There is no shortage of storylines surrounding the Jets game in Cleveland this week, here is a roundup of them both on and off the field:
1) Sibling Rivarly - Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan (Cleveland's defensive coordinator) will be facing off with no shortage of smack talk flying between both of them. Rex has already talked about putting a bounty on Rob's head, and both have been filling up local headlines with stories of their childhood growing up together and fighting everybody in sight. In terms of the actual game this Sunday, both coaches are known for their exotic defensive game plans. Cleveland has had success with their "amoeba" look, which only shows a single down lineman and crowds everybody around the line of scrimmage, while the Jets blitz schemes have been somewhat ineffective this year. Regardless, you know both coaches will be emptying out their playbooks this week in attempt to out do each other.
2) Mangini's Back - The boy wonder who was declared the "Man-genius" back in 2006 as the Jets head coach before seeing himself fired only a few seasons later gets a shot against his former team. Mangini seems to have grown as both a coach and person in talking to the media this week and has his Cleveland team playing a tough, physical brand of football. He is familiar with a good amount of the Jets personnel, so it will be interesting to see what type of game plan he comes up with.
3) Braylon's Homecoming - Braylon Edwards hasn't been hesitant to discuss how anxious he is to play in front of his former home crowd, tweeting a few days ago "they better bring their damn popcorn." He is off to a strong start in 2010 for the Jets and would love to stick to the Cleveland faithful who grew sick of his dropped passes and off the field behavior before ultimately trading him away. The Browns have allowed four 100-yard receivers so far this year, including monster performances by Anquan Boldin and Terrell Owens. Keep an eye out for a big day from Edwards, who already has touchdown receptions of 74, 61, 41, and 32 yards this year.
4) Young Quarterbacks - Colt McCoy will be making only his fourth career NFL start this week, making Mark Sanchez look like a seasoned veteran with 23 NFL regular season starts under his belt. Both quarterbacks are likely to struggle against the myriad of looks that will be thrown at them and I expect both offenses to rely heavily on their ground attack.
5) Ground and Pound - This has the feel of a low-scoring, smash-mouth type game. There are too many Ryans involved for it not to be. It would be nice if Brian Schottenheimer finally gives Shonn Greene more of a chance this week, as it looks like LaDainian Tomlinson is beginning to slow down. Peyton Hillis has been a beast for Cleveland so far in 2010 but the Jets run defense has been rock solid...something has to give.