You will have a better chance finding Eli Manning on a football field this weekend than somebody who is going to pick the New York Jets to beat the New England Patriots Sunday at 4:30 p.m. They are currently 8.5-point underdogs to the mighty Patriots, who smashed them 45-3 the last time the two teams met. New England finished the regular season at 14-2 and on an eight-game winning streak. Do the Jets have a chance?
You can bet that Rex Ryan thinks they do, and he hasn't hesitated to throw some verbal jabs towards New England this week, calling out Tom Brady for showboating on the field and claiming the game is "personal" between him and Bill Belichick.
We all knew the road to the Super Bowl would eventually go through New England, so as Braylon Edwards said on Twitter the night of knocking Peyton Manning out of the playoffs in his building:
"All you hatin a$$ people....J-E-T-S. And let new England know we are coming."
For now, a few nuggets to boost your confidence about the Jets chances against the Pats --
- The Jets are actually one of the two teams who beat New England this season, 28-14 way back in week 2.
- The Patriots looked human against the Green Bay Packers and their backup quarterback, Matt Flynn, in week 15 when they squeaked out a 31-27 win.
- The Jets ran the ball well in both meetings against the Patriots this year. They will need to do that again on Sunday to control the clock and keep Brady off the field.
- Seattle beat the defending Super Bowl champs last week, this is the NFL...anything can happen.
Wednesday we will break down the team's offenses, followed by the defenses on Thursday, and the special teams on Friday. Here the Patriots 2010 season stats: