Brett Favre gets traded to Jets + Tom Brady goes down for the season in Week 1 = Jets AFC East Champions. Right? Yes, although it certainly hasn’t been that easy.
Despite Patriots’ QB Matt Cassel throwing for a career-high 400 yards and three touchdowns, Jay Feely’s 34-yard field goal in overtime gave the Jets a thrilling 34-31 victory Thursday night in Foxboro. With the win, the Jets took over sole possession of first place in the AFC East at 7-3 on the year.
While watching the game (yes, I am one of the 34 people who have the NFL Network), I got the impression that the power has shifted a bit in the division. Not to say that New England is out of it because clearly Cassel is more than capable of leading the Pats to the playoffs, but Jet Favre has provided a spark in New York that had been missing at the quarterback position.
After the Jets decided to make the game interesting by allowing Cassel and the Patriots to march right up the field for a game-tying touchdown with only seconds remaining in regulation, New York won the opening toss and marched right up the field. I don’t want to get into all of the “vintage Favre” crap, but the drive was indicative of what Brett has done throughout his entire career. He made plays when the game was on the line and propelled his team to victory. Even though he has resurrected the Dolphins this season, I doubt Chad Pennington would have lead the Jets in the same fashion Thursday night.
The Jets face their toughest test of the season next week when they travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans. If they can muster a victory, they should be on easy street the rest of the year: vs. Denver, at. San Fran, vs. Buffalo, at Seattle, vs. Miami. Of those games, the Jets get the Bills and Dolphins – two division opponents – at home.
With their victory over the Pats, the Jets have now set themselves up to win the division. But obviously Bill Belichick and New England won’t go quietly so this is shaping up for a great battle down the stretch.
