This is tough. The Jets fan in me really wants the Patriots to lose to the Chiefs in this Monday night game, but the no-money-earning teacher in me really wants the $75 bucks I could win in my weekly pool if the Patriots win. I think I'm just going to have to go to bed and check the score in the morning.

Well, here's some cheery news, before we get to this week's mailbag. Curtis Martin suffered a sprain in his knee during Sunday's game in Cleveland, and word out of the New York papers is that Chad Pennington may need season-ending surgery on his shoulder. One thing at a time. First, Martin. He plays through insane amounts of pain, sometimes to his and his team's detriment. So he'd have to be shot in the leg, I think, in order for him to not play - I think it only matters how ineffective he is. And based on his five second-half carries on Sunday, after the injury happened, I think the knee sprain won't make Martin too ineffective - he ran OK after the injury. As for Pennington, this would finish the Jets. With Pennington at quarterback, the Jets have a shot at beating the Steelers, Seahawks, Patriots, and Rams. With Quincy Carter at quarterback, the Jets maybe have a shot at stealing one of those games on defense. And the way Pennington was talking after Sunday's game, Quincy Carter might just be at quarterback.

Pennington says he's sure he'll play again this season, which is a bit reassuring. But before Sunday, it was sounding like there was an outside shot at Pennington being back for the December 5th game versus the Texans. The way it sounds now, that's definitely not going to happen, and it sounds like Pennington will miss at least a full 6 weeks with the injury (it was originally speculated that Pennington might not even miss the 4 weeks of the 4-6 week injury).

Anyway, that's some good news for your Tuesday morning. Let's look at the mailbag:

OK, maybe I should start checking to see if there's mail before I write that line. Because there is none. I'll do mail tomorrow if anyone feels like contributing. Otherwise I'll try to do a look-around the AFC East.