Week 11 in the NFL kicks off Thursday night with a matchup between the Jets and the Patriots that could determine which team wins the AFC East. Both teams currently sit at 6-3, but New England holds the head-to-head advantage after beating the Jets 19-10 in Week 2.

Many are deeming this a must win for the Jets and given the circumstances, that’s hard to argue. Teams that can’t win in their own division are usually the ones looking from the outside in come playoff time. And with the Jets losing to the Pats earlier this season, there’s even more onus on victory tonight.

Unfortunately for the Jets, they’re going to see a very different Matt Cassel than they did in Week 2. Even though he led his team to victory, Cassel wasn’t asked to do too much in the offense when he first took over for Tom Brady earlier this season. But over the past month, Cassel has given Bill Belichick reason to believe he can open up the passing game more, which even means running the no-huddle at various points during games.

Of course, this matchup always has an added dynamic to it considering Belichick would rather piss glass than lose to Eric Mangini. And it’s about time Mangini puts a great game plan together and finally knock off Belichick on a national stage. Even though they’re currently 6-3, the Pats are down this year and Mangini needs to take advantage of the situation. It might be dramatic to suggest this, but Thursday night might be now or never for Mangini to finally put the screws to his old boss and claim the division.

Tonight should be interesting. Jet Favre is playing better than he did a couple weeks ago when he was turning the ball over like candy on Halloween and the NY defense has been very opportunistic lately. Both of these teams are playing vastly different than they did in Week 2 and it should be a great battle for those 34 people who have the NFL Network.