Jets Blog: New England 'V' Party
By Peter Schwartz
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Kermit The Frog once said, "It's not easy being green."
That was the case for the Jets in Foxboro Monday night.
In just an inexplicable and deplorable performance, the Jets were grounded by the Patriots 45-3. In a battle of 9-2 teams, the Patriots were men among boys. Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes while Mark Sanchez took a huge step backwards with three interceptions.
RELATED: Brady, Patriots humiliate clueless Jets
Brady set an NFL record by winning his 26th straight home game as a starting quarterback. The Jets saw their eight game regular season road-winning streak come to a screeching halt.
I didn't think the Jets were going to win this game and to be honest, there would have been no shame with a hard-fought close loss. However, what this game did was to make the Jets detractors look like Einstein and those who gave the Jets respect for their 9-2 start, like myself, look like…well you fill in the blank!
What was very disturbing were comments made by Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis after the game.
"I just think that we came out flat," said Revis.
Flat? Are you kidding me?
The Jets spent all week talking about how great they are and how confident they were that they were going to beat the Patriots.
And they come out flat?
What a show of disrespect to the organization, coaches, and fans! And as Marc Malusis pointed out to me when I joined him on the 'FAN after the game, it was a slap in the face to the Patriots who smacked them around all night.
Head coach Rex Ryan talked a pretty good game during the week saying he wanted to kick Bill Belichick's butt.
Instead, Ryan was served up a slice of humble pie.
"I came in to kick his butt and he kicked mine," said Ryan.
I give linebacker Calvin Pace a lot of credit for what he said after the disgraceful effort.
"Whatever could go wrong went wrong," said Pace. "If you can draw up getting your ass kicked, we did it."
Amen.
The Jets are now 9-3, nothing to sneeze about, but this loss will certainly shake the foundation of a team that has believed all season that they could win the Super Bowl.
Right now, the Jets have to, once again, show the world that they are worthy of being called a playoff team. I do think that the Jets will make the post-season. It would take an utter collapse down the stretch for them not to be in the tournament.
Some other observations from the game….
*I just can't figure out why Rex Ryan challenged the spot of the Mark Sanchez sneak when they wound up going for it on fourth down anyway. He said he was confident that it was a bad spot, but that was a bad decision.
*Congratulations to LaDainian Tomlinson who passed Eric Dickerson for 6th place on the NFL's all-time rushing list.
*Eric Smith started at safety in place of the injured Jim Leonhard and recorded his first career sack.
The Jets will take Tuesday off before returning to work on Wednesday to begin preparations for Sunday's game against the Dolphins at the Meadowlands.
A BANNER YEAR?
Like any team, the Patriots honor their past at Gillette Stadium. There is a Patriots Hall of Fame in the stadium. Also, the Patriots three Super Bowl Championship banners hang on one end of the structure.
On the other side?
A banner that read "16-0 2007."
Forgive me if this sounds a bit childish but maybe it should say, "16 wins and one Giant loss!"
SAY WHAT?
After arriving in Foxboro Monday afternoon, I took a walk around Patriot Place, the shopping and entertainment complex built around Gillette Stadium. I decided to be a good employee and had lunch at the CBS Scene Restaurant.
One of the reasons why I like coming to the Boston area is because it gives me the opportunity to enjoy a local delight. So when the waiter came over to take my order, I asked for a bowl of New England Clam Chowder.
"Sorry, we only have French Onion Soup," said the waiter.
Are you kidding me? I didn't drive four hours to Foxboro for French Onion Soup. I can get that in New York. Now the food was absolutely spectacular and I recommend it to anyone who happens to be in the area, but I'd like to make a suggestion to management.
Start cooking up some New England Clam Chowder!
That's all for now. Check back later in the week for a preview of the Jets/Dolphins game.
