New England Patriots: Why Tom Brady and Co. Must Get an Early Lead vs. the Jets

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots offense have done a lot of things very well this season.

Among the many records they've set, they've been remarkable at striking first.

In six of New England's games this year, the Patriots have scored a touchdown on their opening drive.

All of those games were wins.

In 12 games, the Patriots had at least one touchdown on the board by the end of the first quarter—all of those games were also wins.

More importantly, in New England's only two losses this year, the team had no points at the end of one quarter of regulation.

Of course, the Patriots preach team football and the offense directly affects the defense in that regard.

And those early leads have been beneficial for the Patriots defense.

How? Because it allows the young defense to fly around the field, to use its quickness and instincts to, as they always say, bend but not break.

More to the point, the Jets offense isn't built to come from behind by a large deficit. We saw that in action in Week 13, when the Jets were running the ball effectively, albeit down by 17 points in the second quarter.

Going into halftime of the Jets' Wild Card matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, a 7-0 deficit was a godsend. The game could have been tied had Sanchez not thrown a key interception in the end zone, but facing a deficit of just a touchdown allowed the Jets to continue to play their style of football.

Anything larger may have forced the Jets out of their comfort zone of running the football.

Mark Sanchez just isn't the type of quarterback who will take a game over when facing that large a deficit.

Incidentally, an early deficit will force the Jets defense to play more cautiously, when they'd rather be playing aggressive. The limited success the Jets enjoyed in Week 13 is indicative of that much, as postulated in an article from Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.

"The future Hall of Fame quarterback was 3-for-3 for 37 yards and a touchdown against three-man pressure," Mehta writes. "Brady was 4-for-5 for 35 yards and induced a pass-interference call in the end zone that set up a touchdown against four-man pressure in the first half."

Nullifying the blitz is one of the many ways in which the Patriots were able to hang 45 large on their rivals in the last meeting.

Now, the question is: Can they score early on this tough Jets defense?

With extra time to prepare for a game this season alone, Bill Belichick is 3-0. He leaves no stone unturned. His offense has scored 38 points against the Bengals, 23 points against the Ravens and 45 points against the Jets.

Despite what Rex Ryan might have you believe, the shortcomings of the Jets weren't entirely attributed to X's and O's.

Ultimately, Antonio Cromartie won't be able to hide. Neither will Kyle Wilson, nor Dwight Lowery. Is Eric Smith really going to get the Rob Gronkowski assignment again or will that displeasure fall upon Brodney Pool?

There are simply too many weapons for the Jets to cover. And on the first drive of the game, the Patriots will be ready to expose the weaknesses and to execute.

Belichick likely has 15 beauties drawn up for the beginning of the game.