New England Patriots: Did They Decode the New York Jets' D in the 45-3 Win?

After the New England Patriots' 45-3 rout of the New York Jets on Monday Night Football, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick tipped their hand that they had spent more time together than usual dissecting film of the Jets defense, looking for any and every weakness they could expose.

Brady had one of his most brilliant performances of the 2010 NFL season against the Jets in Week 13. His four touchdown passes tied a season high, and his 326 yards and 72.4 percent completion rate were by far his highest against the Rex Ryan-led Jets in their four meetings to date.

But that was just one game. With another meeting looming a week ahead, one question remains: did the Patriots lay the blueprint for beating the Jets, or did they simply explode like a bomb, one and done?

It's certainly a valid question. After all, Rex Ryan alluded to the fact that Peyton Manning had his number before their Wild Card meeting on Saturday. 

Many pundits may point to Ryan's ability to shut down Manning as proof positive that he can and will do it to Brady, too. In that game, the Jets were able to take the ball out of Manning's hands and held him to just 18-for-26 for 225 yards and a touchdown. The Colts inexplicably ran the ball 27 times for just 3.4 yards per carry.

During the four-game winning streak that led the Colts to the postseason, they passed an average of 6.5 times more per game than they ran. Thus, it seems the Colts played right into the hands of the Jets.

The Patriots pose a diverse threat, and they can call on another facet of their offense if one isn't working so well.

The weaknesses that the Patriots exposed were in the Jets' man coverages. They largely involved matchup problems.

As pointed out by PatsPropaganda.com's Mike Dussault, it's not as though Antonio Cromartie will become a better matchup for any Patriots receiver over the course of the next week. His style of play is more suited to defense of vertical passing plays. He's more of a liability against a "horizontal" Patriots pass attack which utilizes several quicker receivers on the outside.

In fact, Cromartie's long arms and legs hinder his change of direction ability, a weakness that can and will be exposed by the likes of Deion Branch, Wes Welker, Danny Woodhead and company.

The Jets will try to diffuse the timing routes and quick throws of Brady by jamming receivers and rushing the passer, but Brady countered that defense by picking on every cornerback not named Darrelle Revis in their last meeting.

If the Patriots can force the Jets once again to play a horizontal defense when they'd rather play vertical, the Patriots can once again pull of a win.

Many state fervently that the Jets simply had their first look at the new look Patriots offense in that Monday night shellacking, and that they'll be ready for the different looks and formations in a second meeting. That argument fails to heed two key points:

1) The Jets had plenty of tape to study on the "new look" offense, which had been implemented some six weeks prior. If they wanted to slow down the Patriots pass attack, tape of the Browns game and the first half against the Lions would have been good places to start.

2) The Jets defense rarely shows new looks themselves. Generally speaking, Rex Ryan is stubborn in his defensive play-calling. What you see is what you get; a lot of overload blitzes and man coverages on the outside, with safeties helping out over the top.

Pat Kirwan already discussed why it's not always a great idea to blitz Tom Brady and hope for the best. Since Super Bowl XLII, Brady is an astounding 7-1 in games where the opposing defense sacks him three or more times. But it goes so much further than that.

Brady is on another level in diagnosing his pre-snap reads. In fact, it's been said that he's so great at pre-snap reads, that when a defender slips or falls down in coverage, Brady often misses the open receiver because he's already determined that receiver won't be open, so he doesn't even look that direction.

That's scary. So much for Brady not studying tape, huh, Rex?