Guest Post: Why The Jets Will Beat The Patriots

Maybe we'll call him Optimist Prime for the Jets season: Russell is back for another guest post and he thinks the Jets will prevail on Sunday unlike the rest of our panel. For his last guest post before he becomes a full-time writer (and congrats to Russell on that!), here's Russell Simon back to tell us why the New York Jets will repeat their early-season performance and prevail against the Patriots in Foxboro on Sunday.

Mark Sanchez is licking his chops for a rematch with the Pats (NYT)

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The Jets will beat the Patriots on Sunday…While most of you probably think that’s the funniest joke you’ve heard all day, the Jets do have a shot--believe it or not--of winning. Last week I said the Jets would establish the ground and pound, and beat Indy. We all know how that turned out, and now they return for some payback…and this is how they’ll get it:

Keep Brady On The Bench

For the Jets to win they will have to go on the same type of drives they did in the second half against the Colts. The Jets had touchdown drives of 9:48 and 9:59 last week and it must be more of the same if the Jets will win. The Jets used the ground-and-pound to go on mind numbingly slow drives in the second half. On the first drive of the second half, Sanchez threw twice, and it has become clear that LT, Shonne Greene , and the offensive line will win it for the Jets--not Mark Sanchez. Both running backs carried the ball nearly 20 times and they will have to go on the slow drives, eat up tons of clock, and get into the endzone to beat the Pats.

Do Not Have Any Defensive Lapses

And we're looking at you, Antonio Cromartie. Garcon burned Cromartie for the Colts first touchdown on a hideous defensive lapse, and the Jets can’t have any repeats of that on Sunday if they want to win. Cromartie put the target on his back by saying about Tom Brady what Jets fans have been saying about him for years, and with whoever Tevis is covering (probably Welker vacationing on Revis Island) all the pressure will be on Cromartie to step up. Other then Revis, Brady will target the Jets secondary just as he did in the 45-3 bloodbath when he passed for 326 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Jets can’t have any defensive lapses that go for big yards for the Pats and it's up to the secondary to keep the Jets in it.

Be Resilient

In week 13 the Patriots jumped out to an early lead and the Jets folded, but throughout the playoffs they have been surprisingly resilient. Consider last year they led 7-0 against both the Bengals and the Chargers, they won both. This year they were down 7-0 to the Colts, and won that too. The Jets are accustomed to coming back from behind, but in all of those games it was never more then a one-possession game. I anticipate that the Jets will find themselves down against New England and their resiliency could be key in making yet another dramatic win.

Score A Touchdown

I said it last week and I’ll say it again, the Jets barely lose when they score a touchdown. This year they are 12-1 when they get a TD. It is a ridiculous stat, but when they score a touchdown it means that at least some parts of the offense are clicking, last week it was the running game, but at times the passing game has gotten them the win. Normally for the Jets offense it’s feast or famine, every Jets loss besides Chicago has featured an inept Gang Green offense. If they’re able to score a touchdown, it could mean Rex Ryan will be one step closer to having his own ring to kiss...and not Bill Belichicks.