Pats move on in playoffs without key players from last season

"He's done a great job of picking up the system," coach Bill Belichick said of Gaffney. "He works as hard as anybody. He's given us some quality plays this year. I was just happy for him and all of the receivers, the tight ends."

On the first play from scrimmage Sunday, Brady hit Gaffney for a 12-yard gain. Later in that drive, they connected for gains of 7 and 15 yards. Then Brady and Brown hooked up for a 16-yard gain on third-and-12 one play before Dillon scored.

Amid all the changes in personnel, Brady has been a constant.

"He's been great all year," Caldwell said. "When he needs key plays, he makes them, even if he has to run."

Jets coach Eric Mangini split his other two games with the Patriots this season. New York won 17-14 in the ninth game of the year and put a lot of pressure on Brady. The Patriots negated that Sunday with a solid running game and short passes.

"They're all extremely dangerous," Mangini said of running backs Dillon, Laurence Maroney and Kevin Faulk. "Then you mix in the effectiveness of their tight ends and the way they've been incorporating the receivers, it's difficult."

Patriots fullback Heath Evans enjoyed that from the sidelines or in the backfield where he blocked well for Brady.

"We all know what Tommy's capable of," he said. "We all thought we knew what the wide receivers were capable of. So it's just taken time, but there's still so much room for improvement. Today was good. Next week's going to have to be better."