Week 2: King of the Cassel!

This week 2 matchup takes an entirely different role in the minds of Jets fans. Gang Green has gone from the lovable underdog with everything to gain, to the prohibitive favorite to take advantage of the Brady injury. That puts a lot of pressure on these guys to get it done this week against a New England team who will still be very good!

The energy of a football team is extremely important, and I think the Jets could’ve got over a loss this week to Tom Brady and the Pats as long as it was a good game. Unfortunately, if they don’t get it done against Matt Cassel in the Meadowlands, then it will be hard to come back from! Once again, more added pressure!

I hope the coaching staff will spread things out a little more this week. The Pats strengths are in the defensive front, while they are significantly weaker in the secondary. I still think a heavy dose of Thomas Jones and Leon Washington is needed to keep the defense fresh, but I’d rather see that strategy employed with 3 WR’s on the field and not 2 TE’s like we saw for most of the Dolphin game. It was the right strategy for that game, but they need to spread out these big guys on the Pats front to be effective.

On the other side of the ball, Kris Jenkins will once again be the key. The Patriots should be fairly predictable! Bill Belicheck will come out throwing because he knows the Jets will be keying on the run. I expect a couple of early shots to Moss to set up the Pats running attack. This needs to be drilled into the minds of the Jets secondary! The guys we have up front did a fantastic job last week against Ricky and Ronnie, and we just need to hope for more of the same this week!

The Jets added veteran kicker Jay Feely to the team. All we’re hoping he can do is at least make some extra points and field goals under 40 yards. He should get plenty of chances this week as this one is shaping up to be another defensive battle.

Week by week I think the Jets will slowly take the reins off of Brett Favre for situations like the 3rd and 7 in the fourth quarter. They have to trust him to protect the ball in that situation. Minus a fumble, I thought he did an excellent job of that throughout the game. All in all I loved the strategy employed by Mangini and company! Pound the ball, keep Favre around 25 tosses, and keep the defense fresh which allowed them to handle the Dolphins running attack and to come up with 4 sacks, a forced fumble, and the game winning interception!

Week 2 is a statement game for the Jets! They spent the whole offseason building for this matchup! We all know the Pats haven’t shown anyone mercy over the past few years, so it’s time for the Jets to go out and take care of Matt the Pat!