Aaron Hernandez Injury: TE's Determination to Play Will Lift Patriots over Jets

ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio is reporting that the New England Patriots’ star TE Aaron Hernandez is “determined to play” against the New York Jets.

The team is going to need to all the help they can get in order to conquer their most hated enemy of recent years.

The Patriots soundly beat the Jets in their last regular season meeting but got absolutely destroyed in the postseason. They are looking for revenge this Sunday.

If Aaron Hernandez can play, he will be the piece to the offense that will push the team over the edge.

Jets safety Jim Leonhard has already revealed that the team plans on using Darrelle Revis to cover Wes Welker.

Welker has been absolutely crushing it over the first four games and has looked unstoppable. I think that Revis may be the first real legitimate challenge that Welker faces, however, and his dominant reign could end.

This would leave Rob Gronkowski, Deion Branch, Chad Ochocinco and the rest of the Patriots receiving corps to handle the bulk of the workload, with Welker stuck on "Revis Island" for most of the day.

Having Aaron Hernandez to go over the middle along with Gronkowski and Welker would be a huge boost to the Patriots' vertical passing game. The weakest part of the Jets defense is their small and slow safety play—and the athletic Hernandez would abuse them.

The game kicks off at 4:15 p.m. EST, and Hernandez is going to be a game-time decision. I think his willingness to compete and drive to win is going to be the difference-maker.

Greg Bedard is reporting that he will suit up but doesn’t believe he will have a big impact on the game. I think the opposite.

Hernandez is a beast and a playmaker, and if he is on the field today, he will do what he does best.