The Brett Favre era in New York began in earnest last week. So did the Matt Cassel era in New England.

With one hit from Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard, Brady’s season was over as he suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee and was placed on injured reserve, ending his season. Favre, however, opened the possibility of a new AFC East champion with a strong debut in the win over the Miami Dolphins.

Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss, however, says hang on.

“I think the New England Patriots have won the division over the past couple of years, so the New England Patriots are the team to beat,” he said on Wednesday.

In steps Cassel, who last started a game in 1999 for Chatsworth High School in California. He spent his years at USC backing up Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart before backing up Brady, whose consecutive-games streak will end at 128 on Sunday.

“I’d like to see a few games before I predict the rest of the year based on the injury to Tom Brady,” CBS analyst Phil Simms said yesterday. “But it’s amazing what this does, especially for the short term. It intensifies the divisional rivalries like the Jets and New England Patriots.”

Favre has a consecutive-stars streak of his own — an NFL-record 277 games — that will continue. But he hasn’t had the success against the Patriots recently that he enjoyed early in his career. Favre and the Packers got beaten up pretty badly, 35-0, in Green Bay two seasons ago, losing a game in which Favre completed only five passes for 73 yards and was knocked out of the game by a Tedy Bruschi hit.

Of course, that game played an interesting role in the “Spygate” saga, as the Packers claimed to have seen a Patriots employee taping the action from the field level and promptly removed him from the area. And there isn’t a football fan from Peekskill to Piscataway who doesn’t know about the Jets’ interest in the Patriots’ taping practices.

“The word for Sunday’s game is ‘passionate,'” Simms said. “We are going to see some raw emotion this weekend.”

Jets versus Patriots — it’s always interesting.

WHEN THE PATRIOTS HAVE THE BALL Common wisdom is that Cassel can’t be Brady, that the Patriots must change what they do. The Jets don’t necessarily agree, maintaining that the concepts of the Patriots’ offense should remain static. But a look at the play division from Sunday’s win over the Chiefs shows that the Patriots should be more balanced with Cassel at the helm.

With Brady taking snaps, they opened the game with eight straight passes and ran the ball only four of the first 15 plays before he was injured. With Cassel in, the Patriots ran the ball 26 times and attempted 20 pass plays, including two sacks. But Cassel also looked for Moss and found him three times for 66 yards and the Patriots’ first score of the game, a 10-yard touchdown.

Injuries will make throwing the ball tough. Moss has a bad back, Jabar Gaffney has a knee problem, and some feel Wes Welker is not completely healthy following his offseason hernia surgery. Tight end Benjamin Watson (knee) also could miss his second straight game. On the brighter side, running back Kevin Faulk returns from a one-game suspension and should be active in the passing game.

With Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis likely to shadow Moss, and with Kerry Rhodes offering help over the top, the Patriots will have to target rookie corner Dwight Lowery — expected to start again for Justin Miller — and win the battles up front. That won’t be easy if nose tackle Kris Jenkins plays the way he did in the opener in Miami.

Neither will be running the ball. The Patriots use five backs: starter Laurence Maroney, Faulk, Sammy Morris (51 yards and a TD last week), fullback Heath Evans, and running back LaMont Jordan, an ex-Jet who only received two carries last week but could see an expanded role against his old team.

Look for the Jets to bring pressure early to test the mettle of Cassel, who attempted 18 of his 57 career regular-season passes last week.

WHEN THE JETS HAVE THE BALL Don’t assume that Favre will sling the ball 35 to 40 times. The Jets believe in their revamped running game, and they averaged more than five yards a carry in the well-played, 20-10 loss in Foxborough last season. Leon Washington, who ripped off a 48-yard run in the game, pairs with starter Thomas Jones to make a strong duo.

This will be a great chance for the rebuilt Jets offensive line to show they can dominate a game, going up against a Patriots front that has gotten the best of it in recent head-to-head battles. It starts in the middle, where center Nick Mangold must battle 340-pound nose guard Vince Wilfork, whom the Jets will want to tandem block at times.

The passing game still needs work. Laveranues Coles is slowly gaining a rapport with Favre, but the top target for now is the consistently improving Jerricho Cotchery. The Patriots might give recently signed Deltha O’Neal his first start, given his strong finish in last week’s game — he broke up the fourth-down pass on the final play that would have tied it. Fellow corner Ellis Hobbs, who was beaten for the game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, is much maligned, but he had an interception last week, and has had four in his past five games (dating back to last season, and including the playoffs).

The Patriots have pressured Favre in the past, which could be their objective again, but they’ll worry about the run game, too, so look for run blitzes when the Patriots send more than four rushers.

PREDICTION The Jets know this is their chance to make a statement, coming off a four-win season but smelling blood in the water. The Patriots won’t bow easily, but one too many Cassel mistakes could cost them.

Jets 24, Patriots 17

Mr. Edholm, a senior editor at Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at eedholm@ pfwmedia.com.