Guaranteed: The Jets Will Show Up

Ever since (pick one) Judas, turncoat, overrated hype Eric Mangini turned in his old boss, the date of the Pats-Jets rematch has been circled on everyone’s calendar. Fans, players, bookies, you name it. Good luck getting anyone to say anything provocative this week, however.

The Jets, in fact, have taken the woe-is-us approach. The Herald’s John Tomase made the trek to beautiful Hempstead to get reaction from the Jets players and they were very careful with the comments.

You don’t have to worry about anyone in this locker room saying anything that can be used as bulletin board material,” Jets receiver Laveranues Coles said. “That’s just not us. It’s not this locker room. We keep a tight hold on guys to let them know not to step out of line.”

Kerry Rhodes, who is one of the few Jets playing up to expectations this year, added this:

“I guarantee we’ll show up and play. The only way we don’t show up for that game is if it snows and we can’t get there. And then we’ll show up and play on Monday.”

The oddsmakers originally made the Pats a 27-point favorite, but the line has drifted down to 24, making it the highest spread since a 1993 Bengals-49ers contest. The Niners won the game, 21-8, but obviously didn’t cover the number.

There is the chance that the Pats will set numerous individual records, as well, as Gerry Callahan pointed out. But this goes way beyond that. Bill Belichick‘s enmity for the Jets goes back years, and Mangini’s defection, and subsequent betrayal, only adds to the feud.

To put it another way, has there ever been more interest in a matchup of teams separated by 10 games in the loss column?