09/10 — Many fans are scratching their heads and gnashing their teeth over trying to find positives in Sunday's home-opening loss to New England. One nice special teams development did occur early in the second quarter when the Patriots botched a Stephen Gostkowski field goal try that would have given the visitors a 10-0 lead.

You can say that was all Patriots because the FG snap basically hit holder Matt Cassel in the hands. But give Drew Coleman credit, too — he was held up on his outside rush but didn't give up the pursuit and was right on Cassel to tackle the backup QB for what amounted to a fourth-down stop.

"One thing we talked about and we were working on was trying to get to the kicker and make something happen," Coleman said. "[Kyle] Brady blocked me at first, but he kind of pushed me into the kicker and gave me a play.

"But it was a good call from Mike [Westhoff]. He was trying to get everybody in there and trying to irritate the whole cadence."

Such plays don't go down as blocked kicks, but the effect was the same: Jets ball at their 34, still trailing, 7-0. And it will be remembered as the second missed field goal opportunity by the Patriots in the last four games in the rivalry, joining Bryan Thomas' block of Gostkowski in last year's Game 2.

And because the play does get recorded as a rushing attempt for no yards for Cassel, the play provided a sad distinction for the Jets. Coleman became the only Jet to make a statistical contribution on a Patriots third- or fourth-down play. The Pats converted six of nine third downs, and the three they didn't were Tom Brady incompletions that weren't defensed by the Jets. One of them was a Wes Welker drop.

The last time the Jets had such little "crunch-down" contribution was the Green Bay opener way back in 2000, when Roman Phifer had the only measurable stat, a Brett Favre pass breakup. But the Jets won that one, 20-16.

One more small positive on the Thomas Jones front, for any who think the acquisition of No. 20 from the Bears already isn't working out: TJ had six carries for 2 yards in the first half. Then in the third quarter, when the Patriots still had a vested interest in keeping the home team in check, Jones had eight carries for 40 yards, including double-digit runs of 12, 10 and 10 yards. That second half is something to build on for the Ravens.

I'll have one more Radar entry later this afternoon on Coach Mangini's news conference and the locker room scene.

On the Radio

The Jets' new radio show, Inside the Jets on 1050 AM ESPN Radio, lifts off tonight from Charlie Brown's restaurant on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City, N.Y. Voice of the Jets Bob Wischusen hosts, two Jets players will be guests and Jets Flight Crew member Gina will also be making an appearance.