The Jets neither accomplished the monumental upset their fans wished for nor suffered the drubbing fans feared yesterday in New England. Instead, they came away with a 20–10 loss notable mostly for the inability of either offense to move the ball.

Jets quarterback Kellen Clemens threw one pass, and it was a disastrous one. With the Jets backed up at their own 4-yard line, Patriots defensive end Richard Seymour shoved Jets guard Adrien Clarke aside and hit Clemens in the end zone. Clemens blindly chucked the ball toward the sideline, where Patriots cornerback Eugene Wilson grabbed it and strolled in for a five-yard touchdown. Clemens left the game with a rib injury and did not return.

Aside from some gadget plays with wide receiver Brad Smith taking the snaps, Chad Pennington played quarterback the rest of the way for the Jets, and he reminded everyone why he was benched in favor of Clemens six weeks ago: He just doesn’t have a strong enough arm to be an effective NFL quarterback.

Pennington is still smart, and he’s still accurate, but his passes have no zip on them at all, and that was especially problematic in the gusting winds at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. Pennington finished the game completing 25 of 38 passes for 186 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He didn’t make any costly mistakes, which is impressive considering how little help he got from the offensive line, but he didn’t make any big plays either. The Jets’ only big play on offense came with Smith, who played quarterback in college, running the option and pitching the ball to Leon Washington, who ran 49 yards.

Still, the Jets kept the game close until late in the fourth quarter, thanks to big plays from the defense and special teams. The Jets scored their only touchdown when David Bowens blocked a punt, picked it up, and ran 26 yards to the end zone. That brought the score to 10–7 midway through the second quarter, and the Jets appeared ready to head into the locker room at halftime just three points down. But the Patriots turned the table on the Jets just before the half with a blocked punt of their own, setting up a 1-yard Laurence Maroney touchdown run to make the score 17–7.

The Jets never really threatened the Patriots after that, but they kept it close thanks to their best defensive game of the season — and some help from the weather. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is in the process of rewriting the record book this season, but the Jets held him in check. Brady often couldn’t find anyone open in the Jets’ secondary, and even when he did spot a receiver, his passes got caught in the wind. He finished 14-of-27 for 140 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception, for by far his worst game this year.

But too often the Jets failed to lay a finger on Brady, sacking him only once and rarely laying a finger on him. The lack of a pass rush was especially costly on a third-and-10 in the fourth quarter, after the Jets had pulled to within 17–10. On that play Brady had all day to scan the field and eventually found Wes Welker for a 16-yard completion. On the next play Brady hit Randy Moss for 46 yards, a completion that put the Patriots in range for the field goal that sealed the game for the Patriots. (On that 46-yard pass, the ball touched the ground as Moss reeled it in, and it might have been overturned on replay, had Jets coach Eric Mangini not challenged it.)

The main subplot to yesterday’s game — the rivalry between the teams and, especially, their coaches — didn’t mean anything once the game started. There were no fights or unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, and Mangini and Patriots coach Bill Belichick exchanged a brief handshake after the game. The only people in the stadium who lacked class were a few fans who threw snowballs on the field, forcing the referee to halt the game briefly.

The 14–0 Patriots have now clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and this is usually the point in the season at which NFL teams begin resting their top players to stay healthy for the postseason. But the Patriots have loftier goals than most NFL teams, and they are expected to continue to play Brady, Moss, and the rest of their stars as they attempt to wrap up the first 16–0 season in NFL history.

The Jets’ goals are nowhere near as lofty as the Patriots’, but yesterday’s game ensured that they would fall short of everything they set out to do this year. An upset of the Patriots was the Jets’ last chance at a significant win this year, and with two games remaining, they’re now just playing out the string.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.