It’s an odd Monday for the middle of the football season, the Patriots didn’t play yesterday, nor do they play tonight. Instead, they’re getting ready for next Sunday’s critical matchup with the Miami Dolphins.

John Tomase says that the Patriots entire season hinges on this game down in Miami. Mike Reiss says this is just another reminder of what a difference a year makes. Christopher Price has the Patriots acknowledging their miss opportunities thus far this season.

Bob Halloran says that the Patriots have no depth. This despite the fact that many of the players who are starters now, are only in that position because the original starter was injured. Isn’t that what depth is for? Mark Farinella has another episode of Ask Fearless.

Michael Felger hates Randy Moss.

David Scott blasts NBC and CBS for hypocrisy in being very careful not to mention the point spread when discussing the controversial ending to the Pittsburgh/San Diego game yesterday.

Red Sox

Sean McAdam says that if the Red Sox want Mark Teixeira, they at least won’t have to outbid the Yankees for him. Rob Bradford says that Daisuke Matsuzaka is proving to be worth every penny the Red Sox paid for him.

Celtics

Both Mark Murphy and Marc J. Spears each look at Brian Scalabrine finally seeing the court again for the Celtics. Tim Weisberg looks at Paul Pierce becoming Boston’s Superman.

Bruins

Mick Colageo says that the Bruins were robbed on Saturday night, and that Patrice Bergeron did actually put the puck in the net. Fluto Shinzawa says that the Bruins will be hard pressed to replace Andrew Ference. Stephen Harris looks back at the Bruins first third period collapse of the season on Saturday night. Joe Haggerty says that the Bruins should not go after Brian Burke to run their organization.

Misc

Ron Chimelis and Adam Kilgore have UMass coach Derek Kellogg meeting up with his mentor John Calipari tonight.

Jeff Goodman looks around New England college hoops.

Mark Blaudschun looks back at a weekend of college football. He also has BC returning to top form and keeping their ACC title hopes alive.

Conducting a little experiment with Scott Benson’s afternoon post (Note The Absence Of A Fat Lady Singing) on Patriots Daily.

If you’re able to, could you take a moment go over here and go over here and Digg the post? Basically, you’re just recommending that others check it out.

I’m interested to see what impact this would have, if any on traffic levels over there.

Thanks for your help…

A BSMW Messageboard reader found this sentence in the Red Sox notebook by Adam Kilgore and Nick Cafardo today about Red Sox third base coach DeMarlo Hale’s interview with the Seattle Mariners:

If the Mariners choose Hale, he will join the Rangers’ Ron Washington as the only African-American major league managers.

Is this off the top of their head?

Dusty Baker, Cecil Cooper, Cito Gaston and Jerry Manuel are all waving hello.

Sometimes it really does just come down to the coin toss…

Was there any doubt that whoever won the coin toss in OT was going to get a field goal?

Still, what a game, though you could’ve been excused for tuning out in the first half.

The Jets ran out to a 24-6 lead and the Patriots looked bad. Matt Cassel led a TD drive just before the half to make it 24-13, and the Patriot defense tightened up a bit in the second half as Cassel led three more scoring drives (two TD’s, a field goal and a two-point conversion) to tie the game at 24. Brett Favre led the Jets on a TD drive, leaving just over a minute on the clock. Cassel then led one final drive, which ended with Randy Moss catching a touchdown with Ty Law draped all over him with :01 left on the clock.

The score was tied…then the Jets won the coin toss, marched down the field and kicked a field goal. An anti-climatic ending if there ever was one. All the more frustrating when you know that between this one and the Colts game, the Patriots could be 8-2 right now instead of 6-4 and in second place.

Head over to Patriots Daily for Chris Warner‘s game recap.

Christopher L. Gasper finds some positives for the Patriots, though they’ll have none of that talk. Karen Guregian has the Patriots falling after twice crawling back from the dead. Shalise Manza Young has the Jets taking control of the AFC East with the win. Mark Farinella has the Jets turning Matt Cassel’s finest night into a bitter disappointment. Dom Amore has the Jets outlasting the Patriots. David Brown sounds annoyed that he had to go to the stadium last night instead of watching Ugly Betty and ER. Andy Vogt has OT proving unkind to the Patriots. Dan Hickling has the Jets outlasting the Patriots. Jennifer Toland has Matt Cassel sparkling last night, but not getting a chance in OT.

Michael Felger has the good and the bad from a crushing loss. Mike Reiss says that there were three games in one last night. Christopher Price chalks up the 10 Things We Learned Last Night for the Metro. Glen Farley has the Patriots defense failing early and late last night. Eric McHugh has the Jets spoiling the Patriots party when it got to overtime. Lenny Megliola has a late miracle giving way to reality for the Patriots.

Bob Ryan says that this one was even better than the hype. Bill Burt claims that the Jets became a force with their win last night. Ron Borges says that the Jets victory was not a changing of the guard of the AFC East. Jim Donaldson has the Patriots defense folding in the final minutes of a big game yet again. Rich Garven says this one was an old-fashioned donnybrook.

Steve Buckley looks at a career night for Matt Cassel, who threw for 400 yards and 3 touchdowns, while also running for 62 yards. Young has Cassel achieving an NFL first with the 400 passing yards and 60+ yards rushing – the first QB to do that since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger. Farinella looks at the dazzling numbers of Cassel not matching the final result.

Brian MacPherson has the Patriots learning from their mistakes. Lee says that late penalties on defense may have cost the Patriots the game. Donaldson has Randy Moss making the big catch when it counted. Weisberg has Jabar Gaffney shining in the shadows last night. Forsberg has a look at Jerod Mayo, who was the defensive star of the night with 20 tackles for the Patriots.

Chris Forsberg has Troy Brown bring honored at halftime last night. Borges says that Brown always believed in self, even when others didn’t. Robert Lee has the Patriots giving back to Brown after he gave them everything he had. Tim Weisberg has more on the fitting Foxboro send off for Brown. Hickling also reports on the Troy Brown halftime tribute.

Ryan also wants to know why Belichick hates those (naughty word) Jets so much.

Adam Kilgore talks to Ty Law about being beaten on the final play of regulation for the Moss TD. John Tomase has Law turning back the clock to 2001 with his performance. Lee has Law declaring that the Jets the team to beat now. Dan Duggan has Brett Favre leading the Jets on two late drives for the win. Donaldson has Favre impressed with Cassel and the Patriots comeback.

Donaldson also has the Jets getting the win they’ve long been waiting for against the Patriots. Lee has Eric Mangini insisting that the Jets did not let up in the second half. Farinella has the Jets acknowledging that they dodged a bullet last night.

Duggan has the best and worst from last night. Lee provides postgame analysis from all sides. Garven has facts and Figures.

Here are the notes from the NFL Network telecast.

Gasper’s notebook has Sammy Morris returning to field last night. Guregian’s notebook has Ty Warren sitting out last night’s game – a big loss for New England. Young’s notebook has Warren joining the ranks of injured Patriots. Farinella’s notebook has Brown enjoying life after football. Vogt’s notebook has more on Brown being honored at halftime.

Bruins

The Bruins were also in action last night, recording a 6-1 victory over arch-rival Montreal last night, snapping a 12 game regular season losing streak to the Canadiens.

Rich Thompson has the B’s moving into first place in the division with the win. Kevin Paul Dupont has the Bruins coming out strong on the second night of a back-to-back. Bud Barth has the Bruins coming up big in this early showdown. Mike Loftus has the Bruins’ depth carrying them to the win. Bob Stern has the Bruins getting the Montreal monkey off their backs.

Barbara Matson has the Bruins depth on display last night. Stephen Harris has brawler Milan Lucic enjoying himself last night. Joe Haggerty has more on the Bruins win.

Dupont’s notebook has the Jacob’s family shooting down the idea of Brian Burke coming to Boston. Thompson’s notebook has Marco Sturm figuring out this power play thing. Barth’s notebook has coach Julien defending his choice of P.J. Axelsson on the shootout in Chicago.

The Patriots and Jets battle it out for first place in the AFC East this evening on the NFL Network.

If you live around Boston and don’t get the NFL Network, the game will be shown on WCVB Channel 5 in Boston and WMUR channel 9 in Manchester, NH.

If you’re outside the area, and don’t get NFLN, you can go to NFL.com and watch the game online there.

In the New York papers today, this game is being touted as one of supreme importance for the Jets. Get a glimpse over at JetsLinks.com.

Gotta love the Jets. From Mark Cannizzaro

One Jets offensive player, who spoke under the condition of anonymity because he didn’t want to provide bulletin board fodder for the Patriots, talked about being “sick to our stomachs” about the Jets’ 19-10 loss in Week 2 at the Meadowlands. He felt the Patriots were vulnerable – particularly on defense. Not to mention it was the first game with Matt Cassel at quarterback, after Tom Brady was injured in Week 1 vs. the Chiefs.

The player spoke matter-of-factly about how “slow” and “old” a number of the New England defenders are and how he believes the Jets should be able to put up “a lot of points” on them tonight.

Um, just because you’re anonymous doesn’t mean your comments aren’t bulletinboard material, genius.

Christopher L. Gasper has a look at how the Patriots have filled the holes in their lineup this season, and how they favor play over pedigree. Tim Weisberg has Matt Cassel getting his first experience at facing a team for the second time. Shalise Manza Young says that these aren’t the same two teams that we saw in week two. John Tomase says that there is more than just a game on the line tonight. Kerry Bryne looks at some Surprise Impact Players for the Patriots over the years. K.C. Joyner says that this game should be old hat for the Patriots.

Jim McBride has the scouting report in the Globe today. Mark Farinella has a short week leading to a big game for these two teams. Christopher Price looks at the unique challenges the short week brings. Ben Swasey tells us why the Patriots will beat the Jets tonight. Tom Wilcox has a look at the Patriots depth. The Herald has Five things to watch for tonight. The Globe OT has Three keys vs. Jets.

Adam Kilgore has Kris Jenkins proving to be a good fit in New York, both on and off the field. David Brown has the Jets recent success coming on the ground. Rich Garven has sole possession of first place on the line tonight at Gillette. Brian MacPherson has the Jets getting a rare opportunity to knock the Patriots out of first place. Dom Amore says that if the Jets can’t overtake the Patriots now, when will they ever? Kerry J. Byrne says that you can count on Brett Favre coming up small in big games.

Over in the Metro, I’m feeling fairly good about the Patriots chances in the AFC. Michael Felger has this week’s Patriots Mailbag.

Gasper’s notebook has Adalius Thomas undergoing surgery yesterday, though not yet being placed on season-ended IR. I would expect that to happen soon, however. Guregian’s notebook says that the Patriots will try to force Brett Favre to beat them.

Bruins

Kevin Paul Dupont and Stephen Harris have P.J. Axelsson giving the Bruins a 2-1 shootout victory over the Blackhawks last night.

Dupont says that the Bruins should try to bring Brian Burke in to run their hockey operations. Mick Colageo has the Bruins shooting for more than respect. Danny Picard has a piece on Chuck Kobasew in the Globe OT.

Dupont’s notebook has former Bruins draftee Kris Versteeg  doing well for himself in Chicago. Harris’ notebook has rookie Blake Wheeler rewarding his coach’s faith in him.

Misc

Dan Shaughnessy says that the Red Sox made the right move by not raising ticket prices. Chad Finn reflects on the tenure of Jason Varitek and the outrageous salary demands of his agent. Bob Lobel wants to thank Curt Schilling aka Joe the Plumber. Tony Massarotti looks at whether Dustin Pedroia or Kevin Youkilis is the more valuable player. Tom Caron, talks with Mo Vaughn. Maureen Mullen has the Sox making their shopping list for free agency.

Scott Souza looks at the energy of Kevin Garnett.

Will Leitch says that Boston fans are spoiled by the success of their teams.