Which is the Biggest Game of the Second Quarter of the 2013 Season for the New York Jets?

May 22, 2013; Florham Park, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan (left) and general manager John Idzik (right) during the New York Jets organized team activities at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s continue along with our game of speculation. It’s way more fun, to start guessing what is going to happen, rather than wait for the season to start? Wait for the season? What fun is that? Let’s move on with our quarter by quarter breakdown of the 2013 season schedule.

If you missed the analysis of the first quarter, have a look by clicking here.

Here is the second quarter slate of games:

WEEK 5: at AtlantaWEEK 6: vs. PittsburghWEEK 7: vs. New EnglandWEKK 8: at Cincinnati

This group overall is going to be trouble. None of these four teams are going to be push overs. We have quite the experience over the years with Pittsburgh, both in regular season and post season play. The Jets have handled the Bengals in the past, but they have never been easy. Atlanta is always tough, and our friends from New England are never going to just pave the way for us, even without any tight ends.

So which game is the biggest? They are all big, but if I am picking one, I will go with the New England game, week 7.

First of all, the record may be at a real crossroads at this point. The Jets could legitimately be 2-4, or 3-3 at this point. A loss dropping the team to a 2-5 record could be devastating. This is the last time for the 2013 season that the Jets are going to see the Patriots, they are going to have to make it count. They need a win here.

This could be the day that changes Mark Sanchez’s career. If the Jets are at or near .500 heading into this game, and Mark Sanchez is the starter, he will be the starter. They won’t make a change, in my opinion, earlier than this, unless the record is already out of hand. So if we have seen Mark so far, you will see Mark now.

What if the game borders on getting out of hand come the third quarter? Could you see this being the game where we have the entrance of the Geno Smith era. To change pace and catch the Patriots off-balance, absolutely. And, if he leads them to a win over New England, you could end Mark’s career as a Jet with the final gun.

And if they are already out of it, imagine the excitement if this game turned into Geno’s first start? How great would that be? And how much greater would it be if he won the ball game?

They are all big games, I say that over and over again. But, if you had to pick one, I believe this to be the biggest one of the quarter. What do you guys think?