Brad Smith's stats show two TD returns. I think he's pretty good on special teams and cromartie can be a threat too.
I agree with the rest of your points. I don't see a close game, but losing would be really painful. I think that's what has everyone's panties in a bunch.
I stand corrected on the ST TDs. Thanks.
There's a simple reason why I put together this list. A lot of the posters here seemed intent on posting why the Patriots should be afraid of the Jets. But nobody really seemed to focus on the Patriots advantages coming into the game.
After 'backing into' the postseason by losing 3 of their last 5 regular season games, the Jets have seemingly 'bounced back' to beat the Colts. But the Jets coaching staff took that game 'personally' as Rex Ryan put it. I wonder if Rex exhausted his bag of tricks to beat the Colts or if he has anything special left for the Pats. Rex Ryan clearly stated that it was his goal to beat Peyton Manning and the Colts.
That just more clearly marks the difference in mindset between the two teams. The Patriots never set out to beat the Jets or any other single team this season. That is a foreign concept to them. They are focused on getting that fourth Lombardi trophy. BB doesn't take beating teams as a 'personal' challenge. They just need to be beaten to accomplish the ultimate goal.
And a lot has been made of the Patriots defense being youthful as if that's a disadvantage. But nobody seems to think that is in fact an advantage because those kids just seem to play better as the game goes along and they don't look 'gassed' in the 4th quarter anymore. Young legs can keep going longer. Did anyone watch the Ravens get gashed in the first half by Charles and looking very old and slow?
The Pats have a great mix of veteran leadership and youth on their team. Maybe it is a little bit scary depending on 1st and 2nd year players in key positions. But when you have guys like Devin McCourty and Rob Gronkwoski, etc. that's a good thing. These guys have been coached up all season and are now looking like veteran players who know their assignments and just 'DO THEIR JOBS'. There's really nothing to fear when the players believe in their preparation and stick to the game plan. The Pats will have a great one in place for the Jets. They come off a week's exta rest and a week extra preparation.
I am SURE that the New York presses are busy writing 'feel good' stories about why the Jets will upset the Pats now. But guess what, their job is to sell stories and newspapers. They don't care about the reality of the situation. And the reality is that the Patriots have the best chance of advancing to the Superbowl of any team in the AFC. The Patriots actually match up better to the New York Jets than the Colts. Rex Ryan has his job cut out for him to avoid an embarrassing loss, never mind winning the game.
45-3 means nothing. Really? The regular season means nothing. Really?
Consider that the 45-3 game bothered them enough that they needed to bury a football and it affected their play in the next game enough to cause them to lose to a mediocre Miami team.
But that's just a hazy difficult to quantify mental factor so overall I agree. The last game the Pats and Jets played won't be enough to affect the next game itself. But will it cause some niggling element of doubt or insecurity in the Jets players as they prepare to try to erase the humiliation they experienced in December? Quite possibly. Even if the Jets coaches don't come out and admit it, I'm sure LT and some of the other guys in that locker room will be looking at it as a 'vengance' game. And that will be playing right into the hands of the Patriots.
Watch for the Patriots to methodically attack and destroy this Jets team come next Sunday. Not because they want to badly beat the Jets or set out to beat the Jets. But simply because the Jets are a necessary obstacle that must be vanquished and overcome in the Pats quest for the Lombardi trophy. And not only are the Patriots in an excellent position to do it, they also have the best QB in the league available to execute the plan and will their team to victory. By the way, Tom Brady knows what it takes to win championships. Let's not forget that in the analysis of our opponents chances.
I expect the jets to play much better.The pats need to stop their running game.
