The New York Jets face New England on Monday Night in the most-hyped regular season game the Jets have played in recent memory. Both ESPN and the NFL Network have been all over this matchup since Thanksgiving Night, devoting portions of each night's coverage of the league to the myriad of subplots. It's a rare occasion when two divisional rivals arrive at the December portion of the schedule with matching 9-2 records, each knowing that a victory will give them the inside track to home field advantage throughout the AFC Playoffs.
Despite the importance of tonight's game, this is only Week 13. There are four games left for each team after tonight, and the winner will have only provided themselves an easier path. There is still a lot of regular season football to play. It was only two years ago when the Jets left Nashville with a huge victory over the previously unbeaten Titans and an 8-3 record, only to collapse down the stretch, finishing 9-7 and missing the postseason. Regardless of what happens tonight, both the Jets and the Pats will have a lot of work left in order to be humming by the second weekend in January.
The most interesting part of the game should be watching Rex Ryan attempt to confuse and frustrate Tom Brady and the rest of the Patriots offense. Whoever wins this matchup should win the game. For the first time this season, Ryan, the notorious talker, has tried to be cagey about where Darrelle Revis will line up. Ryan's hope is that remaining silent will provide the Jets an advantage in Foxborough.
When the Jets acquired Antonio Cromartie in the offseason, I expected Ryan to take this approach each week, or at least against the best quarterbacks. The Jets would like to overload blitz on every play, or at least on most obvious passing situations. Forcing Brady (or a Manning, Brees, or Rivers) to locate Revis and Cromartie every play gives a quarterback a lot more to process when the play clock is winding down. Against a mediocre QB, you can throw Revis on the best receiver and remove him from the gameplan. Few teams even have that luxury, and it's a solid strategy. Against a great QB, if you remove his best receiver (or even his second best with Cromartie) he can still light you up with his third and fourth options. Anyone who watched last year's AFC Title game can confirm this, unfortunately. With two outstanding man-to-man corners, Ryan can attempt to use Revis on either Wes Welker or Deion Branch. He can use Cromartie on a tight end, like he did last week against Jermaine Gresham from Cincinnati. I expect Rex Ryan to attempt to do anything and everything in an attempt to disrupt Brady.
The Jets took a severe blow last week when they lost Jim Leonhard for the season with a broken leg. Leonhard is the Jets signal caller on defense and their punt returner. As is always the case in the NFL, someone will have to step forward and assume those responsibilities. I would imagine you may see Kyle Wilson or Jerricho Cotchery fielding punts, with an outside chance of Cromartie or Holmes returning punts as well. Hopefully, Leonhard's injury won't cause too much of a disruption with communication in the secondary. If the Jets were going to lose a key man for the rest of the season, at least they will have five games to work out the problems that will be caused by Leonhard's absence.
Rex Ryan has had tremendous success on the road, mostly because running the ball and playing solid defense works in any location. I expect the Jets to try to take a page from Cleveland's gameplan several weeks ago and try to pound the ball at New England and use play action to try to take advantage of one-on-one matchups outside. One of the startling revelations from the early season game against New England was just how much the Pats struggled matching up outside against Braylon Edwards and inside against Dustin Keller. Mark Sanchez had one of his most efficient performances of the season in Week 2 against what has been an Achilles heel for the Pats defense. The passing yardage they've given up this season is misleading, mostly because they've been ahead so much that the other team becomes one dimensional against them. Any Patriots fan will mention that their secondary is different than the one from Week 2, and they're right, they do have different personnel outside. But, if New England has trouble against the run Monday Night, the Pats could see a repeat from Week 2, as Edwards, Keller, and Santonio Holmes can take advantage all over the field.
As far as Mark Sanchez is concerned, he needs to make the easy throws this week, the very throws he passed up last week on his way to his poorest outing in over a month. The interception he threw last week against the Bengals looked like 2009 Sanchez, the indecisive rookie trying to make a big play with every throw, even if it's a big play for the other team. Unlike most New England games over the past decade, the Jets enjoy advantages in many areas of this matchup, and there's no reason not to stay aggressive when the opportunity presents itself downfield, but Sanchez shouldn't have to be heroic if the rest of the team shows up to play.
The New York Jets enter December with the best opportunity they've had to clinch home field advantage throughout the AFC Playoffs in 25 years. Only once during that period have the Jets even managed a bye during the playoffs, which was in 1998 when the Jets beat Jacksonville at home before losing to eventual champion Denver in the AFC Title game. To say that, historically, the franchise doesn't usually find itself in this position is fairly accurate. We don't normally handle prosperity very well. Tonight, a golden opportunity to seize control of the division awaits the Jets if they show up to play in Foxborough.
It should be a fun Monday Night.
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