It's Their Super Bowl

If you’re a Patriots’ fan, you’re probably familiar with the phrase. It’s their Super Bowl.  Opponents have been bringing their “A” game to Foxborough since 2002. I get it. Beating the Patriots still means something, even if they haven’t won a Super Bowl in ten years. Back in the day when I was an Army brat rooting for the pre-Elway Broncos with my dad stationed at Fort Carson, if Denver went 2-12-0 and one of those wins came against the Oakland Raiders, that’s all I would spend the off-season talking about. That was pretty much all I had to talk about.

If the New York Jets finish 2-14-0, and that second win comes tonight against New England, well, it probably won’t save Rex Ryan’s job, but it will give him something to tell his grandchildren. It might even spark the Jets to a 4-12-0 finish.

 

Yeah, I’m worried. I’m always worried.

If I have to hear the weather is “the great equalizer” one more time I may throw up. Why wouldn’t the Jets have the same trouble holding onto the football in the Indian Summer rain tonight? Would I be less anxious if it was a perfect October night in Foxborough? No, I wouldn’t.

If I have to hear the Jets’ strength (their defensive tackles) lines up with the Patriots’ weakness (their injury-riddled interior offensive line) one more time I may run naked and screaming through the streets of Somersworth, NH. Why aren’t we talking about the injury depleted Jets defensive secondary and how a resurgent Tom Brady will use his pigskin scalpel to remove their still beating heart and show it do them before he slices it up and makes a deli sandwich with it (with Swiss cheese and a Dijon mustard)?

It’s tough losing Jerod Mayo; tougher on a short week, especially with Dont’a Hightower still nursing a knee injury.

It’s tough dealing with my own theory that the more desperate team is more likely to win when it’s clearly the 1-5-0 Jets whose pants are full of desperation. I think it’s desperation. It smells like desperation.

And yeah, it’s the Jets. I hate the Jets. I loathe the Jets. It’s a division rivalry, sure, but there’s something about the Jets the Dolphins and Bills just can’t touch. The Boston-New York thing? Parcells? Curtis Martin? Belichick? Mangini the Rat and Spygate? Yeah, maybe it’s all of that. There is no team I hate to see beat the Patriots more than the Jets and ultimately I’ll say that I don’t even care why.

It is what it is.

So, like I said, I’m worried. I’ve got to hold onto something…

Tom Brady.

Darrelle Revis.

Rob Gronkowski.

Vince Wilfork.

Julian Edelman.

Devin McCourty.

Bill Belichick.

Deep breath.

Let’s do this.