Michael David Smith of the Wall Street Journal discovered an interesting stat that pertains to the Jets-Patriots Divisional Round game this Sunday.
Earlier this season, the Patriots crushed the Jets 45-3 in a Monday night laugher. So Smith looked back at how many times a team was beaten by an opponent by at least 35 points in the regular season and how they fared when the two teams met again in the playoffs. The results aren’t pretty for the Jets.
In 1969, the Vikings beat the Browns 51-3 in the regular season and then 27-7 in the playoffs. In 1980, the Eagles rocked the Vikings 42-7 in the regular season and then beat them again 31-16 in the postseason. In 1991, the Redskins shredded the Lions 45-0 and then crushed them 41-10 in the only NFC Championship Game Detroit has ever played in. In 1991, those same Redskins also blasted the Falcons 56-17 in the regular season and 24-7 in the playoffs.
Last season, the Jets beat the Bengals 37-0 in the regular season finale (albeit mostly because Cincinnati rested its starters in the second half and ran the most vanilla offense you’ll ever see from a team). When the two squads met again in the postseason, the Jets soundly beat the Bengals 24-14 in the Natti.
Obviously this doesn’t mean the Jets don’t stand a chance this weekend in Foxboro. After all, they did beat the Patriots in Week 2 this season (although that was in New York).
But considering people already had their doubts about whether or not the Jets could survive this Sunday in New England, the fact that history isn’t on their side doesn’t bode well for Rex Ryan’s boys.
