The Jets knew they were in for a tough game against the Patriots at Foxborough after they outplayed, outworked, and outcoached their counterpart in the second week of the football season.
Now, it gets harder with Bill Belichick using the media's criticism of him as a method to get the Patriots to rally around him after his decision to throw the ball at fourth down in Colts territory turned out to be failure.
Not only will it spur Belichick's team to victory tomorrow afternoon, but it can move them to do better things in the next few months.
It won't be as big blowout as the media make it out to be when one looks at the history of both teams facing each other in the Belichick era, but the Jets don't have a chance in this contest.
The Jets defense showed its vulnerability in the last few weeks with their lack of ability to finish off an opposing team and their failure of blitzing the quarterback. Certain guys on that unit are not playing to their potential.
People can talked about how the Jets rank defensively, but who cares about that. If they can't get it done when it matters, rankings mean nothing. It's hard to take the Jets seriously on defense after their performance in recent weeks.
Tom Brady looked flustered in the first meeting of the season, but he was coming off an injury at the time so he was going to look rusty. Now, he is hitting his stride at the right time.
Brady connects to Randy Moss lately along with the rest of his receivers. With the way the Jets are playing defensively, Brady's eyes should lit up with this opportunity.
Darrelle Revis stopped Moss couple of months ago, but look for Brady's main target to get the best out of Revis this time around with Wes Welker playing after not playing at Giants Stadium. Moss will get more touches with Welker's presence.
Mark Sanchez played okay last week and he managed to make plays against the Patriots in his first ever start against them as the Jets quarterback, but Belichick devises different sorts of schemes when his defensive unit faces the same quarterback for the second time around, so Sanchez will likely have a hard time in this upcoming contest.
Their running game should give the Jets a chance in this game, but their running backs can only do so much. It will come down to the passing game, but the Jets don't have the receivers to match up with the Patriots.
The Patriots succeed when they play at their home turf with their offense scoring more points and the defense displaying its dominance. They look at it as an insult when an opposing team go to their place and play well so they got that going for them.
Belichick hates losing to the Jets, and bet on him to pull all the stops in getting a victory that his team needs to put their hated rivals away for good in the division race just like how Ryan pulled everything out of his playbook to get that well-deserved victory against the Patriots.
Right now, the Patriots are better than the Jets in coaching, defense and offense. They look like they are peaking at the right time despite their mistake on Sunday Night Football.
Gang Green looked like the team to beat in September, but that means nothing. It's how a team does late in the season that counts the most.
In recent years, they start off well just to falter at the wrong time in November and December, while the Patriots play their best in the final two months of the season.
That's the difference between a pretender and a contender, and that's why the Jets and the Patriots are heading to different directions.
It's easy to see who is winning this game.
The game should come down to the fourth quarter, but this time, the hoodie gets the last laugh over an amateur coach.
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