I buy it and don't buy it.
I buy that Rex was playing the disrespect card all week.
I don't buy that Rex had the plan laid out like this guy said it.
If he had, then the plan would have worked similarly in the previous game when the same exact stuff happened.
The Patriots may have wilted mentally in the game--probably out of disbelief after their incredible self-inflicted wounds (interception, dropped TD, punt fake)--and the Jets got all the momentum.
Same thing in the previous game, when the Jets made boneheaded errors, and things just snow-balled.
Psychology was in the Jets favor, I agree, but I think of it as a very small factor.
I was about to dismiss the whole Welker benching thing until Wilfork piped up and said he disagreed with it. He also said it wasn't a reason for the loss--but if he's disagreeing, you know it had some impact. But Belichick is old school, and he wasn't going to have it no matter how important the game. BB might want to consider that it's a new generation, and though he's the coach and wants to do things the old school way out of respect for the game, his much younger players are of a different mind--even Brady downplayed the seriousness of what Welker said prior to the game.
I understand why Belichick did it, but I don't think it's worth it for a coach to stand on such a principle when he can NEVER get that principle across to his players. It's an old school thing. Rex's trash talk accomplished something, for sure, and that was the Welker benching.
