AFC East Rivalry continues: Patriots vs. Jets

The New England Patriots finished the season with the best record in the NFL, but when you take a close look their schedule and statistics you see that they aren’t as dominating as they seem. A blowout win against the New York Jets in week 13 put this Pats team at the top of most NFL experts Super Bowl picks, and nothing has changed since. Double-digit wins in 6 of their last 8 games has this New England team flying high, and full of confidence.

Most NFL predictions have this AFC Divisional round game being extremely one-sided, but we all know that defense wins Championships, and the Jets have a far superior “D”. They finished the 2010 season with the 3rd ranked defense based on yards per game, and allowed fewer than 20 points per game. They have a phenomenal secondary, and are incredibly under-rated in their defensive line. New England is a primarily passing team, but having a solid defensive line will help the Jets get pressure on Tom Brady, and potentially disrupt his incredible rhythm and timing. Every time we see a highlight of Brady it seems as though he has all day to throw the ball. The Giants showed us in 2008, that getting after Brady is the best recipe for success against the Patriots.

LaDanian Tomlinson has been a huge contributor to the New York offense. Second year quarterback Mark Sanchez has improved dramatically from his rookie season, but still has a long way to go before he has the capability of leading a team down the field on his own. Having Tomlinson and Shonn Greene to hand the ball off to has been instrumental in helping this Jets team get to where they are. Tomlinson has rushed for over 900 yards after falling out of favor with the Chargers, and is showing that he is still capable of getting into the end-zone as he leads the team with 6 rushing TD’s this year. New York ran for almost 170 yards last week against Indianapolis, and will need to equal or surpass that number against the Patriots if they are to have any chance of winning on Sunday.

The Patriots are explosive offensively. They have weapons at every position, but win and lose with the right arm of Tom Brady. Brady is having one of the greatest seasons of his career, and is expected to be the league MVP by most NFL handicappers. Throwing 36 touchdowns to just 4 interceptions is an incredible feat, but the fact that he didn’t throw an interception in his last 11 games is simply remarkable. As usual, New England didn’t have any one player stand out amongst the rest in 2010 as they have learned that distributing the ball evenly makes it far more difficult on opposing defenses.

The main concern for the Patriots is with their defense. They ranked towards the bottom of the league in yards allowed (25th), and have allowed half of their opponents this year to score 24 or more points. This game can go either way. Turnovers will be a critical part of the game as we have seen over the first 2 games on Saturday. If the Jets can keep this one close at halftime they will have a legitimate chance to pull of the major upset. However, if New England gets out to an early lead, the potential for a blowout is eminent. Check out this AFC East showdown as the Patriots face what has become their most hated rivals in the divisional round of the playoffs!

Related posts:

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2. Patriots take on 2-0 Bills in AFC East Battle
3. Steelers host Patriots in Battle of AFC Elite
4. Steelers Host Patriots in Battle of AFC Elite
5. Dolphins vs. Patriots, New Cast Members Join Brady Bunch

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