New York Jets: Four Reasons The Jets Will Topple New England

I’ve been delaying this New York Jets-New England Patriots preview article all week long. I didn’t do it on purpose either. In fact it was keeping me up at night, when I had just vowed to keep my New Year’s resolution of going to bed at a normal hour.

How could I convince BoldSportsTalk nation that the New York Jets could pull off an upset over the New England Patriots; an upset that might nearly rival the New York Giants stunner over the Pats in Super Bowl XLII?

My colleague Nabeel and a horde of other sports opinionates have called Tom Brady’s 2010 season an equal rival of his 2007 record-setting performance. Brady hasn’t thrown an interception since Week 6, an NFL record of 11 weeks, the best since the 1970 merger.

Outside of Brady, this year’s group of Patriots is much more similar to the 2001 squad who upended the heavily favored Rams, rather than the nearly undefeated 2007 group. This team is predominantly based on coaching and controlling the tempo over the game, rather than the big play ability.

The Patriots had nine non-offensive touchdowns this season. New York will not be able to afford anything like that come Sunday afternoon. I’m going to give you four other key points on why the Jets will win this game.

1) The Jets players love Rex Ryan more than the Patriots players love Bill Bellichick

A majority of sports enthusiasts are in disagreement over Rex Ryan’s comments, portraying Sunday’s battle as one of Ryan against Bellichick. Am I missing something?! This is exactly what the game is going to come down to. Bellichick rarely loses big games because he thinks of every possible football situation and has adjustments ready to go with any adversity that may arise.

Rex Ryan’s game plan has to be totally unique to anything he’s come up with in his entire career. The blitz packages have to be different, the evaluation on when to go for it or when to not have to be known and most critical of all: Ryan has to (and will) convince the Jets that this is their Super Bowl. After all Tom Brady will be the league’s MVP and no remaining team should be as tough as the Pats.

The New York Post phrased it perfectly as The Roar vs. The Bore. Ryan’s locker room rants have become legendary while Bill Bellichick’s mantra is all business. I almost want the Jets to be trailing just a tad at halftime. Because I know that Rex Ryan could convince his players to go on a killing spree; they are that wrapped up in the message he is preaching.

The combination of last season’s team falling just short of the Super Bowl, the Hard Knocks momentum effect and a revenge factor for the most embarrassing loss of the NFL season is much more bulletin board motivation stuff than the things the Jets are feeding the Patriots. Ryan’s got his players convinced that they are the better team, if they execute what he tells them.

2) Stop the Patriots dink-and-dunk passing game

I loved that Antonio Cromartie called Tom Brady an asshole this week. You don’t think that Brady wants to show up Cromartie now? Don’t give me any bull s*** that Brady won’t think about those comments once. Believe it or not, he is human too. Cromartie now is in Tom’s head, even if it’s just in the slightest. Brady will try and throw the cornerback’s way, hoping to beat the Jets down the sidelines.

But this is one of the few areas on the field that New York clearly has an edge on the Patriots. Almost all of New England’s successes from Brady come from passes in between the hash-marks. The Jets safety play from Brodney Poole and Eric Smith has been terrific over the past few weeks. Getting Brady to take a gamble and throw at least one interception will be an essential part of an outcome in which the Jets win.

Who are some of the Patriot players who have played a vital role in the team’s success over the middle this season? Rookies Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski and Danny Woodhead. We know that Tom Brady is going to make all the right throws. But are these young players mentally ready for the biggest game of their entire career? Speaking of that…

3) Experience matters and the Patriots defense doesn’t have much.

Since 2005, Pats players have played a combined 101 playoff games, compared to the Jets 196. The playoffs are a completely different animal. And I will tell you who is an inexperienced part of this game: The Patriots 25^th ranked defense, who were worst in the NFL at third down stops (only 47 percent). Brady’s huge successes and New England’s lucky and timely turnovers helped disguise one of the weakest defenses ever for a 14-2 team.

Six Patriot starters on defense have never played in a playoff game and very well could be rusty with the week off. And who exactly is the New England leader in the secondary? Brandon Merriweather has two playoff starts. If the Jets fall down early, there will be no need to panic. Sanchez had huge success against the Pats in week two, throwing three touchdowns. Dustin Keller will be one of his favorite targets and will be used to open up lanes for LT and Shon Greene.

A key matchup I’ll be looking out for is Braylon Edwards against cornerback Kyle Arrington. Sanchez targeted Edwards deep a few times last week in Indy and connected on a deep third down play to save the game. I’d bet your going to see a couple of deep chances early in the game on Arrington to stymie the New England crowd.

4) This ones on Sanchez

Yes, the Jets are going to run the ball at least thirty times to keep Tom Brady off the field and disrupt any Patriot energy. But there are going to be key third down plays in the game where Sanchez is going to have to improvise. And he will, for sure, make a mistake. There is just no possible way Sanchez can have an average game—like his one last week against the Colts—and have the Jets triumph after the final horn.

In Sanchez’s two games in Foxboro, the quarterback has thrown one touchdown and seven interceptions. But those games weren’t pressure situations; something the second-year quarterback has thrived upon, boasting five career fourth-quarter comebacks.

Sanchez has done more than hold his own in the playoffs against Carson Palmer, Philip Rivers and now Peyton Manning. It’s hard to believe already, but Mark Sanchez is arguably the Jets best postseason quarterback in team history. And don’t compare him to a Trent Dilfer-like game manager.

In the biggest game of Sanchez’s career (last years AFC Championship game) the “alpha-male” had two touchdowns, 257 yards and a quarterback rating of 93.3. Manning just proved to be too much last year.

A Jets win over the Patriots is not probable. It’s actually closer to doubtful than questionable. But so were the Seahawks chances last week against the Saints. And so were the Giants chances in that Super Bowl against the Pats. There are many scenarios with how the Jets can pull through. They’ve talked-the-talk, now it’s time to strap on the helmets and walk-the-walk.

Final Score: New York – 27  New England – 23

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