When Tom Brady went down with a season-ending knee injury 11 minutes into the Patriots’ opener, the Jets were licking their chops for a Week 2 matchup with the Pats at the Meadowlands, where they were hoping to establish themselves as AFC East favorites.
The Patriots left New Jersey with a 19-10 win and the Jets were left wondering if they were a playoff team, let alone a division champion.
Thursday, the Jets have a chance at redemption and can take the AFC East lead by their lonesome with a win in Foxborough.
A loss and they will be thrust back into the wild-card melee, their chances of winning the AFC East all but shot, because they would be chasing a team that has swept them. Which means the Jets would have to catch and pass New England.
“I know Bill (Belichick) and the Patriots are saying, ‘Hey, they have to be beat us, we own this division,'” Brett Favre said after the Jets’ 47-3 blowout win over the Rams.
“And, they’re right. What we’ve done up until this point matters, but it doesn’t matter. We have proved that we are a pretty good football team. We have to continue to prove consistency, not only to other teams, but to ourselves. If we were playing games like we played today, week-in and week-out, we’d be hard to beat, very hard to beat. I hope we continue to play this way. Of course, time will tell.”
The AFC wild-card race is wide open with the Ravens and Jets currently owning the two spots. But the Ravens have a tough matchup with the Giants in the Meadowlands, and whichever team falls on Thursday night would be 6-4 with three teams looming at 5-4: Colts, Dolphins and Bills.
But the winner of the Thursday night game would be in position to possibly get a first-round bye in the AFC with no team better than 6-3 except for the undefeated Titans.
The Colts’ resume speaks for itself, the Bills are trying to resurrect their season after three straight losses, and the Dolphins, possibly the least talented of the bunch, has a creampuff schedule down the stretch.
“It has a lot of implications as far as who is going to be in sole (possession of) first place in the division which leads into other things as the season goes along. It’s a really big game for us and we look forward to it,” said Thomas Jones, who scored three touchdowns Sunday.
Favre is used to divisional races, just not in this division.
“It would mean a lot. It’s a different division for me, (than) what I’m used to,” the former Packers QB said.
“But, divisions are divisions. New England has been the top of this division for quite a long time. I think they’re kind of hitting their stride right now. I know they think they can play a lot better. They probably can. We probably feel the same way about ourselves. (There’s) still a lot of football left.
“It’s a big game this Thursday obviously, but there’s a lot of football left.”
IF SEASON ENDED TODAY:
WILD-CARD ROUND:
Jets (6) at Patriots (3)
Ravens (5) at Broncos (4)
FIRST-ROUND BYES
Titans (1); Steelers (2)