Jets vs. Replacement Pats Tonight...Who Ya Got?

 

I’m not gonna sit here and guarantee victory Broadway Joe style. My favorite thing on Barstool used to be rallying the Jets fans with completely irrational confidence. Hype em up and ruffle some feathers and stir the pot before all their big matchups with New England. Well I’ve taken my medicine and swallowed my words too many times with this regime over the past couple years to come out here guns blazing. The last time we did this dance, I was excited for a chance to take on the Pats on Thanksgiving night on national TV and it ended up being the most embarrassing night in franchise history. So I’ve learned my lesson.

But here’s the facts of the matter – the Pats are banged up. Besides Julian Edelman I can’t even tell you who else is out there with Brady. No Amendola. No Vareen. Obviously none of the big names we’ve been used to in years past. He’s working with absolutely nothing. Its like looking at Shane Falco and the Replacements. And they didn’t practice this week, which I found pretty bizarre. By all accounts it sounds like one of their issues last week was timing. Factoring in 2 more injuries after the Buffalo game, and timing will only be more difficult. All that, and the Jets defense looked fucking sharp last week. Aside from basically one huge missed tackle on one drive, and allowing a TD after Geno fumbled inside his own 10, the Jets D looked tremendous.

At the end of the day, its a rookie quarterback coming off a mediocre performance against Brady and Belichick in New England. I’d be delusional to come out thinking the Jets are some sort of lock to win this game. Geno may be in way over his head tonight. And on New England’s side of things, if there’s one guy in the league who makes all stars out of nobodies, we know its Brady. But I’m just saying if the Jets defense plays up to their capabilities against the 2nd and 3rd string players New England is trotting out there, and the Jets don’t turn the ball over, it should be close.

I say a low scoring game. 17-10. Maybe 14-10. Just hoping Geno protects the football, and a couple breaks go our way to end up on the winning side of that score. As long as we don’t give up 35 points in 2 minutes and 14 seconds and put our heads inside each other’s assholes tonight, it should be an improvement from last year.

PS – the 12 point spread seems absolutely ridiculous to me. I get that the last 4 rookies going into Foxboro have lost by an average of like 28 points but given the circumstances that seems pretty outrageous to me.