In it, the Patriots keep scoring and scoring, while they do whatever they want, and Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has this look on his face as though he's staring at his own picture on the side of a milk carton. It's from Week 13, when the Patriots defined the landscape of the AFC playoff picture by lambasting the Jets by a 45-3 margin.
That game marked the culmination of New England's midseason transformation. The Patriots overhauled their offense by unloading wide receiver Randy Moss and acquiring Deion Branch — tangible evidence that they were making a conscious effort to return to their blue-collar roots — and their defense had grown up the way a Bill Belichick defense often does.
Remember when the Patriots used to be unstoppable when they played a team a second time? That's what happened in Week 13, when the defense stopped the run in the first half and turned Dustin Keller into an afterthought all night. In the initial Pats-Jets game of the season, Keller and New York's running game did a number on the New England defense, and the improvements in the rematch showed a real sign of growth.
The book of cliches insists that December game won't mean a thing Sunday when the division rivals take the same field in the playoffs for the third time ever. The score will be tied at opening kickoff, and the best team over the course of 60 minutes will advance to the AFC Championship.
Fantastic. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's discuss why those cliches won't mean anything in a few short days. The Jets' defense is undermanned outside of superstar cornerback Darrelle Revis, and it's not nearly as good of a unit as it was in 2009. And their offense, which in theory has a nice cast of weapons, has had too many problems trying to compensate for an inefficient Sanchez, who mixes with Gillette Stadium like a fart in a spacesuit.
While the Jets have been pretty inconsistent through the season, Tom Brady and the Patriots have seemingly improved every week during their eight-game winning streak, and their heady play and ball control are a perfect recipe for playoff success. Plus, Brady showed in Week 13 that he would concede the Revis matchup on every play and simply pick apart the other 10 players on the field.
On the whole, the Patriots aren't 42 points better than the Jets, even if that was the case last month, and it's hard to imagine the Patriots playing as well Sunday as they did in Week 13. But that's a whole lot of ground for the Jets to make up, even if the outcome of that contest has no direct effect on the more important one this week.
Sunday's game should make for fun theater, and it will cap off eight more days of hype and trash talk. But the quality of the competition might be lacking. It's a simple and boring answer, but this game will come down to one thing: The Patriots are just a much better team than the Jets. That's why they'll win, 31-13.
What is your prediction for Sunday's game? Leave your thoughts below.
