of the Patriot departures--a 24-21 Raider victory in the 1976 AFC divisional playoff.

“That’s the old Patriots team,” wide receiver Stanley Morgan said. “This is the new Patriots.”

The new New England Patriots allowed Jet running back Freeman McNeil a hardly noticeable 41 yards. They neutralized nose guard Joe Klecko and kept the Jet pass rush to a minimum. They also sent Ken O’Brien, the NFL’s top-rated quarterback, to the sideline early in the third period with a mild concussion. Funny, there didn’t seem to be anything mild about the way Patriot linebacker Andre Tippett tackled O’Brien on the late second-quarter play that led to the injury.

The Patriots also intercepted two passes and forced three fumbles, much to the displeasure of many of the 70,958 fans at Giants Stadium. Entering the game, the Jets enjoyed a plus-13 turnover ratio. So much for that statistic.

Gastineau’s rage was directed at the game officials late in third period when a Jet kickoff return led to a Jet turnover that led to a Patriot touchdown that led to a 23-7, dim-the-lights lead. Until then, the Jets had remained close. O’Brien was out of the lineup and the Jet running game was comatose, but the Patriots weren’t impressing anyone, either.

But then Johnny Hector caught a Patriot kickoff at the Jet three-yard line, ran 13 yards and smacked into New England reserve linebacker Johnny Rembert. Rembert tugged the ball from Hector’s hands, recovered the fumble and hurried 15 yards into the end zone. Touchdown.

Or was it?

“I thought I was down,” Hector said. “We were sort of in awe. We couldn’t believe it. For everybody just to not react, they must have thought I was down.”

Rembert was unsure, too. “I thought one of those guys touched me while I was down,” he said.

After recovering the ball, Rembert stayed on the ground until teammate Ed Reynolds began screaming at him: “Get up and run it!”

Rembert did as he was told, and the Patriots had their touchdown. A penalty against Jet reserve tight end Billy Griggs for an illegal block delayed the celebration for several moments. That’s when Gastineau, watching from near the Jet sideline, threw his helmet to the ground.

Said Jet defensive end Marty Lyons, who spent considerable time berating a sideline official after the touchdown call: “You take away points that we might have been able to get out of a drive and give them seven . . . give them momentum.”

The Jets had difficulties from start to finish. They began the game with cornerback Russell Carter, which normally is a nice thing to have in a secondary. Except that Carter hadn’t played for eight games because of a back injury. The lengthy absence showed on a second-period touchdown catch by Patriot wide receiver Stanley Morgan on a pass from Tony Eason.

The Jets led at the time, 7-6. Hector had caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from O’Brien, and Patriot placekicker Tony Franklin had contributed field goals of 33 and 41 yards.

On first and 10 from the Jet 36, Morgan noticed that New York was in man-to-man coverage. “I knew from the moment we stepped up to the line and I saw the free safety move toward the other side of the field,” Morgan said. “Now it’s Russell and me.”

Meanwhile, Carter moved toward Morgan for a quick bump. One problem: Carter wasn’t supposed to bump. A Jet blitz was called, and Carter was supposed to drop back into a zone. That all had been covered in a recent secondary meeting--a meeting that Carter missed. Carter said he wasn’t required to go to team meetings because of his injured-reserve status.

Thirty-six yards later, the Patriots led 13-7.

“Russell got a tough assignment,” Eason said.

Eason survived the game. The much-sacked O’Brien, who has been spilled 64 times this season, did not. After being hurt late in the second period on Tippett’s sack, Eason returned for the Jets’ first series in the third quarter. Everything was fine until he had to throw.

“He had trouble remembering formations and plays,” Jet Coach Joe Walton said.

Of course, Walton didn’t notice this until O’Brien called an entirely different play than the one Walton had selected from the sideline. The next series, O’Brien was out and Pat Ryan was in, but not before Franklin kicked a 20-yard field goal and Rembert had scored on his fumble recovery.

Ryan narrowed the lead to 23-14 when he drove the Jets 57 yards in about five minutes. It would be the Jets’ final score, but New England added another field goal, this one 26 yards, early in the fourth period.

“Words cannot express how I feel,” said Patriot cornerback Raymond Clayborn, who has endured Patriot frustration for nine seasons. “We’ve never really had a winner.”

At least one sweet, welcome playoff game remains, and Clayborn announced that the new New England is prepared.

“We’re going to have to get out there and show them some Patriot ball,” he said.