One of the things that I love about the NFL is just how many great franchises and story lines there are right now. It is the only league where I will watch an entire game between two teams for which I have no rooting interest and be glued to the television. Some great rivalries have emerged in the league recently. The best is probably the Steelers and Ravens. These two teams have dominated the AFC North in recent years ("We're working on it" -Andy Dalton & the Cincinnati Bengals) and the guys on these teams outright dislike each other. It's a fun game to watch, purely because it is so physical, but it is not my favorite rivalry in the league because I dislike both teams. The face of one team is a rapist. The face of the other is a murderer. I can't root for either of these teams.
Maybe my favorite rivalry in the league right now is between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets. There are so many great facets to this rivalry and I love the way that it has played out. If you've been living under a rock for the past decade, the Patriots have been probably the best team in the league since 2001 (I know they haven't won a playoff game in a while but their overall record is still excellent). The Jets have not, but they have a new loud mouth head coach who has built one of the best defenses in the league. Despite Ryan's annual Super Bowl victory guarantees, he has made good on most of his talk, having taken the Jets to the last two AFC championship games.
These two teams have built polar opposite brands over the past decade. In New England, you have Bob Kraft's Patriots, a team led by Tom Brady, probably the definition of a "pretty boy." On the sidelines is Bill Belichick, a 5 time super bowl champ and a 3 time NFL coach of the year. The Patriots are glamorous and live in the spotlight. Even down to their color scheme, mascot and uniforms, the Patriots try to brand themselves as American and...well...patriotic.
The Jets are a scrappy group that has historically been second best even in their own city (they played in "Giants Stadium" for decades). The Jets used to be mediocre and hard to dislike. Now, I can't stand them. These Jets talk trash and they want to prove themselves to the world.
I find the Jets-Pats rivalry to be fairly similar to the way the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry used to be (before the Sox won the World Series and became the same monster as the Yankees) except with the two cities reversed. When it comes to sports, Boston and New York just do not get along. It's interesting to see the tables turned in football with Boston having the proven team and New York having the scrappy underdog.
The thing I love about the Patriots-Jets rivalry right now is that leading up to each game, people in New York get pumped up that they are going to slay the mighty Pats and the people in New England are scared that their dynasty may be coming to an end. I've watched the Pats and listened to far too much sports radio up here in Boston. The secondary is awful, the wide receivers have been flat, they made disastrous signings in the offseason (Ochocinco and Haynesworth) and Belichick has drafted terribly. On the other side of the ball, the Jets defense shuts people down and the offense is...competent? I'm not going to try to get into the head of the average Jets fan, that thought frightens me. The point is, the Jets always pumped up for the Patriots.
And the Patriots still win. I'm not saying that the Jets never beat the Patriots, they did just that last year in Foxboro in the playoffs ("Can't Wait!" -Bart Scott). But last night, at MetLife Stadium (home of the Jets, at least for last night) the Pats won 37-16. The Jets shot themselves in the foot several times, including a play that Rex Ryan called one of the "stupidest" he'd ever seen (yes, "stupidest" is a direct quote from Rex). In my eyes, the biggest reason why the Jets lost was that they could not stop beast tight end and personal friend of porn star Bibi Jones, Rob Gronkowski. As a fantasy owner of his, I love Gronk. The guy is a monster and the Jets had no one who could match up against him all night. Despite this, the majority of ESPN experts picked the Jets last night. The Jets were even favored to win by 1.5 points according to Vegas. Did everyone forget the game a couple weeks in Foxboro where the Patriots solidly dominated?
I'm disappointed that this is the end of the season series between these two teams. These are the two best teams in the AFC East. Saturday's Bills-Cowboys game ran like an episode of the Maury Povich show, only instead of "You are NOT the father," Maury came out and read the test results to the Bills saying "You are NOT a contender." (patting myself on the back for working that clip into this post) After their two wins over the Jets, it looks like the Patriots are going to win that division, but there is plenty of time left. Who knows? Maybe the Jets sneak in as a wild card and we get another matchup between these two teams in the playoffs. I hope so, because when these two teams play, I can't help but get excited about it.
Personally, I like the brashness of the Jets. Rex Ryan could definitely talk less, and stop guaranteeing Superbowl wins every year. However, I think that the Jets players have every right to be cocky and shit-talk. Football and hockey are really the only sports where mouthing off can be acceptable at all, as these are the only sports where you can back up your smack with physical violence. The Jets D definitely backs up its talk with action, so I respect that. Also, Darrelle Revis is one of my favorite players in the league to watch; that guy literally takes away half the field and he has great hands.
ReplyDelete