In assessing this game it's hard to know how much to make of last week's games for both teams. For NE I thought going into the season that Cincy was being overrated by too many people. I was not surprised they played like they were sleepwalking. So, what do we make of NE's dominance in that game? Hard to say. The Jets performance as Tony indicates is different. Greene's fumbles, the lack of any real vertical passing and MS's palpable fear are quite troubling. But it's not impossible those can all be changed in one week. Putting last week aside, the NE OL v. the Jets pass rush could be key. That OL was showing signs of decline from their former greatness imo for a couple of years now, and on paper they should be no better, and perhaps worse, than last year. We didn't see that in the Cincy game because I think Cincy sucks, so will the NE OL play mediocre football? Hard to say since with Pace and Jenkins out, where does the Jet pass rush come from? Well, hate to say it but Taylor could be a big help here. The Jets have to do something to get Brady out of his comfort zone, or it will be a very long game for the Jets. Jets running game v. NE D. If Greene can hold onto the ball and LT and he are switched over effectively, this could (unsurprisingly) be huge for the Jets. Last year for the season NE gave up 4.4 per carry. That's mediocre for sure. The intangibles are all against the Jets, though. Home field means nothing in these matchups, or next to nothing. If the Jets can pressure Brady and not fumble, they have a shot. Best I can do.
The Vegas line moved up from Patriots -1.5 to -3 after hearing about Revis' hamstring, and back down to -2.5. I expect it to go back to -1.5 by Sunday, but most pundits are picking the Pats to win, so maybe not.
I think the Jets will win the football game. There has been alot of overreaction to week 1. Close game, Jets win on a FG.
This is going to be one of those games where the Jets take a 20-7 lead and then the Patriots rally to make it 20-21, and the Jets winning by a late field goal. I can smell it.
This game reminds me of the Chargers game. Facing a team thats very "hott" against the Jets who have no chance in the world. If we did break the game open and took a double digit lead, I wouldn't be suprised. But I also wouldn't be suprised if the Patriots beat us. I just don't see the Patriots scoring more than 2 TDs on us, so its going to be a close game till the end.
It's -110 for the favorite, Pats, like all the game. Line just moved back up to Pats -3. I guess everyone's really worried about Revis. It would be Pats -6 if they were playing at home.
SUPPOSEDLY, the Bengals had a good defense, running game and improved passing game. They beat everyone in their division last year, the Steelers, Ravens and Browns. What I think happened is that the Patriots were well prepared for the 1st REGULAR season game and the Bengals weren't. You might say some of the same for the Jets Monday game. I think that points to a great coaching effort by Belichick and staff. True professionals. And I think that edge is still there this week. I think Greene will do better. I even Sanchez can do better too. I think he will definitely throw the ball more then 5 yards and even have some success doing it. I still think he can be confused with changing alignments even with this inexperienced Patriots D. They did it against Palmer and he is a smarter QB then Sanchez. A no-brainer to say that how well Sanchez reads and executes against the Patriots D is a big factor. THE Key. Without that, the Jets are toast. I think they'll do better do in the running game but they need to score a TD or two and I think they'll need to do more then pound the ball. Patriots fans will know a lot more after this game about their team. I think the offense is better but how much better, particular against a good defense. I don't know. They have the potential to be a great offense year this but this is a huge test this week. They ain't scoring 38 points Sunday (but 20 might do) Same with the D. They were "decent" against the Bengals but can they keep it up and keep Sanchez on his heels? I don't know. To be honest, I was more afraid of the matchup between the Bengals O/Patriots D then I am matching up the Patriots D against the Jets O. I still am. The Patriots haven't played well on the road lately. It shouldn't matter this year but until they win on the road it does.
On playing on the road, I was not speaking to the Pats' general situation with that, just that with the Jets as a division opponent, the Pats in recent years for the most part have looked comfortable enough playing in NY. About the Bengals, yeah, they made the playoffs and impressively beat Baltimore twice last year. But that second win was in week 9, and thereafter Cincy sure didn't play all that well, losing to Oakland (?), and then in successive weeks to the Vikes and SD to effectively force them into the wild card game. Even taking out the last game to the Jets, that let's put it this way they may not have been trying all that hard, they did get beaten when it counted the following week. In other words, their overall record was impressive last year, but they did not finish well, and showed weakness that imo was evident again last weekend. It wasn't with the NE game in mind, but I didn't see Cincy as a playoff team this year.
The supposed experts are all picking the Pats and talking about the resurgence in Foxboro. They say the Jets are going to get BLOWN OUT at home. They say Sanchez sucks. They say Shonne Greene is a fumbling disaster. They say that Revis is hurt. They say that the Jets got sliced and diced by Flacco. They say the Bellichik is a genius and that Ryan is a buffoon. They say that Cromartie can't cover anybody. They say that the Jets receivers are horrible. They say that the Jets are trash talking wannabes. Very few people are giving the Jets a chance to even keep this thing close. With all this Jets bashing going on, you have to wonder if they will even bother to play the game. Its such an obvious mismatch according to all the experts maybe its not even worth playing the game.
I know what you mean about Cincinnati, they peaked too early last year. I just thought the matchup against, in particular, the young Patriots D, looked really bad. A good runner in Benson and a decent QB in Palmer with some good receivers. I do think preparation was important. The Bengals were still in pre-season mode and the Patriots came out pretty crisp for the 1st half in particular. 24-3 at half-time?, 31-3 after the opening kickoff of the 2nd half? I think if the Pats had played the Jets in week 1 the same difference in preparation would have resulted in a nice Patriots win there too. But it's week 2 now and I'm sure the Jets will be better prepared. Should be a whale of a game.
I think it will be a close game this week. I think the Pats will hurt us with short-medium range passes to Welker and the TE. I'd imagine our offense will look better and put up some points. Sadly, I can see Sanchez, now feeling pressure to throw the ball downfield more, forcing a few picks which will cost us the game.
Throwing the ball down field and making a mistake is much more desirable than playing scared IMO. We have a good defense, they can get us the ball back.
http://www.jetsdaily.com/2010/09/jets-vs-patriots-preview.html Jets vs Patriots Preview New England Patriots at New York Jets September 19, 2010, 4:15 PM EST. CBS-TV New Meadowlands Stadium Two of the league's biggest rivals will battle this Sunday at the Meadowlands in an important early season game. The Patriots look to continue their success after dominating the Cincinnati Bengals in their home opener while the Jets hope for their first win of the season. Winning at home is one thing, but going on the road and beating the Jets would assert the Patriots' dominance in this division, giving them an early two-game lead on them. Meanwhile, the Jets want to show that losing at home by 1 to the Ravens is no reason to panic, no matter how bad the offense looked. After talking as much trash as the Jets have this offseason, losing two straight home games to start the season would be an utter disaster. And with a road game against Miami, the other team in the AFC East that thinks it can win this season, looming, this is as close to a must-win as you can get in week two. When the Patriots have the ball... Tom Brady is another year removed from injury, and he has as many weapons as he's ever had. Randy Moss and Wes Welker return, despite Moss complaining about not having a new contract and Welker coming off a devastating knee injury just nine months ago. Then throw in Julian Edelman, who caught 8 passes in the opener between these two teams last year, Brandon Tate, who returned the opening second-half kickoff for a touchdown last week, and rookie tight ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, each of whom had a big play last week, and the passing game should be as dominant as ever. Darrelle Revis, limited at practice with a tight hamstring, is expected to play, and if he's 100%, he should be able to take Moss largely out of the game. But Brady is as good at finding his secondary options as anyone, particularly Welker. Welker dominated the only game he played last year in this series. The Jets hope Kyle Wilson or Antonio Cromartie can do a better job on him, but last week can't give fans too much confidence just yet. Still, Cromartie and Wilson both have the raw skills to have big games and play well. And they will need to as Brady will be throwing to his secondary, check-down options most of the day. As usual, the Jets will blitz like crazy. If they get there, this could be a duplicate of last year's home game, where the Jets had just enough offense to win, took Moss out of the game, and New England eventually couldn't move the ball. Welker's presence is huge, but he needs one or two more games like last week to show that he's completely over his knee injury. The Patriots will run the ball just enough to keep the Jets honest. 34-year old Fred Taylor will be the feature back after perennial underachiever Laurence Maroney was traded this week. The Patriots trust Taylor because he doesn't fumble much, he has pretty good hands, and he runs hard between the tackles. He's far from a gamebreaker, but he's a chainmover who won't screw things up. BenJarvus Green-Ellis, more of a power back, will be his change of pace, along with longtime third-down back Kevin Faulk. But make no mistake about it, the Patriots want to throw, and that's what they will do. The key is to fluster Brady. It's not easy to do, but the Jets were able to do it once last year. Hit him. Make him throw it early. Make him have to move his feet. Don't let him get comfortable. The Patriots' offense relies on timing, and if the Jets can throw that off, Brady will make more inaccurate throws, and receivers might not be ready for the ball. New England will counter the Jets' blitzing with bubble screens and quick three-step drops most of the day. If the Jets can jam the Patriots' receivers effectively and tackle well, that will help almost as much as getting to Brady. And of course, the battle of Moss and Revis will take center stage. The last time these two saw each other, with a 31-14 lead, the Patriots were throwing the ball deep to Moss on Revis with 30 seconds left just to see if they could catch him napping. The Patriots will test Revis, especially with news of his tight hamstring coming out yesterday. Moss wants to prove New England should give him a new contract, and Revis still could have some rust, so it isn't a guarantee Revis wins this battle. But it's hard to bet against him. As far as injuries are concerned, Edelman is expected to play for the Patriots after week one. Jets OLB Calvin Pace has been ruled out for this week, so Jason Taylor will get another start. NT Kris Jenkins is out for the season, so the Jets will have to get used to playing without him, just like last year. NT Howard Green was brought in for depth, but don't expect him to play this week. Finally, S Brodney Pool might make his Jets' debut this week. He returned to practice on Wednesday. If he can cut comfortably on Sunday, he'll probably play. His physicality and coverage skills would be a welcome boost to the secondary. When the Jets have the ball... The Jets' offense looks to bounce back after an abysmal performance last week. Mark Sanchez threw for just 74 yards in the entire game. He never turned the ball over, which is half of what the Jets ask of him, but he never threw the ball down the field and rarely kept the chains moving. Against the Patriots, the Jets will once again hope their young quarterback can control the ball, but this time hopefully they can get some points out of it. Running the football well will be paramount. Shonn Greene was taken out of last week's game after his second fumble was recovered by the Ravens. The coaching staff instituted a policy in the preseason that if a player other than Sanchez fumbles, they will be taken out of the game, so that's how important they view controlling the football. Because of Greene's fumbling, he is now in a full timeshare with LaDainian Tomlinson, who, just like in the preseason, was the Jets only ray of hope offensively. It's too much to ask him to be his old self, but if the Patriots can start a 34-year old at runningback, there's no reason the most effective runningback of the past decade can't be a major addition. Tomlinson is especially useful because he's very good coming out of the backfield, an area in which Greene struggles in. When LT is in the game, the Jets can either run or pass the ball, whereas Greene being in the game means the odds are in favor of a run that particular play. The two combined for 5 yards-per-carry last game but on only 16 carries. If they can get anywhere near that per-play production this week, when the two are more likely to get 25-30 carries combined, the Jets are probably going to win this game. Through the air, Dustin Keller, Jerricho Cotchery, Braylon Edwards, and Tomlinson will get virtually all the targets this week. Keller has developed a better rapport with Sanchez for this season, and even though he couldn't pick up the first down on the last play of the game last week, his development will be crucial for Sanchez this week and this year. Cotchery always seems to step his game up against New England. He had a rare drop last week. That might be the only one you see all year. Edwards lacks Cotchery's sure hands, but he's a much better deep threat. Last week, the Jets didn't test the Ravens deep at all. This week, against a less effective pass rush, it's more likely the Jets see if they can get a quick 7 deep with Edwards. But for that to happen, the offensive line needs to pass block better. Last week, everything was a mess when Sanchez went back to pass. If the throw was on target, the receiver dropped it. If Sanchez had time to throw, he was fairly accurate, but that was a rare occurrence. Even though they looked good last week at home against the Bengals, New England lacks the dominant front seven of Baltimore. Sanchez should have a little more time to work. We'll see how much more effective that makes him. The key number for this game, and for any Jets game really, is 20. If the Jets can get 20 points offensively, with that defense, they should be able to win almost every week. The pressure is on offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who has taken a lot of heat over the past week for the gameplan. It's impossible to tell if the calls were bad or if Sanchez was checking down too quickly, but Schottenheimer needs to keep the Jets' offense in rhythm and get the Patriots' defense off-balance. A lot of that will start up-front, because if the Jets can block and run the ball well, it will set up everything else. But last week's offense was extremely predictable, and extremely ineffective. Another performance like that by the offense, and the Jets will be staring 0-2 in the face. Prediction After watching the way both the Jets and Patriots played offense last week, it's hard to pick against New England. But the Patriots have been a different team at home and on the road in recent years. The defense is young and they did give up some yards through the air in the second half to Cincinnati. The Jets are going to try to overpower them up front with their offensive line, control time of possession, and run the ball, but Sanchez will need to make some plays. This isn't the Ravens' defense, which made life miserable for him last week, but Bill Belichick is one of the best at confusing young quarterbacks. While it seems like the sky is falling after last week, if the Jets play disciplined, the defense should be able to contain the Patriots. Shonn Greene should have a bounceback game and the Jets will control the line of scrimmage in a game that will go down to the final possession. Call me a homer, but I'm picking the Jets in a tight game. Jets 16, Patriots 13
I completely agree. I would have been fine with losing the game because we were taking some chances....ANY chances downfield last week. At least go out on your sword.
I've always thought of a long pass that gets picked and is not returned for many yards like a punt. So take shots down field and if they get "punted", then the defense can deal with it.
Man, everyone saying Jets is going to lose. WTF! Come on JETS, prove them wrong! I believe in JETS! If Jets win, i will click on the ads!
