---

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - It wasn't perfect. No game ever is.

But the Patriots came as close as humanly possible to playing a perfect game Sunday in their season-opening resumption of the Border War in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

With Tom Brady passing for 297 yards and never being sacked, Randy Moss pulling in 183 of those yards, the running game adding another 134 yards, Ellis Hobbs returning a kickoff an NFL-record 108 yards and the defense putting the clamps on Chad Pennington and his running game, the Patriots pinned a good, old-fashioned country whuppin' on the New York Jets, 38-14, before a stunned-silent crowd of 77,900 at Giants Stadium.

"I am really proud of our players today," Patriots' coach Bill Belichick said on the occasion of his 125th victory as an NFL head coach. "I thought we executed a lot of things well in the game. Some things could have been better, but I thought overall it was a really solid effort."

That understatement was characteristic, but Belichick did speak the truth about one thing. His Patriots left three points on the field when backup quarterback Matt Cassel bobbled a snap on a 43-yard field goal attempt that Stephen Gostkowski never had a chance to try. That may have cost Cassel that job; punter Chris Hanson handled the holds thereafter. But if that was the worst thing the Patriots could quibble about on this warm New Jersey Sunday, it was a pretty good day.

The Patriots were, in a word, "explosive" - and no one personified that better than Moss, the so-called "bad boy" receiver who was nothing but good in his first game action of the year.

"The training staff has done a fantastic job of getting me back and rehabbing me, and getting me to know what I had to do for these two weeks to get me back on the field," the ex-Viking and ex-Raider said, referring to the healing of a hamstring pull that took place a week into training camp. "It just felt good. I'm happy, but at the same time, we know it was just the first game of the season. We've got a lot more to play."

Moss' nine catches for 183 yards (third-best single game in team history) included three very acrobatic catches for big gains at crucial times, and a 51-yard touchdown pass in which he effortlessly raced past one defender at the line and three downfield.

"Having those big plays the Patriots had - the kickoff return for a touchdown and the long pass to Randy Moss - makes it tough," Jets' coach Eric Mangini said. "Any time you give up the big plays, the momentum shifts and then the approach dramatically shifts. That's never really a situation that you want to be in."

Moss and Hobbs were key elements, but there were others as well that indicate how much this team has improved from a year ago, even with a few key performers on the shelf.

The Patriots' offensive line never let Brady (22-28, 297 yards, three TD, 146.6 passer rating) be touched in anger. Wes Welker demonstrated with six catches for 61 yards a reliable and dangerous presence in the slot. Running backs Laurence Maroney (20 carries, 72 yards) and Sammy Morris (11-54) did the job when called upon, and spearheaded a 10-minute, 28-second possession in the fourth quarter that dashed any hopes of the Jets getting back into the game.

Defensively, the Patriots sacked Pennington five times (Mike Vrabel and Jarvis Green two apiece, and Vrabel and Ty Warren sharing another) and throttled newcomer Thomas Jones (14 carries, 42 yards). Green's second sack almost sent Pennington from the game with a sprained right ankle, but the gutsy Jets' QB returned to engineer a late scoring drive.

"I'm not going to lay there, I know that," said Pennington (16-21, 167 yards, two TD). "I'm going to walk off the field, try to get back into the game, which I was able to do, and take it from there."

Pennington is scheduled for an MRI of the injured joint today. Even if he hadn't given way to Kellen Clemens for the last seven minutes, however, there wouldn't have been anything he could have done to reverse the trends that began from the very start. For instance, the chemistry between Brady and Welker was evident instantly. Brady went to the ex-Dolphin slot receiver four times (completing three for 30 yards) in their first possession, adding his first pass to Moss at the six-minute mark of the first quarter to bring the Patriots down to the Jets' 13.

Two plays after Moss' catch, Welker was split out left, took two or three steps in front of eighth-year veteran cornerback David Barrett, caught the ball and made a one-step move that left the veteran rooted to his spot. Welker could have walked in after the move to complete the 11-yard touchdown play with 5:12 left in the opening quarter.

But the Patriots also proved they still have kinks to get out of the works in their first possession of the second quarter. They drove from their 42 to the Jets' 25 before stalling, yet still had the opportunity to put more points on the board from Gostkowski until Cassel bobbled the snap and was swarmed under at his own 34.

As is usually the case after highly visible gaffes of that sort, the Jets cashed in with the game-tying touchdown. Pennington drove the Jets 66 yards in 10 plays, taking 6:22 off the clock and completing five passes for 52 yards, including the 7-yarder to Laveranues Coles for a 7-7 tie with 4:15 left in the half. Coming on a third-and-6 play, Pennington took a quick snap and whizzed the ball past an out-of-position Rosevelt Colvin and into Coles' hands at the left pylon.

That seemed to snap the Patriots' offense out of its doldrums, and it responded with a nine-play, 73-yard drive for a 14-7 lead with 1:07 left.

Moss made two catches during the drive that reminded everyone just why he's here - a breakaway bomb of 33 yards, with Justin Miller pulling him down with a shoestring tackle at the Jets' 28, and on the next play, a leaping fingertip catch on the left sideline over a baffled Barrett for first-and-goal at the 6.

Two plays later, Brady found Benjamin Watson in the back of the end zone from 5 yards out for the touchdown lead at the half.

The game became one for the record books when Hobbs took the opening kickoff of the second half 8 yards deep in the end zone, weaved his way out of a pile of players inside the 20 and then eluded the grasp of linebacker David Bowens to break free for a record-setting return - 108 yards, the longest kickoff return in NFL history and tying Chicago's Nathan Vasher (against Kansas City on Nov. 13, 2005), and fellow Bear Devin Hester (against the Giants on Nov. 12, 2006) for the longest return ever. The Chicago duo's returns came on failed field goals.

That put the Patriots up 21-7 just 14 seconds into the second half, and things looked even more bleak for the Jets when, with 10:20 left, Pennington was sacked by Green for the second time and suffered the sprain.

Not long after, the Patriots upped the count to 28-7 on the spectacular 51-yard touchdown pass from Brady to a triple-covered Moss with 7:01 left in the quarter. Moss actually left rookie Darrelle Revis in the dust at the line of scrimmage, then cruised from right to left into the end zone with Jonathan Vilma, Erik Coleman and Barrett in futile pursuit.

The dazzling play capped a five-play, 85-yard march that took 2:48 to cover.

Spectacular as that was, the Jets had a surprise of their own in the works when Pennington, sporting a dark support boot on his injured right ankle, limped onto the field on the ensuing drive and led a nine-play, 70-yard scoring march. He completed four of five passes during the drive, two each to Chris Baker (for 29 yards) and Coles (for 14 yards), who caught the last one on a fade pattern away from Asante Samuel from a yard out - tried for a second time immediately after the first attempt was thrown poorly - to pull back within 14 points with 2:19 left in the quarter.

But that was the Jets' last gasp. Gostkowski put up a 22-yard field goal at the end of a 17-play, 75-yard drive that killed 10:28. Then with 1:58 left, the Patriots added future fodder for the Border War when Junior Seau was lead blocker on a 1-yard touchdown run by Heath Evans.

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com