Patriots vs. Jets: New England Will Cool off Scorching Gang Green

Bill Belichick and company won't look like underdogs on Sunday night.

At home, the New York Jets are favored against the New England Patriots, and rightfully so.  Rex Ryan’s foot soldiers are coming off three straight wins, while the Patriots fell the past two weeks to the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants.  The two AFC East rivals are riding streaks going in opposite directions, but those patterns will change on Sunday night.

In Week 5, the Patriots defeated the Jets in convincing fashion, 30-21.  Tom Brady had no trouble moving the football up and down the field against New York’s secondary, throwing for 321 yards on the day. He finished the contest with a 100.7 passer rating, which is an outlier compared to the numbers other quarterbacks have recorded against the Jets.

Not Brady, but BenJarvus Green-Ellis finished the night as the player of the game. He racked up a whopping 136 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. New York’s defense wore down five yards at a time, as they failed to slow down Green-Ellis.

The key for the Patriots in their matchup with the Jets this time around is to take care of the football.  If Brady and his arsenal are careful not to cough up the rock, New York will have a tough time knocking off New England. Eight combined turnovers against the Buffalo Bills and Giants is what cost the Pats in that pair of losses.

New England will be able to move the football through the air.  Their ground game should produce equally this time around as it did in Week 5 against a 21st ranked Jets run defense.  If the Patriots take care of the football, the game will come down to Brady vs. Mark Sanchez, and it isn’t too difficult to predict who’d win that competition.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.  Follow  him on Twitter.