Patriots vs. Jets Preview

      The New York Jets are coming off of an embarrassing loss to Baltimore Ravens.  The Jets surrendered three defensive touchdowns to the deadly Ravens defense.  Mark Sanchez looked lost and scarred behind a weak offensive line that could do little to slow down, let alone contain, a highly formidable and dominant Ravens defense.  The Jets were playing without their All-Pro center Nick Mangold, and many of their offensive struggles began with bad snaps.  Nick Mangold is likely to play on Sunday, which is very fortunate for New York, but if he doesn't, it will be a very long afternoon in Foxborough for Mark Sanchez and his offense.
     The Patriots are currently riding an 18 game home winning streak, and Vegas has them favored by double digits on Sunday.  Let us not forget though that it was the Jets that ended the Patriots season last year at Foxborough in the playoffs.  Last week rookie running back Stevan Ridley looked very impressive, rushing for over 100 yards, and Wes Welker continues to wreak havoc all over the field.  On the other side of the ball however, the Pats took a hit by losing Jerod Mayo, and our defensive backs continue to struggle and give up big plays.
    The keys for both teams will be establishing the run gam early on, as Rex Ryan likes to so eloquently put it, "ground and pound."  Shonne Greene has not shown that he is a dominant back by any means, and the Patriots should be able to clog the middle with Wilfork and shut down the Jets running game.  If the Patriots can get good yardage out of the backfield from Ridley and Green-Ellis, this will open up the field for Welker and Rob Gronkowski. As long as Bill Belichick reads this and incorporates these ideas into the game plan, Sunday should be a blow out for the Pats.