A SMALL STEP BACKWARD

The headline refers not to the direction the Jets are headed (although it is very hard for me to stay positive right now, an hour after the game has ended), but to the turning point of this football game. I can't argue the play - like Phill Simms said on the telecast - Chad Pennington wasn't throwing the ball forward, so it was either a lateral or a backward pass. Credit the Patriots for picking the ball up, and turning that into a huge play that helped put the Jets away.

I should have known the direction this game was headed right off the bat, when the Patriots scored on their first drive. The Wife had some work to do, so I had The Baby, and the Patriots scored just as The Baby spit up on my lucky sweatshirt. I should have acted right then and there to change shirts, but, silly me, I thought the spit up may have been lucky.

The Jets fell behind 7-0 quickly, then had a couple of ineffective possessions. They did force a Corey Dillon fumble deep in New England territory, and I was thinking that they needed a touchdown, but settled for a field goal. At the time, I thought they wasted an opportunity - they did, but I forgot about it quickly, because at the beginning of the second quarter, Chad Pennington hit Jerricho Cotchery for a 77-yard touchdown pass, and the Jets were suddenly up, 10-7.

On the ensuing Patriots drive, the Jets blew another opportunity - Jonathan Vilma had Tom Brady for a sack and a chance to force the Patriots to punt, but he swiped at the ball, missed, and Brady picked up first down yardage. That resulted in a Pats' game-tying field goal (after a Jets' goal line stand). What bothered me more than Vilma missing Brady was the Jets gently putting Brady on the floor after he didn't slide - they had a chance to hit a quarterback and didn't do it.

The Jets then let the Patriots drive down the field before halftime, and gave up a touchdown instead of a field goal, letting New England take a 17-10 lead at the half. I didn't feel good about that deficit, because the Jets had the lead, and had chances to have a bigger lead - I didn't feel comfortable with anything less than a two-score Jets lead...so I never felt comfortable in this game.

The Jets and Patriots traded field goals in the third quarter, then came the key play I mentioned above. Pennington tried a screen pass, with the Jets down 7, at midfield, and the pass was knocked down. Unfortunately, it was a live ball, and Vince Wilfork picked it up and moved 31 yards down the field, setting up another New England field goal, and giving the Patriots a 23-13 lead.

The Jets still had a chance, especially after cutting it to 23-16 early in the 4th, but the defense couldn't stop the run, and the Patriots blew it open from there, scoring an offensive touchdown, and then adding an interception return for a touchdown.

The Jets gave up 158 yards on the ground - not a recipe for success in the regular season, let alone the post-season.

So another season comes to a close - and it's hard to think rationally right now, but it was a successful season. Even this playoff game was a positive in that the young guys can only grow from this experience. The Jets weren't supposed to be this good - but they were. They can only improve through the draft, and maybe free agency. Personally, it stinks that the Jets lost to the Patriots, with me living in New England, but that's some motivation for next year, too. Hopefully the Jets can pick up now where they left off two years ago - realizing it's not good to take to the road in the playoffs - so go out and win the division. The thing that would make me even more mad than I am right now is if they go out next year and have a sub-.500 season, if they don't show improvement. There's no reason to think it will happen (unless Pennington gets hurt), but this team is on the upswing, and that needs to continue.

THOUGHTS: I really was psyched this morning when I saw the headline of the Boston Globe sports section - a big article on how Asante Samuel wants to get his due this off-season, but knows he won't get it from the Patriots. I thought, "That could be a huge distraction..." It wasn't. He just increased his value for other teams.....

Really strange seeing a playoff game in New England in such nice weather.

The Patriots look good right now. I really don't buy into the Chargers and the Ravens...I can't see another AFC team beating them...unless the Patriots play a sloppy game like they did a lot during the regular season.

SUPER BOWL MATCHUPS: The Giants-Eagles game is still going on, but I'm going to start writing this anyway, not sure when I'll have time this week:

We're rooting against the Ravens and Giants.
We're rooting against the Patriots and Bears or Eagles.
We're rooting for the Colts or Chargers against anyone from the NFC.
We're rooting for the Saints against anyone from the AFC.

Just an update. Oh, and if you haven't already, go look below at what I predicted for the Cowboys-Seahawks game, and then look at the final score of the game!