Bring on the Jets!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Mike Parente, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

A game like this makes you wonder whether it’s humanly possible for the Lions to sink much lower, or whether Tom Brady can soar any higher than he did in the second half of Thursday’s win in Detroit.

You’d have to be a sadist to not feel for the Lions after watching Brady slice through their defense with the precision of a plastic surgeon. As if the 0-16 season three years ago and the countless draft-day busts weren’t bad enough, the Lions reached a new low yesterday when Brady threw four touchdown passes – all in the second half – and accumulated a perfect passer rating of 158.3 in New England’s 45-24 win.

The sad part is you’d have no idea this game was actually competitive at one point if you didn’t look past the final score. The Lions led by 11 in the first half and led by a touchdown late in the third quarter before Brady decided to stop goofing off and start getting real.

Brady continued his push for another NFL MVP award by finishing 21-of-27 for 341 yards. With the Patriots clinging to a seven-point lead, he completed his fourth and final touchdown pass to Wes Welker with 6:42 remaining, gave his two cents to the press and then fled Ford Field in the backseat of a limo with team owner Robert Kraft. Next stop: Gillette Stadium on Dec. 6 for a primetime showdown against the New York Jets, which brings us to our original question of whether or not Brady can keep the good times rolling for at least one more week.

What’s ironic about Thursday is Brady probably didn’t need to be “perfect” in order to beat the woeful Lions, but he might need to be flawless – or close to it – next Monday when New York comes to town. While the Jets didn’t look particularly sharp Thursday in their Thanksgiving win over Cincinnati, they did enough to hold off the Bengals and maintain their slight edge in the AFC East. Both teams are 9-2, but the Jets own the tiebreaker after beating New England in Week 2.

There have been some fascinating match-ups on the schedule since that loss at the Meadowlands – the win over Pittsburgh two weeks ago and last Sunday’s win over Indianapolis immediately come to mind – but the truth is we’ve all been waiting for what’s in store next Monday. And the best part is both teams have held up their end of the bargain. They’ve been neck-and-neck since September and they’re still deadlocked in a virtual tie with perhaps the biggest game of the season for both sides looming on the horizon.

The Patriots have had a lot of “gut-check” moments and “measuring stick” games this year and they’ve passed most of those tests with flying colors, specifically by beating Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Baltimore, all of whom figure to be in the playoffs this year. The one real blemish outside of that aberration in Cleveland is the Week 2 loss to the Jets, which officially solidified New York as legitimate contenders and similarly raised questions in New England regarding the Patriots’ ability to defend on a competitive level or win on the road.

Since then, the Jets have pulled countless Houdini acts, rallying in the fourth quarter to beat Detroit and Cleveland on the road in overtime in back-to-back weeks and rallying again to beat the Texans before taking care of business yesterday against the Bengals. They’ve been far from perfect – or dominant, for that matter – but they’ve shown a tremendous amount of resiliency in adverse situations.

The Patriots have been equally enigmatic, but they’ve begun to answer the questions that threatened to derail their season long before it had a chance to blossom. Their secondary has shown signs of improvement with rookie cornerbacks Devin McCourty and Kyle Arrington settling into their roles. McCourty had another interception yesterday – his fourth of the season – and has emerged as the Patriots’ most athletic play-maker on defense.

Yesterday was more like an appetizer for the Jets and Patriots because both teams played opponents with 2-8 records entering Thanksgiving. There was a slim chance one of these division powerhouses could’ve fallen into the proverbial trap while looking ahead to next week, but neither side strayed the course. And now that these anticlimactic Thanksgiving games are finally a part of our past, we can focus on the game we’ve all been waiting for since September.

The smart money says the Patriots will even this season series next Monday. Their offense is in sync, their defense – while far from perfect – is at its peak right now and they’re playing this rematch on their turf, where they haven’t lost a regular-season game since 2008 (ironically against the Jets, who were led by Brett Favre at the time).

This will be a tremendous battle of wills between New England’s league-leading offense and the Jets’ 4th-ranked defense. Can Brady fly much higher than he did yesterday? We can’t wait to find out.