New York Jets Must Lay Seige to the Cassel! Sunday Brings Another Must Win

All week long, I’ve watched people slowly warm up to the idea that the Jets are suddenly the favorites to win the AFC East. After last season, it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true, people. I’ve watched the SportsCenter folks hold back on bringing it up after one week of play.

Then the Vegas betting machine let us know that people secretly are expecting the Jets to win this weekend. That’s right. Expecting. And those people are putting their money where their mouths are. Just look at the line in the paper. After that, it had to be mentioned on ESPN.

The Jets are favored to win this weekend. If they beat the Patriots, does that make them the favorites? I know we need to win game two first, but...Yes!

Without Tom Brady, the Patriots no longer seem so unbeatable. With Brett Favre looking like his old self, the Jets no longer seem so easily beaten. Buffalo looked good last week too, but they don’t cheat, nor do they have Randy Moss or that crazy defensive line, so they don’t scare me at the moment.

Right after the final ticks of last week’s game against the Dolphins, when my heart finally slowed down, I looked to my roommate (a big time Boston sports fan) and said, “So I guess the division’s ours for the taking.” He scoffed.

He went on to say that the Pats were still far superior to any team in the East, and that they can win it all without Brady. He was serious. That just serves to make Sunday’s win so much sweeter. He’s missing one detail that every writer, every sportscaster, and every Patriots fan hasn’t brought up.

I’m about to, but you must wait for it.

The Jets are favored to win the game this weekend, and they should be. I’m not going to go into everything they’ve done to improve in the last year, but it’s a lot, and it’s on both sides of the ball. Did I mention that we’ve got a better quarterback than the Patriots? Sorry, you’re right, I didn’t.

The Jets have a much better quarterback than the Pats (for once). Matt Cassel is starting his first game since high school, and the Jets' D is sure to blitz him all over the place. They’re going to create confusion, wreak havoc with their secondary, and mass hysteria will hopefully ensue (Cats and dogs! Living together!).

This is what any coach would do to a guy starting his first game, at any level, since high school. But Eric Mangini is not just any coach, and Matt Cassel is not just any quarterback.

What people are missing (here it is!) is that three years ago, Cassel’s rookie season, Mangini was coaching the Patriots as their defensive coordinator. Mangini and Belicheat were best buds at the time, too, which makes me think they talked at length about each and every draft pick they made, all the way up to number 230.

While Cassel might be an unknown to everybody in the media and around the league, he certainly is not an unknown to Eric Mangini. Coach Mangini watched Cassel practice every day. He saw his weaknesses and his strengths. The Mangenius did a great job of being tight lipped all week, but believe me, there will be some X-PLOI-TATION going on come game time.

This Sunday is a must win.

I know; the season’s two-weeks old and the Jets have already played in two must-win games? Believe me. We need to win this game. With Brady out, and Cassel still wet behind his ears, the Jets have got some serious leverage going into Sunday, and if we can’t capitalize now, it’s going to be difficult come crunch time in December.