It's the question that I've been asking myself all week:  Who do I root for in the AFC Championship?   As a Pats fan, the correct answer is that I root for a huge earthquake to level Heinz Field and swallow up both the Jets and the Steelers, but that's not very likely.   So assuming that no natural disasters occur on Sunday, other than Rex Ryan's post-game dump, which team do I throw myself behind?  Back in the day when my NBA team, the Timberwolves, were relevant and they would get ousted from the playoffs, I would often turn myself into an NBA monk and just pretend the rest of the post-season never happened.  Unfortunately, there's just no way to do that this time around.  The AFC Championship isn't being played at 10:30 PM on TNT like a Kings/Lakers game, the Super Bowl is a national event that everyone talks about, I happen to run a sports blog network that will be covering the games heavily, and I just like football too much to ignore it when there's only three games left until, well, who knows with the lockout?  So like it or not, I have to pick a side. 

In most situations like this, I just choose the team that I happen to like better.  With Jets/Steelers it becomes a little more difficult as I have to realy sit down and figure out who I hate less...

Why I Hate the Jets: 

- Rex Ryan is the antithesis of everything I believe a football coach should be.  He has no class.  He has no character.  He is loud-mouthed, self-serving, and puts himself in front of his team.  He allows his players to say whatever they want, no matter how inappropriate, and as a result has bred a 53-man team of pretty crappy role models.  He is a gigantic blight on the National Football League, and other than serving as a great villain for anyone with an ounce of moral character to despise, he adds no positive value to the game of football.  

And he likes to suck toes.  Just had to throw that in there. 

- The Jets have sexaually harrassed Inez Sainz this season, as well as had a scandal about sexual harrassment against Jen Sterger come to light.  Santionio Holmes was investigated for assualting a woman.  Antonio Cromartie needed a loan from the team to pay his child support for the nine children he's fathered with eight different women in six different states. I'm not Mr. Feminism, but that seems like a locker room full of scum bags to me.

- Mark Sanchez is not a good quarterback.  His team wins in spite of him, not because of him.  I'm tired of hearing people praise him when it's the Jets defense that gets the job done. 

- The Jets hurled profanity laden tirades against the Patriots last week, including a threat of injury to Wes Welker by Bart Scott.  Total classlessness.  You would never hear a Bill Belichick team disrespect their opponent like that.

 

Why I Hate the Steelers:

- The Pats beat them handily in two AFC Championship games and all we've heard from them is whining. 

- They've won six Super Bowl titles, which is the most ever.  I could respect it, if the last two they won weren't complete and utter crap.   They were a 6th seed in 2005 and beat Cincy in the Wild Card round by putting a cheap shot on Carson Palmer and tearing his ACL at the start of the game.  They lucked out on a missed Vanderjagt chip shot in the next round.  In Super Boxl XL, the most rigged football game I've ever seen, the referees have openly admitted that they made horrible calls that cost Seattle the game.  Three years later, they were bailed out (as was the rest of the league) by Brady's ACL tear and the streaking Patriots getting locked out of the playoffs despite being 11-5.  They barely eeked out a Super Bowl win against a Cardinals team that the Pats beat 41-7 weeks earlier. 

Basically, they've fielded two of the worst Super Bowl teams in recent memory, who won it all by getting lucky, getting bailed out by the refs, and having other teams beat the actual good teams.  In both those seasons I've failed to see them put forth a true "Championship" level effort.  Where is the defining moment where they overcame a huge challenge to prove they were the best?  There isn't one.   If they win again this year, they could very well do so by facing a slate of a 5th seed, a 6th seed, and a 6th seed.  Pathetic.

A Super Bowl is a Super Bowl, and if it were any other team, I'd leave it at that.  But the last thing I want to hear is PIttsburgh fans spouting off about "seven rings" when three of them basically meant their team were the tallest midget at the circus during the three weakest seasons over the course of a decade.

- Ben Rapistberger.  It would really irk me to see yet another shoud-be-convicted-felon hoist the Lombardi Trophy.   The only thing Ben Roethlisberger shold be holding between his hands are prison bars. 

 

I was processing the Patriots’ season after their disappointing home playoff loss to the New York Jets, Bart Scott’s interview with ESPN stuck in my head. He told him that the Patriots’ defense “can’t cover a nosebleed.” It turns out he was right. In that game, the Patriots had a good cornerback in Devin McCourty, but who did New York keep exploiting? They exploited the weaker cornerbacks in Kyle Arrington and Darius Butler. It begs the Patriot fan to wonder, do we have enough elite cornerbacks to get back to the Super Bowl without a legitimate pass rush?

Now, you can make up for the pass rush if you have top cornerbacks. Look at those same New York Jets. With Darrelle Revis and now Antonio Cromartie, New York was able to drop their guys into coverage and not allow any room for receivers to get open. This limited guys like Branch, Welker, and Gronkowski to get yards after the catch.

On a lot of mock drafts, New England’s picks are projected most likely in the first round to come from the defensive end or the running back positions. If that is the case, I would want New England to go after cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha of the Raiders. Asomugha’s contract was voided after the 2010 season because he did not make certain incentives on his deal.

Yes, New England does get Leigh Bodden back after an ACL tear last summer. But, how will Bodden’s health be coming off a surgery that basically needs two years to heal up to full strength? It is a huge gamble to put him at that number two cornerback slot. Asomugha is a playmaker who can develop his own island in  Foxboro and be a part of a championship team in his prime. Asomugha and McCourty could equal Revis and Cromartie in terms of production and definitely improve a very bad pass defense.

New England made a play at Julius Peppers last offseason and now they need to make the right move in March regardless of the CBA situation and get themselves a bonafide star. Plus, it would allow them to have a veteran leader on the defensive side of the ball to compete with the Jets come 2011.

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Reports are out today that Tom Brady will be undergoing foot surgery to repair a stress fracture.  This appears to be a bit of a surprise, as Brady was recently quoted as saying that he was thankful that this off-season would be surgery-free.  Nevertheless, this surgery is relatively minor compared to some of the other operations he's undergone in the past and the general consensus is that Brady will be fully recovered in time for training camp. 

In related news, Foxboro Blog has some inside information.  Sources are telling us that Rex Ryan took time away from his preparation for the AFC Title game to contact Brady after news of his injury broke.  The rival head coach apparently left a message on Brady's cell phone wishing him well during surgery and made an offer to help "lick his wounds" during the off-season. 

Needless to say, Brady has not returned the call.

The 2010 Pick 'Em game is officiall down to the wire.  With just three games remaining and only a single game separating our leader, Jason, and 2nd place Rick, there could very well be more than the Lombardi Trophy at stake on February 6th.  

Both Jason and Rick are backing the Steelers, making the Green Bay/Chicago game the one to watch.  If the Bears pull out the W at Soldier Field, both will be 22-17 heading into the big game.  I, on the other hand, have already been statistically eliminated and am guaranteed to finish dead-last in this contest.  Given my 3-5 record in the post-season thus far, I think that's a fitting place for me.  

If there's any consolation in this, it's that I'm picking the Jets in the AFC Championship.  If I continue along my track record, that means that this is the week that Rex Ryan finally gets shut up.

Onto the picks...

Game	Derek	Jason	Rick
NYJ @ PIT
GB @ CHI
Last Week	1-3	3-1	3-1
Record	18-20	22-16	21-17

 

A few quick notes before I get into this week’s games:

• I really, really hate the Jets.
• While I didn’t have much to cheer about this weekend, I could at least take solace in the fact that my 3-1 record against the spread guarantees a winning record of picking games in this space for the 2010-11 season. That was a small personal comfort on an otherwise dreary weekend.
• I hope the groundskeepers at Foxboro make the turf extra-springy next year so if Braylon Edwards tries another a backflip on our homefield, he over-rotates and lands on his head. But I’m really not bitter or anything.
• Even if I drop both Championship Games and the Super Bowl in this space, I’d finish at 27-23-1 on the year. That’s not only a winning record, but also good enough to beat the juice. If I were a betting man, I’d be playing with house money right now.
• If I can win the three remaining games, I’d finish with a .600 winning percentage on the year, which is better than more than a few “professional” handicapping services. Having said that, I probably just doomed myself to a spectacular failure in the last two weeks. But if I can make it happen, I may put some online handicappers (who sell their "services" to the public) out of business. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
• That last point made me sound like a bit slutty. I think it's time to make some picks.

Steelers (-3) vs. Jets

While my personal distaste for the Steelers is well-documented, I like them to cover the spread and win big this week at home. Besides the New England game in Week 13, all four of the Jets’ other losses this year followed a similar theme – they were playing against a team with a very good front 7 (Baltimore, Green Bay, Miami and Chicago) who shut down the running game. The Jets thrive when they are able to run the ball and take the pressure off Sanchez. They were able to do that last week against New England and the week before against Indy because they dominated the line of scrimmage. Generally speaking, if the Jets can run the ball, they can win. If they can’t, they’re sunk.

It's hard to believe the Patriots' 2010 run is over.  After looking so good for so long, the season came to a grinding halt.  Making matters even worse is that they lost to the their hated rival, the Jets, and opened the door for a solid eight straight months of smack talk regardless of whether the Jets win the Super Bowl or get ousted next week.  Then again, I doubt Rex Ryan and the Jets would have shut up even if the Patriots had won 45-3 again.  I've got a lot to get off my chest, so I'm just going to move forward with it.  I had kept pretty quiet all week, mostly due to a busy schedule, so there's a lot to cover. 

We'll start with my thoughts on the game.

• I had feared for weeks that Tom Brady's interceptionless streak would be broken at the worst possible time.  Even though the Jets didn't get any points off the 1st quarter Brady pick, it did appear to be a potential game-changer.  The INT definitely killed what would have almost certainly been a New England scoring drive.  The key for the Patriots was to get points on the board early and force Sanchez to try to play catch-up.  It was just an awful throw by Brady.  There was still a lot of football to be played afterwards, but that pick was certainly very costly.
• On a similar note, the drop by Algie Crumpler in the end zone on the next drive was also very costly.  If Brady doesn't throw that pick and Algie catches that ball, you're looking at a 10-0 or 14-0 lead.  Don't tell me that a lead like that wouldn't have ruffled the Jets game plan.  (Although props to Algie for hustling and making the tackle on the Brady pick to save the TD.)
  
  
• The fake punt towards the end of the first half might have been the dumbest play call I've ever seen by this team.  Apparently, Pat Chung has the green light to call fake punts when he sees a favorable formation from the defense.  Favorable or not though, it's just not a smart call in a four point game with barely any time left in the half.  A 7-3 deficit at half time is nothing to worry about, especially when you're getting the ball to start the 3rd quarter.  There was no need to risk giving the Jets favorable field position, which they then used to push the lead to 14-3 and really put the pressure on.  I'm at least glad to hear that it was Pat Chung who called the play and not Belichick, or I'd really have to question our coach's judgement.  Whether a criticial decision should be left up to a 2nd year player is another story, but at least it wasn't Belichick making a dumb call.
  
  
• The Patriots managed to recover them, but the two fumbles they had would have really killed them if the Jets had pounced on them.   The Patriots were very fortunate that this was just a one-turnover game.  Over all, their ball security was very out of character.  For a team that's 82-3 in the past decade when winning the turnover battle and shattered the record for fewest turnovers in a season this year, it was very disappointing.
  
  
• The biggest game-changing play came early in the 4th quarter.  The Pats had clawed their way to a touchdown, hit on the two-point conversion and appeard to have the momentum shifted back their way.   Then Sanchez nailed Jericho Cotchery for a 58 yard gain, which was the key to a 5-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.  Overall, the Jets didn't do a whole lot to move the ball down the field.  Their other three touchdown drives were 49, 37, and 20 yards, respectively.  That early 4th quarter drive was the one point where this Patriots defense caved and allowed the Jets to pull off a long scoring drive.  After that, the clock became the Patriots' enemy.
  
  
• Still, down ten points, with over 10 minutes to play, the Patriots were far from finished.  What did kill them was a late-game drive lasting 7:45 where they walked away with no points.   I don't know what was going on here, but apparently the Patriots decided to take a page from the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX, and show absolutely no urgency while trailing by a two-possession deficit.  With the amount of time that they took, even a touch down would have made things tight time-wise.  It was just awful clock-management from a team that so often excels in that area.
  
  
• Deion Branch dropping that 4th and 13 ball...   Just killer.  This was the only game of the season where I missed Randy Moss.  The Patriots just weren't explosive at all tonight. 
  
  
• The Pats were essentially going "all-in" on that first onside kick.  If they didn't recover it, they would have to burn their timeouts and really make a long march down the field, which they had showed no ability to do.  Cromartie ended up recovering and set-up another touchdown with his long return.  I know it's 20/20 hindsight at this point, and if the Pats recover, which they almost did, we might have seen over time, but I think the safter play would have been a deep kick, pinning the Jets, and getting decent field position to move towards a final score.  The Patriots, after all, did end up tacking on a TD with a late drive there in the final moments. 
  
  
• Overall, a turnover, dropped balls, that dumb fake punt, and poor clock management killed this team.  Very, very un-Patriot-like.  

 

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The Patriots will face the Jets on Sunday for the third time this year. Here is what the Patriots will need to do to earn the W and move on to the AFC Championship Game:

1)  Stop the run

If the Jets beat the Patriots, it certainly won’t be because they got shredded by Mark Sanchez. In New England’s Week 2 loss to the Jets, Tomlinson and Greene combined for 128 yards on the ground and averaged nearly five yards per carry. In the 45-3 drubbing the Patriots handed the Jets in Week 13, Tomlinson and Greene were non-factors. The best chance for the Jets to win is playing a simple game of playground keep-away from Brady and the offense, so they will need their running backs to move the chains and keep the clock moving. If the Patriots can keep New York’s running game in check, they win this game.

After sitting out watching Wild Card Weekend, the Patriots now know their AFC Divisional Playoff matchup on Sunday will be against the New York Jets. The trash talk has been more prevalent in this matchup than in either of the previous two contests this year. Whether it is Rex Ryan criticizing Tom Brady for seeing a Broadway play or Antonio Cromartie saying how he truly feels about Brady, this game is New York’s Super Bowl. All the finger pointing and trash talking will have a result come Sunday when one team advances to the AFC Championship Game and gets the last laugh.

The Jets are coming off of a 17-16 win over Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts where they needed a last second field goal from Nick Folk to advance. In the second half, NY went back to the ground and pound offense and ran all over the Colts with LaDanian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene, while taking pressure off of their young quarterback Mark Sanchez. Now, Sanchez heads to an environment where he has struggled in his career. In his two games at Gillette Stadium, Mark Sanchez has one touchdown and seven interceptions.

What’s At Stake:

NY Jets: 2^nd straight AFC Championship appearance. First win in Foxboro since 2008 when Brett Favre was quarterback.

New England: 6^th AFC title game appearance in the last 10 years!

Let’s take a look at some keys that will decide the winner on Sunday:

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1. When you heard Rex's comments about Tom Brady over the past couple of days, what did you make of them? Has Rex's presence in the Jets locker room as head coach in the last couple of seasons change this to one of the best > rivalries in the NFL?

I didn't take much from Rex's comments. That's what he does. Had he been tight-lipped and giving monotone answers like Belichick then I would have been concerned. Plus, I think he was speaking the truth. No quarterback prepares like Peyton Manning does. That's not a knock on Brady as much as it is a tip of the hat to Manning.

Rex has elevated it even more but the rivalry really intensified when Mangini snitched on Belichick with Spygate. In my mind that is what sparked the growth of the rivalry. Rex has definitely kept the momentum going forward but Mangini is the founder of it, in my mind.


2. If you are Brian Schottenheimer, do you take the training wheels off of > Sanchez to get a win or is it ground and pound all the way?

Ground and pound all the way. I think Sanchez is capable of winning the game himself as he has shown throughout the season, but this week has to be about Shonn Greene. I'm still not a huge LT supporter but he came up big last week. Greene can take over a game though. If I had to list five players that can win the game for the Jets on Sunday, Greene would top the list.

As we waited to find out who the Patriots would draw in the Divisional Round, the three of us at Foxboro Blog decided to have a little "round table" discussion to look back at some of the more memorable moments in 2010.  Up next is the topic of the biggest story from the season.

Jason:  The biggest storyline has to be Brady, Brady and more Brady. From the Justin Bieber haircut and the Ugg sponsorship in the early season, to the record-breaking streak without an INT and MVP-caliber play throughout the second half of the season, he has kept everyone talking all year. I don't hear too many people talking about his hair anymore (maybe it's the beard?). I, for one, am convinced that Brady is actually the reincarnation of Samson. His hair is the source of his strength. We can only hope Gisele does not go all Delilah on him and cut it in his sleep prior to the Super Bowl. That's right guys, Bible references. See, we're not all pop culture and Rex Ryan feet jokes around here. And I don't even think we crossed the line into blasphemy. That's a win.