The biggest was the Jets’ Monday night matchup with Brett Favre, Randy Moss and the Minnesota Vikings. The Patriots were big Vikings fans on Monday, as a Minnesota win would have given the Patriots sole possession of first place. While it’s true such position in the standings is essentially meaningless in early October, the Patriots would like to see the Jets lose every weekend regardless.
Thanks to Favre, that wasn’t to be. Even worse for the Patriots was that the Jets yet again looked solid in just about every phase of the game. Mark Sanchez was effective if unspectacular, LaDainian Tomlinson looked like a darkhorse MVP candidate, the defense limited the always-dangeours Adrian Peterson, and the Jets simply looked like a team that won’t be going away.
On a less immediate level, the Pats didn’t have a great Sunday, either, thanks to the Chargers’ special teams failures against the Raiders.
The Patriots own the Raiders’ first-round draft pick next year, and the 1-3 Raiders looked to be in a dogfight for the league’s worst record heading into the weekend. However, thanks to a blocked punt for a safety, blocked punt for a touchdown, a Mike Tolbert fumble on the goal line and two other San Diego fumbles, the Raiders won 35-27.
The win gives Oakland two on the year, which quite frankly looks to be two more than Buffalo can win all season. The two wins ranks the Raiders ahead of seven teams and tied with seven other teams. Though the Raiders aren’t exactly ready to reel off six or seven wins in a row, that guaranteed top-five pick doesn’t look like a sure thing anymore.
The Pats also saw the Colts win to right their ship, the Ravens improve to 4-1 because of a big day from Ray Rice and potential wild-card contender Tennessee improve to 3-2.
While the Patriots didn’t benefit from much over the weekend, they’re probably not sweating it too much. They’re much more concerned with events that they can control themselves, and then begins again on Sunday against the Ravens.
