Patriots at Jets - It's On!

Last night after I got out of work my wife asked me to stop at the store and pick up a few things.

Being the good husband I am, of course I agreed. It's not exactly on the way home because due to where I live, I have to actually drive well past my house to get to the supermarket, which is located at the other end of town.

Shortly before I was about to get there, I found myself stopped at a light with a large white pickup truck sitting in front of me with something that suddenly got me fired up.

A giant New York Jets sticker on the back window.

Living in New Hampshire we're far away from Jets country - so despite my initial urge to go and question that person's mental state of wanting to be a part of such a disfunctional group - I resisted. I realized clearly there are those who are beyond help, and this must be one of those people.

Nevertheless one thing I realized at that moment was that the rivalry really is back. With the cast of characters that have further polluted a team that already had a bunch of misfits, along with a head coach that lacks the class of what it actually takes to be a leader, they have become a team which I have grown to actually have as much disdain for as I do Indianapolis.

My Colts dislike stems from the fact that despite three Super Bowl rings, Tom Brady for the longest time had been second best to Peyton Manning. As a Patriot fan seeing Manning on TV week after week in was extremely aggravating. Not to mention the frustrating head-to-head match-ups in the early years when those two teams faced off. I still remember Bill Belichick calling an onside kick against them because the defense at the time couldn't hold Manning and Co., and he was trying desperately to get the ball back in the hands of Brady in that game. Losing to the one of the best teams at the time is obviously frustrating, but you can learn to live with it.

However, losing to the Jets with a classless coach, and players who have quickly acquired that same mentality, would be frustrating. After a week of listening to all the nonsense coming from both he and his players, I have to say that I find myself more fired up for a game than any other game I've been waiting to see in quite a long.

Listening to Kerry Rhodes talk about how the Jets want to "embarrass" New England, along with Brady firing back with, "Talk is Cheap", and former Patriot Rodney Harrison calling out Rhodes in their Twitter showdown this week, all the ingredients are there for a showdown that regardless of the outome is going to feed into a rivalry that has changed the face of this division. I think it's safe to say most fans in New England obviously disliked former Jets head coach Eric Mangini - but Ryan has taken things to a whole different level. Whether or not he'll get the last word remains to be seen - and one can only hope that they go out there today and win their ninth straight at that stadium and quiet the fans at the Meadowlands for one final time before the Jets move on to thier new home.

The showdown we've been waiting for is set and ready to go. The Jets oddly enough are calling it their 'Super Bowl'. Last time I checked there's only one of these two head coaches who have coached a team to a championship - and while Ryan says he won't kiss Belichick's rings, I'm guessing should New England win this game, Belichick will probably be thinking he can kiss something else when it's over.