LOOMING....LOOMING...

Things that scare the dickens out of me between now and the end of 2008:

1) Clowns
2) The off-chance I'll run into Santa Claus (Christmas is sometimes like Halloween to me)
3) That December 28th game with the Dolphins


The first two are my own little issues. But that last one, I know I'm not alone on. And there are a lot of people jumping on that bandwagon. But I'm no Johnny-come-lately when it comes to that December 28th game. I've been banging that drum for a while.

And don't say I'm falling into the Seattle trap. I know my Jets. They very well could lose Week 16 in Seattle. But I'm a Jets historian - they're more likely to win in Seattle and then lose to the Dolphins in Week 17.

Of course, I'm hoping they don't....but I can't get too excited.

And here's the number one reason this Dolphins game scares me - seems lately they've gotten away from the Wildcat formation, the one that helped them upset the Patriots in Week 3 of the season. The one they didn't really start employing until then. Meaning that the Jets haven't seen it yet (they played the Dolphins in Week 1). And since the Dolphins have gone away from it recently, it might come as a surprise when they start using it again...Week 17....against the Jets.

If the Jets had trouble stopping the run against Buffalo, and against Denver, and against San Francisco, with the back coming out of his traditional spot in the backfield, what chance do they have against the Wildcat?

So that's what scares me most about the Dolphins. Not to mention the fact that when I first mentioned the Dolphins game scaring me, I envisioned a spoiler scenario for Chad Pennington and Miami. Not a situation where they would actually stand to win the division by beating the Jets.

So I'll be wearing out the Sunday Ticket this Sunday. Miami-Kansas City. New England-Arizona. And Jets-Seahawks at 4. I never count on the Jets making it easy...but I never thought just a month ago that it would become this hard.

STILL IN CONTROL....BARELY

The Jets should not have lost to San Francisco. They should not have lost to Oakland. The way they were playing at the time, they shouldn't have laid an egg against Denver. But they did.

And they shouldn't have beaten Buffalo the way they played on defense today. But they did.

In a game in which breaks went both ways (the Bills had a field goal bound in off the goal post, the Jets had a Bills' touchdown called back by a [legit] holding call; the Bills intercepted Brett Favre off a ball deflected by a player on the ground, the Jets got the fumble at a key time that they needed), the Jets got the biggest break.

With the Bills running every which way on the Jets (making me severely doubt their chances in the playoffs if they can hold on and make the post-season), they decided to throw the ball on second and five while they were running out the clock. It turned into the minor miracle at the Meadowlands, as Abram Elam blitzed (the first Jets blitz of the afternoon that I could remember), sacked J.P. Losman, and after someone fell on the ball and it squirted out, Shaun Ellis picked it up and dodged a tackle for the go-ahead touchdown.

The Jets actually picked off Losman again, but gave the ball back and had to hold on for dear life. That was one of the Jets' biggest problems in this game - failure to run out the clock. Granted, the first time they were pinned to their one, but instead of running the ball the Jets went to three passes - all incomplete, took no time off the clock, then punted, and proceeded to give up the Bills' go-ahead touchdown.

The other big problem was their inability to stop the run. Marshawn Lynch looked like the old Willis McGahee - the Bills back the Jets just couldn't bring down. Lynch had 21 carries for 127 yards. Their tackling, and really their defensive line against the Bills' O-Line, was atrocious.

But an ugly win is still a win. And there were some positives - Brett Favre found Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles again, connections the Jets will need to have post-season success. And they came out firing, scoring two touchdowns on their first two possessions, looking great doing so.

The Jets got no help from their two west coast foils from earlier this year (Oakland is getting smoked by New England and Miami beat the 49ers). But a couple of good things might have happened. One is that Seattle won, coming back from a deficit to beat the (similarly awful) Rams. Perhaps that sates the Seahawks, coming off a tough loss last week to the Patriots, heading into next week against the Jets, and the Jets can pounce on a falsely-confident team next week. Just a thought. The other thing is that the Bills showed they still have some life. Perhaps they can give the Patriots a run in Week 17 - which might just be what the Jets need, if they're not able to take care of themselves.

And that's the most important thing - the Jets still control their own destiny. They just need to keep winning - and help from Arizona (at New England) and Kansas City (versus Miami) next week wouldn't hurt. It might even result in a division championship before the last week of the season.

NO MORE CUSHION

It doesn't matter who the head coach is, it doesn't matter who the quarterback is. It doesn't matter, really, who any of the players are. Year in and year out, the Jets are so frustrating to root for.

They looked like they were sleepwalking out in San Francisco on Sunday...not a good sign considering they have a similar trip to Seattle coming up in two weeks. (And that Seattle game looms threateningly [as do all of the Jets' remaining games], because I thought they'd beat either the Patriots or the Jets. They barely didn't beat New England, so I don't think that bodes too well for the Jets. Seattle is just a tough place to play...I don't know that both New England and the Jets go there and win. Uh-oh.)

As I mentioned last week, I have a bad feeling about all of the Jets' remaining games. And with Sunday's game a 4 o'clock start, I had too much time to dread the game. And I got to reading and thinking. And in the Sunday paper it said the game was the first for the Jets at San Francisco since 1998. And I remember that game like it was yesterday. It was the season opener - Glenn Foley was quarterback for that game and one more before he got injured and lost the job to Vinny Testaverde. It was a shootout - tied at 30 going into overtime. I think Foley threw for 400 yards.

The Jets backed up the Niners in OT, before Garrison Hearst ripped off the longest overtime touchdown run in history - what was it, 96 yards? So thinking about that made me feel even worse about this game, even though there's really no connection at all.

The past two weeks have just been terrible. Bad penalties (Eric Barton last week against Denver...he's in my doghouse. I still hold a playoff 4th down roughing the passer penalty against San Diego against him.). This week Kris Jenkins jumped offsides on a 4th and 1. That's something the Niners should be doing against Brett Favre - not the Jets against Shaun Hill.

And what the Jets have done is stretch themselves to the limit of this tiebreaker they own. With the Patriots and Dolphins winning, the three teams sit at 8-5. The Jets, by virtue of their division record, have the advantage over both teams.

But all that does is put them at the top of the standings for now. The reality is, the Jets have no wiggle room. They control their own destiny, but they have to take advantage, and the only way to do that is to win their final three games. They can't rely on external help - they just have to win.

I can't believe I even mentioned the possibility of a first-round bye. The Jets are starting to look like they'll need to win three playoff games if they are going to make it to the Super Bowl....if they make the playoffs at all.

REFLECTIONS ON WEEK 12

This is not to be confused with the recap of Week 12, which will come tomorrow. But rather, it's a quick touch-base, based on what I wrote last week, about the teams the Jets (and Jets fans) need to worry about.

Titans: Well, the Titans just aren't very good. They're good, but they're not your typical 10-0 type of team. They're kind of like the Jaguars have been the past couple of years, where you see them in the playoffs, and you wonder how they went 12-4...a solid team, but they're not going to win the Super Bowl. Not sure they'll win a playoff game. They might still get the number-one seed in the AFC, though.

Steelers: The Steelers have a tiebreaker over the Jets, so they're still the number two seed right now. And they're kind of up and down - because their quarterback is so up and down. They're the playoff-tried team that probably poses the biggest threat to the Jets the rest of the way (assuming, as I will throughout this entry, that the Jets do what they need to do).

Broncos: I'll still worry about them until I see the Jets beat them next Sunday with my own two eyes (the Jets do not have a history of success against Denver), but I'm not too scared of them. I wrote about them earlier in the year as having one of the seemingly easier schedules in the league, and they haven't done much better than .500 with that schedule. So I think that pretty much sums things up about the Broncos.

Ravens: Until proven otherwise, I'm going to maintain that the Ravens' big win was more a reflection of the disaster that the Eagles have become than an accurate portrait of Baltimore. I think the Ravens are more the team that led 10-7 at the half (good, but not great), than the team that outscored their opponent 26-0 in the second half. But that win has them sitting pretty this week.

Patriots/Dolphins: A big win for New England, beating Miami. The Patriots also helped out the Jets by handing the Dolphins their second division loss. The Patriots moved themselves a notch ahead of Miami, but that can change back next week.

Colts: I think the Colts may have finished off San Diego Sunday night, and they're certainly playing themselves back into contention the past couple of weeks. Still, they're not looking like they used to look.

Bills: The Bills won a game they had to have, but they might have sealed their fate by losing to Cleveland last week.

RIP: Jaguars, Chargers: The Chargers, sadly, might still have a shot at their division, but I think they're done. The Jaguars are no longer a team to worry about - just playing out the string of a very disappointing season.

CONTROLLING THEIR DESTINY

I've been talking a lot about how the Jets can get their first-round bye, and I've also been trying to temper my enthusiasm, because we are still talking about the Jets here.

But every way I look at it the news is good.

Even with the Jets travelling to Tennessee to play the 10-0 Titans.

And this is the story of why you want to be in a spot where you can control your own destiny, and not have to rely on help.

If the Jets take care of business in December (2 away vs. the NFC West, 2 home vs. Buffalo and Miami), especially in the division games, they won't have to worry about much else.

They are 3-1 in the division right now, with their only loss coming to New England. The Patriots are 2-2 in the division, losing to the Dolphins and Jets. And the Bills, even if their Monday night loss to Cleveland didn't cripple them, are still on the outside looking in because of their 0-3 division record.

And believe it or not, for Jets fans, it will end up being better for the Jets if the Patriots beat the Dolphins on Sunday, bringing the Dolphins' division record to 2-2. Because even if the Jets lose to the Titans, and they fall into a tie with the Patriots for the division lead, the Jets own the tiebreaker. And they will, right up until the end of the season.

And the Patriots have the tougher schedule the rest of the way...so it probably wouldn't be a tie for long.

But it's nice to know that even if they match the Jets down the stretch - they won't be able to pass them.

WHAT TO DO WITH A JETS-LESS SUNDAY

Despite the fears that have been ingrained in every Jets fan as the season winds down (like the teams that are headed for the playoffs only to have the season veer into high draft pick territory...1993 comes to mind) I have one eye firmly on the playoffs this year.

And as such, with a Sunday where I could devote much more of my attention to other teams around the league, since the Jets played on Thursday, I present to you my thoughts on who Jets fans need to worry about for the remainder of the season.

Tennessee: Their win today lifted them to 10-0 - so they will be undefeated when the Jets go to Tennessee next weekend. If Tennessee wins, there's no one the rest of the way who is too tough on their schedule- they might go undefeated the rest of the way. At the very least, they will lock up the number one seed in the AFC by beating the Jets. If the Jets go in there and beat Tennessee (and then take care of business in the rest of their fairly tough schedule - which is no given), I think they have a hold on the number two seed in the AFC. (Goes without saying even if the Titans lose to the Jets, they still have a pretty strong lock on the number one seed.)

Pittsburgh: Boy are they streaky. But by beating San Diego, unimpressive as they looked on offense, I think they present the biggest challenge to the bye week for the Jets (again - last time I'll say it - we're going under the assumption here that the Jets at least win 3 of their final 4 games at San Fran and Seattle and home versus Buffalo and Miami).

Denver: The Jets also have a game against Denver, which doesn't worry me as much as it did at the beginning of the year. I have a suspicion, not having had a look at other games that week, that this will be flexed to the Sunday night 8pm spot, so it'll be in the national spotlight. But I think regardless the AFC West winner is destined for the number four seed in the AFC.

Then there's the wild card:

There are 4 teams in the wild card hunt right now at 6-4 (could be five with Buffalo playing Monday night) - New England, Indianapolis, Miami, and Baltimore. I think one of those teams isn't even in contention for much longer, and since you can't bet against New England and Indy, it's between Miami and Baltimore. I think Miami hangs around this year, and Baltimore fades. So watch those three teams (but don't sleep on the Ravens yet).

There are also the Jaguars and the Chargers at 4-6 - one of them will likely be a non-factor in the next couple of weeks, and one will give the teams at 6-4 a bit of a run. I'm not sure which one, since they've both been such underachievers. But I'm sure they'll put up a fight.

I know it sounds like I'm talking big with the Jets only having a one-game lead over everyone else in the division, and this could all change in a week. Believe me - I'm a Jets fan - I know how fragile this is. But that's the whole point here - we need to account for every possible scenario to make sure the Jets don't fall out of contention. And as noted above, there are quite a few teams to watch every Sunday whose outcomes will affect the Jets. On Sunday, the Jets only picked up a game on the Ravens as teams with winning records all kept up the pace.

And next Sunday, the Patriots play the Dolphins. If the Jets lose to Tennessee, one of those teams will be back in a tie for first place in the division.

It's enough to give me a weekly headache.

CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THURSDAY NIGHT

I'm getting my butt kicked in fantasy football today, but the real football is making the fantasy football take a back seat.

By the end of Thursday night the Jets could have first place in the AFC East to themselves.

The Bills have taken two back-to-back hits in the division - I have a feeling it's the Dolphins who are going to be the third horse in the party, and the Bills are no longer a worry. And the Jets have their home games remaining against Buffalo and Miami.

But Thursday night it's the Patriots - and the Jets are coming off a huge confidence-builder, crushing the Rams today, 47-3.

This was your textbook "trap" game - the Jets could have been caught looking ahead to Thursday's matchup with New England and laid an egg against a lesser St. Louis team. But they didn't.

And here are the positives heading into the Patriots game on Thursday night:

1) It hasn't been great owning him in a fantasy league, but Brett Favre has played two solid real (read: not fantasy) football games in a row. He's kept mistakes to a minimum and been a big reason why the Jets have beaten the Bills and Rams.

2) The defense has been playing better and better. The fact that they are scoring on returns for touchdowns has been icing on the cake - they have been suffocating lately.

3) The last time the Jets played New England they hung with the Patriots, but they let Matt Cassel beat them. Part of that, I think, is that they didn't know what to expect. Now there's lots of film on Cassel and the Jets can be better prepared for him.

4) For the first time in five or so years it seems like the Jets are ready to take a situation they are in by the horns - and know that doing it in Foxboro will send a message.

The message comes on Thursday night - and the end result will tell whether the Jets will be playing in January as a division champion or a wild card....or not at all.

THE REST OF THE WAY

Yesterday's 'breaking' Gary Carter news put this off a day, so I apologize for that. But here's a look at the Jets' schedule the rest of the way, at the halfway point of the season:

Week 10: vs. St. Louis (2-6)
Week 11: at New England (5-3)
Week 12: at Tennessee (8-0)
Week 13: vs. Denver (5-4)
Week 14: at San Francisco (2-6)
Week 15: vs. Buffalo (5-3)
Week 16: at Seattle (2-6)
Week 17: vs. Miami (4-4)

It should be an easy schedule - those teams are a combined 33-32 - not tremendously intimidating. But taken one-by-one - the Jets have a tough road to go.

The 3 NFC West games remaining are all against teams that are 2-6 - but St. Louis has been playing well, and will give the Jets a run for their money on Sunday (though without Steven Jackson the Jets will probably win). The other two games are very winnable - but they come with 2 west coast trips in three weeks, with a tough game against Buffalo in between. So that's not great timing.

Of course, there are three division games left, with a tough one at New England starting it off on Thursday night. The plus side is that the Buffalo and Miami games are home games - but all three are games that could go either way. The Jets had better hope they have some kind of playoff berth wrapped up by the final game of the season - I don't like the idea of Miami coming to town in the last week led by Chad Pennington, looking to bump the Jets out of a playoff situation.

Then there are the final two AFC games against non-division opponents. There's the Titans, who will be 8-2 at worst, 10-0 at best, when the Jets play them in two weeks. And the Broncos, who showed Thursday night just how dangerous they could be - even if they go into the fourth quarter trailing.

All of the teams the Jets have left to play have given them fits in the past. So as much as you might read about a 'favorable' Jets schedule the rest of the way (SportsIllustrated mentioned it in this week's issue) - I beg to differ. And this comes from someone who's usually overly optimistic.

BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR

If the Jets win today, they'll live to have another 'biggest game of the year'. If they lose, they'll play out the string of a meaningless season. And they have no one to blame but themselves.

Had the Jets beaten the Chargers, as most other good teams seem to be doing, or the Raiders, as everyone else is doing, they wouldn't be in such dire straits today. But they lost both of those games, leaving themselves no leeway in this division game.

The Jets will have no shot at winning a wild card spot when it comes to tiebreakers - as it most likely will, the way the AFC is shaping up. (Although, if they lose on Sunday, I'll undoubtedly start figuring out the scenarios they need to survive.) So it's all about the division, and with a loss already to the Patriots, the Jets need to beat the Bills twice (and later, the Patriots and Dolphins another time each).

They're also looking for help tonight. Hopefully a few hours after the Jets beat the Bills, the undermanned Colts can beat the undermanned Pats, and create a 3-way tie atop the AFC East at 5-3.

And then it'll be a whole new season, halfway through.

Or the end of the season. With half a season left.

Not much to talk about with the Patriots playing as I write this. The only development I will get to tonight is Chad Pennington being ornery.

Pennington, after Sunday's game, tried to walk out of the lockerroom without speaking to the media, but he was held up by a Jets PR guy. Pennington stuck around, spoke for about a minute and a half, and then bolted. He was very short and terse with the media on Sunday. Teammates said, "Chad had something to prove".

On Monday, Pennington apparently ripped into reporters because of the things they wrote leading up to the Seahawks game...or more accurately, following the Pittsburgh game. I have not seen or read these quotes, but I will write more about this scenario tomorrow. All I'll say for right now is that if Pennington was playing angry on Sunday, keep playing angry....he played one of his better games of the season on Sunday.

One e-mail to get to (thankfully Dave is no longer charading as a Brighton resident during his Christmas holiday):

"Dear Johnnyjets,
Is it possible that the AFC East could provide three (3) playoffs teams?
Is there a scenario where the Jets and Bills would win both wild cards?
Is this unprecedented?
Would that make the AFC East the best division in football?
Would it make it the bet division insports?
What do you think the best division in sports is? NL East,probably, you jamoke.

Signed,Dave in Mauldin, SC...home of the flourescent orange Mauldin Mavs visor."

Well, Dave, it's a shame the Dolphins tanked this year, because the AFC East would definitely be the best division in sports if the Dolphins were the slightest bit competitive. Well, since Miami is competitive right now with the Patriots, I'll go along with it. Sure, the AFC East is the best division in sports...and definitely the NFL. I think the Bills have a real shot at the wild card - having won 8 of their last 10 games. Here's the breakdown of the 4 wild card potentials (not counting the Jets, who hopefully get in even at 10-6):

BUF: at SF, vs. PIT
BAL: at PIT, vs. MIA
JAX: vs. HOU, at OAK
DEN: at TEN, vs. IND

I think all of those teams will lose one of their final two games, except for Jacksonville. So I think the Jaguars get into the playoffs, proving you, Dave from Mauldin, SC, quite prescient, picking Jacksonville to do something big early in the year.

One other note I wanted to touch on before I go to bed - the Eagles are so screwed. Even if they've proven they can win without Terrell Owens, which I don't think is the case, I think his broken leg is going to mess with their heads so much that they might lose their first playoff game -not even making it to the NFC Championship game. Just a thought. Look for Atlanta (or an even crappier team) to make it to the Super Bowl out of the NFC.

The Jets got by without Chad Pennington, now, they're going to have to survive without John Abraham. Abraham didn't play in the second half of the win over the Texans on Sunday, and now will reportedly miss 2 to 3 weeks with a knee injury. All the Jets are saying is that Abraham will miss the Steelers game this week, but the Daily News says sources close to the team think Abraham will miss at least two weeks. So that's some bad news - here's the good news...the Jets have now allowed the fewest points in the NFL. Their defense has been very good - no we'll see if they can keep it up without Abraham. Actually, one last point on Abraham - now Bryan Thomas steps into the starting job for at least a few games, and he has played extremely well this season so far. He had a great game in Buffalo, which was overshadowed by the loss, and has played very well in the games he's been in. So I expect the Jets defense to keep it up.

A couple of other housekeeping issues - The Wife hit with Dallas Monday night, in what was quite possible the greatest game in a couple of years (too bad I was sleeping)...so she's now up to number 72 in the country. She moved up about 40 spots after a 10-6 week. Not bad. I guess that's it for the housekeeping. On to the e-mail:

"Dear JohnnyJets...

A couple questions on the same topic this week...

-Which is worse...the NFC or the NBA's Eastern Conference?

-If the Jets played in the NFC East, would they be 11-1?

-How do you feel about the possibility (likely possibility?) that a
7-9 will make the playoffs this year?

10-5 through Sunday's games,
Dave in Brighton"

Dave - congrats on the 10-5...nicely done. Too bad you're not number 72 in the country. Let's answer your questions...I don't know if the NFC is worse than the NBA's Eastern Conference. I would say the NFC is better, simply because people know it exists. I can't say the same about the NBA's East. Or West.

If the Jets were in the NFC East, they could be 11-1 - but they're the Jets..so there are no guarantees on any of these sorts of things. They could be 1-11, for all we know. Sorry I can't be more definitive...but the Jets are in the AFC East, and they're 9-3...I'm happy with that.

Finally, I haven't gone through remaining schedules for the NFC teams, but I think it's very likely a 7-9 team is making the playoffs in the NFC. At the most, the wild card team will be 8-8...and these teams are playing so poorly that 7-9 is more likely. Meanwhile, the Jets could go 13-3 (more likely 12-4 or 11-5), and barely win the wildcard.

One more thing - the Jets can clinch a playoff spot this weekend...if they win, Denver or someone lose, and the Chargers and Ravens win, I think. I'll try to get it straight....but the Jets need to beat the Steelers. That's the priority.

There were some website problems last night, contributing to no posting this morning. Sorry about that. There were also no e-mails to talk about, so I had nothing to post from the mailbag.

This is supposed to be an AFC East preview, but really, do we need to look at the entire division? The Bills are 1-4, the Dolphins are 0-6, and the Jets are playing the Patriots this week. I think we all know that this whole week is an AFC East weekly preview, specifically, Jets-Patriots.

I talked sometime last week about how similar Chad Pennington and Tom Brady are in their playing styles. Neither one consistently lights up the stat sheet, although Brady will have a big game more often than Pennington. Look at their stats so far this year, though:

Brady: 84/143 (58.7%), 1159 yds., 10 TD-5 INT, 93.5 rating
Pennington: 107-152 (70.4%), 1151 yds., 5 TD-2 INT, 97.8 rating

Both are very efficient, as evidenced by their ratings. Both are accurate, as evidenced by their completion percentages (I actually only threw that in there because Pennington is on a record pace in that category). But both are smack dab in the middle of the pack in yardage. Daunte Culpepper leads the league in most categories - 1766 yds., 18 TD-3 INT, 72.2 completion percentage - just FYI. Daunte Culpepper produces Chad Pennington's numbers in one possession. Oops - I think he just threw for another touchdown.

Another point I want to bring up before I go back to doing my homework is that during the Patriots' 20-game winning streak, they only beat the Jets once. That could be a point of pride for the Jets (just don't tell them that if you extend the Patriots to winning 21 of their last 22 games, that 21st game would be the Jets during last year's 0-4 start). Did that stat make sense? I'm not sure. But it would be nice for the Jets to be able to show up just once in the winning streak archives, as opposed to the other members of the division (I think the Dolphins will end up on there three times...if not more if the Jets don't win on Sunday). But it would be especially nice for the Jets to be known as the team to break the streak.

It's late, I need to go to bed, but I need to write before I sleep. (I had to work tonight, and while I was passing the hours watching the Sox-Yankees, deciding whether or not I'd have to cut highlights of the game, I realized I should turn the johnnymets.blogspot.com site into a post-season blog. We'll see if that happens...if it does, it would start tomorrow night.)

Anyway, Wednesday is AFC East update day. First, though, a Jets update. The injuries to Pete Kendall and Brandon Moore appear to be more serious than first thought. Both are definitely out for Sunday's game against San Francisco, and both could miss more time. Kendall could miss 3-4 weeks. That's bad news.

OK. AFC East. So the Jets beat the Bills last week to drop them to 0-4, while the Patriots beat the Dolphins, to drop them to 0-5. Everyone knows both the Jets and Patriots are 4-0. First, a word about the Jets' schedule. Yes, it's been weak, but guess who else has had a weak schedule. Thaaaaat's right. The Pats. The Patriots barely beat the Colts in week 1, and the Colts are by far the best team New England has played. After the Indy game, the Pats beat Arizona, Buffalo and the Dolphins. The Jets also beat the Dolphins and Bills, and in weeks 1 and 2, beat Cincinnati and San Diego. So things have been about even between the two teams up until this point. Next week is where the schedules differ - the Pats have to play the 1-loss Seahawks, while the Jets play the 1-win 49ers. And then after that, the two teams play each other, and the talk about who is better can be put aside for another week or so.

I just looked something up that was quite disturbing. I thought that Jets-Pats game was on ESPN, but it's not - it's a 4pm game. Then I looked at the entire Jets schedule and realized the Jets don't have one Sunday night game - their only nationally televised (in prime time) game is November 1st, a Monday nighter against the Dolphins. That makes me mad. For so long, the Jets stunk, and they were never on Monday Night Football. Then the Jets got better, and they'd get at least one Monday nighter, maybe two if we were lucky, plus an ESPN game or two. Then the Jets go and have one bad year (where their quarterback was hurt - mind you, if he was healthy, last year wouldn't have been a bad year), and they're barely on in prime time at all the following season!??! I'm outraged. I'd write a letter if I wasn't so busy writing a blog that 3 people read.

Just to round out the AFC East, the Bills play the Dolphins next week. The Bills should win the game, because they're head and shoulders above Miami. Throw in the fact that Jay Fiedler and A.J. Feely are both hurt, and are both questionable for the game, and Miami's starting quarterback will most likely be Sage Rosenfels, and it adds up to Buffalo's first win of the season, and Miami to 0-6. But still, wouldn't it be awesome if they tied? I think so.

Tomorrow I'll try to slap together a preview of San Francisco. Or maybe my time would be better spent on johnnymets.blogspot.com. I'll let you know.

AFC EAST

New England: 3-0
NY Jets: 3-0
Buffalo: 0-3
Miami: 0-4

What a weird division this year. The Jets are legitimately a good team, I hope people are now buying what I've been selling for the past few weeks. The Patriots are the defending Super Bowl champions, and have won 18 straight games, so I have to give them their due. The Bills, and the Dolphins, though, are two of the worst teams in football. Well, at least record-wise.

I don't think it's fair to call the Bills bad. They aren't good, but they're not downright bad. They're by far the best 0-3 team in the league (how's that for a backhanded compliment). The Bills lost in Week 1 to the Jaguars on a last-second touchdown pass by Byron Leftwich that was barely caught in the back of the end zone. Final score: 13-10. In Week 2, the Bills can't get any offense going out west against Oakland, and fall. Final score: 13-10. After a bye in Week 3, the Bills take on the Patriots in Buffalo, looking to keep the Pats from winning a record-tying 17th game in a row. Final score: Patriots 31, Bills 17. The Bills didn't look like a bad team against New England. They looked like a flawed team, and the Patriots were able to expose those flaws at key moments.

That's what the Patriots do. They figure out the flaws, expose them, and then pounce. So many of the games they've won on their current winning streak have come as the result of the one big play that turns the game in their favor. Last Sunday, it was pressuring Drew Bledsoe, and that pressure finally resulted in the turnover that put the game away - a fumble returned for a touchdown. The Patriots should win this weekend at Miami. The next weekend, they host the Seahawks. Seattle is 3-0, and I'll talk more about this potential matchup next week...there's a good chance it features two undefeated teams.

Miami stinks. We established that fact in yesterday's posting, and if you have seen them play at all this season. But here's an interesting thing: Ricky Williams may want to play again this season. He's reportedly trying to get a hearing with the NFL so that he might get back to the team this season. This opens up a huge can of worms, because he's facing a drug suspension, which probably can't be enforced retroactively to the first few games of the year, and then there's the whole issue of whether the Dolphins want Ricky back. Management will probably take him back, because they're desperate. But I doubt he will be well-received by teammates, coaches, and fans.

So that's the AFC East rundown, for now. The Jets host Buffalo on Sunday. I'll try to get a Bills preview posted for Thursday, courtesy of a guest writer who grew up in Buffalo and remains a lifelong Bills fan. If I don't get that, there might not be a Bills preview, because I'm working a late night on Wednesday.