Jets/Patriots- State of the Rivalry

Welcome back for another Wednesday edition of the Reilly Sports Blog. It's mid-September, and usually the baseball races contend with football for the media spotlight. Well, not this year. Colorado plays San Francisco tonight as they battle for the National League Wild Card spot. Realistically, it's the only race in question (sorry, Texas.) It's a little upsetting, because in any given year there can be 6 tight races for divisions and 2 races involving multiple teams for the wild cards. Out of these 8 possibilities, only one is still intriguing. And with the Mets not doing so hot (just look at these Stubhub price listings) it's safe to say I'm ok moving on.

And why not move on? The Giants and Jets are undefeated (not yet a big deal) but both play bigtime rivals this weekend (pretty big deal.) The Giants and Cowboys will play the first game that counts in Dallas' kajillion dollar stadium, but for today we're gonna focus on the AFC East rivalry of the New York Jets and New England Patriots.

"I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick's, you know, rings. I came to win. Let's just put it that way. So we'll see what happens. I'm certainly not intimidated by New England or anybody else. . . ."

Wow, talk about a changeover from the stoic, cryptic persona of former Jet coach Eric Mangini. That quote above was said by new coach Rex Ryan back in June. This Sunday, it will finally be put to the test. Rex Ryan made it clear from day 1 that he is not a typical NFL head coach. The vast majority are more like Mangini, only less corpse-y. Coaches today share relatively little with the media, they respect everyone like they're the best team in history, and will show only humility when describing their own team's play.

But Rex Ryan wants to have a little more fun than that. It seems he is making up for lost time, as he spent over 10 years as an assistant coach before taking the Jets gig. He speaks his mind, and he means what he says. Granted, it's been all sunshine and daisies so far, with Ryan running a solid training camp, winning over players, and winning his first game on the road. Once the team hits a rut, we will see how he and his over-the-top personality respond.

Many folks think that first loss will occur this Sunday, as the Patriots are favored by a decent margin over Ryan's Jets. I'm sure the Jets are getting a whole lot of bets as the underdog, but people must be careful when evaluating a seemingly-vulnerable Patriots team. Let's go back exactly a year ago, week 2 of the 2008 season. The Jets had Brett freakin' Favre and had just come off a complete win @Miami. The Pats, on the other hand, had struggled to beat the lifeless Chiefs and, after the Brady injury, were led by supposed scrub QB Matt Cassel. It was the Jets home opener and everyone was ready to finally beat the Patriots to a pulp.

Well, a 19-10 loss later, everyone wondered what in the world happened. Cassel stepped in and proved that an offense with Wes Welker and Randy Moss (when he's not quitting on the Raiders EHOOO) will never really be ripe for the picking. Brady is back this year, but he looked awfully tentative against the Bills Monday night. He will get better as time goes on, and the Jets are surely happy to face him earlier in the year than later.

So we got Brady, Moss, Welker, and perhaps a non-sewage version of Laurence Maroney on offense. Just what makes the Pats vulnerable? Well, it wasn't just that the Buffalo game was close, but why it was close. And by close, we of course mean a complete and utter Buffalo chokejob. The offense looked solid, yet overall the Patriots were not good enough for 58 minutes to beat the Bills. What does that leave? Rex Ryan's specialty, defense. The Patriots made Trent Edwards look like a quality NFL quarterback, and that's taken some hard work in recent years.

New England's defense is respectable. It will always be as long as Bill Belichick roams the sideline. He makes schemes, he confuses people, he brings down the Spartans. But I don't think hes ever done it with this little raw talent on defense. With the recent trade of Richard Seymour, all the classic staples of the defense are out. And the new gem, linebacker Jerod Mayo, got injured on Monday and will probably miss the first half of the season. There's not much on this defense, but Mark Sanchez will see things he's never seen on the field in terms of schemes. If he keeps his composure at home like he did week 1 in Houston, they can be had.

And they will need to be had. Yes, the Jets D went ballistic on the Texans, but keep in mind Belichick saw it all. He knows what they are capable of and how to get the most of what he sees. If the Jets and Pats played week one, New York would have killed them. Week 2? Well, it indeed is a whole new ballgame. More on this when we do the picks this weekend.

I will in fact be attending the Jets-Patiots game on Sunday. It has become a tradition that me and Pats fan Terrence go to the matchup each year. We also have some other special people come on a game-by-game basis. We've gone to the last 4 in Foxboro to accomodate our college locations (the teams split 2-2...pretty sweet.) This time it's in Gang Green's yard. Should be fun. Why do I share this? Because it brings us to this week's installment of What About Conor Wednesday! This week, we are going to do Conor's five most memorable games that he attended live and in person. These aren't the top 5 overall; that would be far too difficult to narrow down. These are the 5 that I saw with no TV announcers, subject to the elements, etc. Enjoy! (Hint- the teams I cheer for win these games.)


Conor's Five Best Sports Games That He Attended


5. Islanders 3, Flyers 1 (April 12, 2002)

Ok, I'm kind of cheating with this one. Yes, this was only a regular season game and it wasn't even against the Rangers. But it was all about the game's ramifications, as it was the final game of the regular season. The Islanders had clinched a playoff seed for the first time since 1994, and this game assured them of the 5 seed in the east. Nothing spectaclular happened in the 3-1 win, but it was all about the crowd's salute to the team's great regular season. Nassau Coliseum is so small and ancient that when it's loud, it is just deafening. The Isles went on to have an incredible 7-game series against Toronto (Shawn Bates penalty shot goal, etc.) which they lost. The next few years they fluttered into the playoffs as the last seed and got destroyed. Back in rebuilding mode, there hasn't been a more exciting year since that '01-02 season on Long Island.

4. Jets 17, Patriots 14 (November 12, 2006)

Yep, another rather 'meaningless' regular season game. As you can probably see now, my teams have never really won monumental games in my lifetime. And if they have, I've either been too young or too broke to attend. But anyway, this game changed the whole rivalry. It had all gotten way, way too one-sided in the Pats' favor. Three Super Bowls in the decade, seven straight wins spanning four years, the whole thing. The Jets had no business winning this game- The Pats had owned Chad Pennington his whole career, the illustrious Kevan Barlow was their primary runner, the trusted Mike Nugent. But the elements and perhaps some beginner's luck by new coach Eric Mangini led to the unexpected victory. The Pats of course avenged this in the first round of the '06 playoffs, but still great to be there live for a big upset.

3. Mets 9, Yankees 8 (July 10, 1999)

Ok now this is really getting pathetic. Yes, this is yet another regular season game, one of 162 in a baseball season. A Yankees fan won't even remember it. But come on, I was 11 at the time. Sports would make or break my month. I was ballistic after this one. Interleague play was still a novel concept, as it began in 1997. All I had seen in my life as a baseball fan was win after win after win by the Yankees. And it looked like another one was coming when the legendary Mariano Rivera faced pinch-hitter Matt Franco with a 1 run lead and 2 outs. But to the shock of the stadium and near-cardiac arrest of my dad, Franco lines one to left field, scoring Edgardo Alfonzo and the immortal Roger Cedeno. Just how much did I cherish this game? It's been a decade and I didn't even need to research any of the details I just described. So, yeah...

2. Jets 41, Colts 0 (January 4, 2003)

PLAYOFFS! Yes, I have in fact seen playoff games as well. I've also seen 2 Islander playoff game but they didn't score in either and therefore have been excluded. But this game was just incredible start to finish. From the first quarter, it had a 'rout' feeling to it, but it never got old. A young, dashing Chad Pennington continued to bust out in the NFL and Peyton Manning had no answers. Jets legends Richie Anderson, Lavernaues Coles, Sam Cowart, Mo Lewis, and of course John Hall all joined in this party, a complete delight. The Jets would lose to Oakland in the next round.

1. Terriers 4, Redhawks 3 (April 11, 2009)

No, don't adjust your screen. What can this be, the Canadien Football League? No, we go to the college ranks for the single best sporting event I have ever attended. It was the NCAA hockey National Championship game which took place in Washington D.C. There were just so many factors that make this the top spot (sitting in the student section, unheard-of comeback, the first title I have ever experienced with any of my core sports teams.) I take great pride in my writing, but I could never describe it like the actual video can. That link is the video for those who have not seen it. And for the Terrier fans that have now seen it 10,000+ times, you know you're watching it again. Enjoy.


Jeez, that was a long blog. I'm wiped. Thanks for reading.