NFL Picks Week 5: 3 Reasons New England Patriots Will Blow out New York Jets

Week 5 of the 2011 NFL season will see the first matchup of the year between the New England Patriots and New York Jets.

Mark Sanchez and the Jets have been struggling this year, looking putrid on offense en route to a 2-2 record.

Meanwhile, Tom Brady and the Pats come into this game at 3-1 and have one of the best offenses in the league.

The Jets have looked really bad on defense this year too, though, so the Pats should have no problem winning this football game.

Here are three reasons New England will win in a blowout.

1. Tom Brady will torch Antonio Cromartie.

Cromartie went and opened his mouth again this week, saying he hopes Tom Brady targets him a lot on Sunday.

Well, he'll get his wish, but it's really going to hurt the Jets.

Cromartie got burned for a couple touchdowns by the Oakland Raiders and Jason Campbell a couple weeks ago.

If he thinks he can handle Brady now, he's wrong. And Brady will definitely be motivated to avenge a playoff loss to the Jets in last year's playoffs.

By the end of the first quarter, with the Patriots up 21-0, Cromartie will regret opening his mouth.

2. Shonn Greene is a terrible running back.

Rex Ryan and the Jets want to get back to a smash-mouth style of football.

The only problem is, they suck at smash-mouth football.

In order to play a grind-it-out game, you have to be able to run the ball. Shonn Greene can't run effectively.

Greene is averaging a paltry 3.1 yards per carry this season, an average that is worse when he runs between the tackles.

He's going to have to step up and do better if the Jets are going to make the playoffs this year. LaDainian Tomlinson is still effective in the passing game but can't run like he once did.

That means the pressure falls squarely on Greene. He won't be able to handle it this week.

3. The Jets run defense isn't very scary anymore. 

The Jets allowed the Ravens to run all over them last week.

This was especially embarrassing since Joe Flacco was having a terrible day throwing the ball.

The Jets knew the Ravens would be running on all three downs yet still failed to make a stop, allowing the Ravens to run the clock nearly all the way down.

With BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Danny Woodhead and Stevan Ridley in the backfield and Tom Brady keeping the defense from stacking the box against the run, the Patriots should have no problems moving the ball up and down the field against the Jets.

Prediction: Patriots 41, Jets 10