Week 7 Injury Report: Patriots at Jets

I don't want to jinx it since it has been such a long time coming, but it appears that Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski will finally make his 2013 debut on Sunday (1, NBCS) vs. the Jets (3-3) then home vs. Denver on Sunday Night Football. Today's injury report came out and both teams are banged up.

Danny Amendola (concussion), Tommy Kelly (knee) and Leon Washington are all out for New England while former Patriot/Invisible Man Greg Salas (knee) and Santonio Holmes (foot) leave New York with some pretty grimy options for rookie Geno Smith to pass to. Aqib Talib is doubtful (hip) so I'd be shocked to see him on the field on Sunday.

There are many things to loath about the Jets: their players, coaches or fanbase all make it way too easy for others. What I'm trying to say is that despite all that, I admire how New York doesn't screw around with its injury report. Salas and Holmes are the only guys they mention that aren't probable.

The Patriots were not impressed with that refreshing honesty as they piled eight guys that are questionable onto the report: Michael Hoomanawanui (knee), Dan Connolly (concussion), Brandon Bolden (knee), Matthew Slater (wrist), Julian Edelman (thigh), Marcus Cannon (shoulder), Tavon Wilson (hamsting) and Gronk (back). It's interesting to note that they don't mention his arm anymore.

I learned my lesson from Week 2's ugly ugly win by the Patriots that while they own the Jets at the moment, they always seem to have tight games vs the Jets for whatever reason. Stay tuned as I update this while the weekend goes by.

UPDATE 10/19: Wilson and Talib are out but the good news is that Gronk made the trip to NY/NJ so he appears to be playing tomorrow. We shall see.

UPDATE 10/20: Patriots inactives are Wilson, Talib, WR Josh Boyce, OL Chris Barker, Amendola, Kelly and Washington. Jets inactives are Brady Quinn, Holmes, Salas, LB Troy Davis, G William Campbell, T Ben Ijilana and T Oday Aboushi.

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Patriots Take A Time Machine Back To The Glory Days, Demolish Jets 37-16

There wasn't a Jets-Patriots game in recent memory that had such a lack of hype. Riding a two-game losing streak, looking extremely vulnerable and fatally flawed in so many ways, the Pats were becoming as irrelevant as I can ever remember in the last decade.

Well thankfully for us, a funny thing happened on the way to morphing into also-rans of the AFC East and the NFL, New England (6-3) showed their still the team to beat in the division with a 37-16 win tonight at MetLife Stadium on Sunday Night Football.

With the loss, the Jets (5-4) not only fall to second-place but they also drop the season series (2-0) to the Patriots which could be a factor in playoff tiebreakers.

Tom Brady (26 of 39, 329 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs) and head coach Bill Belichick became the winningest QB/Head Coach duo in NFL history with their 117th win (sorry Dan Marino/Don Shula).

Another interesting stat that was highlighted on NBC's typically superb broadcast: New England hasn't lost three straight games since 2002-the fourth longest streak in NFL history.

The way that this one played one was shocking since New England's secondary suffered another injury (separated shoulder to Devin McCourty) with guys like Sterling Moore, Philip Adams, Antwaun Molden, Ross Ventrone (he exists!), Sergio Brown and James Ihedigbo all getting playing time. Oh and Patrick Chung didn't even suit up.

The reason the Patriots defense played so well was mostly because of two incredible performances: Andre Carter set a team-record with 4.5 sacks while Rob Ninkovich had two interceptions including his first career interception.

Did I mention that Jeff Tarpinian got his first career start (at linebacker) along with Moore (at safety)? Yup, this is real life.

It is amazing though what a pass rush can do. The Patriots had 15 sacks in their first eight games of 2011; they got a third of that total tonight alone. Mark Anderson had half a sack and he added some pressure from the defensive end position as well. Of course, facing Mark Sanchez (20 of 39, 306 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs) and the plodding Jets offense is a big help too. Still, New York had been playing great coming into this pivotal matchup, winners of its last three games.

I can't believe it took me this long to mention him but Rob Gronkowski (8 catches, 113 yards, 2 TDs) was the best skill position player on the field. With Wes Welker (6 catches, 46 yards) held in check by the incomparable Darrelle Revis, Gronk stepped up as he usually does.

Hell, even Chad Johnson (2 catches, 65 yards) made a couple plays, including a 53-yard catch on a blown coverage by Kyle Wilson. Deion Branch (5 catches, 58 yards) made it four consecutive games with a score against the J E T S.

Santonio Holmes (6 catches, 93 yards) was the only Jets receiver or running back to really stand out. Shonn Greene (13 carries, 61 yards) had a decent game but as the deficit piled up, New York was forced to abandon the run-something they're loathe to do.

New England lead 6-0 after the first quarter thanks to a pair of field goals (50-yard and 36-yard) by Stephen Gostkowski. Nick Folk missed a 24-yard chip shot on New York's opening drive, an omen of ineptitude to come by his mouthy teammates.

It looked like a replay of last weekend's loss to the Giants as the Patriots defense slowly started to crumble. It wasn't there fault that New York got on the board by forcing an intentional grounding by Brady in the end zone, which was a safety.

Sanchez gave the Jets their only lead of the game as he took a quarterback draw two yards for a touchdown. New York led 9-6 with 1:20 left in the first half but they left Brady and Co. too much time on the clock.

Looking much more precise than he did earlier in the half (when he could have had three interceptions), Brady hit Gronkowski for a momentum turning 18-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds left in the half.

Unlike the Giants game or any other contest this season, New England's defense got better in the second half while the offense worked in conjunction with it. What a concept!

After a 27-yard field goal by Gostkowski in the third quarter (thanks to Niko Koutouvides' fumble recovery on a muffed punt), Ninkovich made his first pick of Sanchez on what Cris Collinsworth termed a "triple tip." Somewhere Bibi Jones drools to death. Speaking of everyone's favorite porn star, her boy Gronk caught a 5-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive to give New England a commanding 23-9 lead. A two score lead against Sanchez and the Jets is analogous to a 30-point lead against most normal teams.

Plaxico Burress gave temporarily hope to Fireman Ed and his many friends (haha yeah right) with a 7-yard touchdown catch to begin the fourth quarter.

From there, Branch (8-yard TD) and Ninkovich (12-yard interception return) clinched it with a pair of scores in the span of three plays.

What this win gives Patriots fans more than anything is hope which is something that has been lacking with this team for longer than we care to admit. The Bills (5-4) got embarrassed today by the Cowboys, 44-7, so they're quickly coming back to Earth. Most promising, as Al Michaels pointed out late in the broadcast, the Pats have statistically the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL.

We all know that nothing really matters until this team proves it can win in the postseason. Making the playoffs is still basically a forgone conclusion. When the 2011 playoffs roll around, it will be four years since the last Patriots playoff win.

The road to respectability for this defense continues next week in another primetime game: Monday night at Gillette vs. the Kansas City Chiefs (4-5) and Matt Cassel.

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Patriots Take Care Of The Jets, 30-21

When you live in or around a place that has four pro sports teams (that are all usually playoff-bound), sometimes games don't get the proper hype or buildup that they deserve.

I'll admit that for once, the New England Patriots-New York Jets game that occurred this afternoon at Gillette Stadium wasn't filled with the usual garbage during the week but after watching the Pats (4-1) hold off the Jets (2-3) 31-20, I'm also going to say that I don't really care and it was refreshing not to hear Rex Ryan and Co. have verbal diarrhea over and over again.

Due to the Red Sox' upheaval and the Bruins' first couple games of the new season, this contest somehow was on the backburner until it snuck right up on this Columbus Day weekend. The result was very satisfying, especially since the New England defense and running game were the units that made the most contributions to the win. However, call me back when the Pats can do this in New Jersey (Sun. Nov. 13) in the rematch or more importantly, in the playoffs.

The Jets are currently a mess so the fact that Bill Belichick moved to 3-3 in his last six games against Ryan wasn't as sweet as it would normally seem. New York's defense can only take it so far. Quarterback Mark Sanchez (16 for 26, 166 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT) still can't carry the offense and the running game is usually non-existent although Shonn Greene (21 carries, 83 yards, TD) came out of hiding today to have a nice performance.

The last two games, rookie running back Stevan Ridley had pushed for more playing time and more touches. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that he was completely shut down by the Jets' physical defense. Ridley carried the ball seven times for 13 yards. Luckily, BenJarvus Green-Ellis picked the right time to have a career day as he rushed for a career-high 136 yards on 27 carries with two touchdowns.

Pats quarterback Tom Brady (24 for 33, 321 yards, TD, INT) had another nice day thanks to New England's relentless no-huddle attack. However, New York's pressure (four sacks) coupled with a bad break (Aaron Hernandez dropped a sure touchdown right before halftime) meant that Brady's numbers weren't as smooth as flawless as they should have been.

Wes Welker (5 catches, 124 yards) and Deion Branch (7 catches, 74 yards) were the best wide receivers on the field, proving that contrary to popular belief Jets All-World cornerback Darrelle Revis can only cover one guy at a time, not five or six. One of my favorite parts of the win was when CBS announcer Phil Simms had just gotten done with about his tenth tongue bath of Revis when Welker caught a 73-yard bomb on him to start the second half. Truth be told, it wasn't really Revis' fault since the safety blew the coverage (zone) but still, sometimes it's nice to be reminded that as good as Revis is, he's human.

Santonio Holmes (4 catches, 60 yards, TD) and Plaxico Burress (3 catches, 42 yards) were relatively quiet but that was nothing compared to tight end Dustin Keller (1 catch, 7 yards) who didn't do anything for the Jets in their third straight loss.

New York didn't record a first down until the second quarter and New England took advantage as BJGE had a 3-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter (Stephen Gostkowski PAT) for a 7-0 Patriots lead.

Gostkowski's 44-yard field goal made it 10-0 early in the second quarter but Greene answered with a 3-yard touchdown run of his own late in the first half. As mentioned before, the Pats left points on the board as Hernandez (5 catches, 56 yards) bobbled an easy catch right to Jets cornerback/father of the year Antonio Cromartie.

Branch's 2-yard touchdown catch to start the second half gave New England some breathing room (17-7) but Sanchez and rookie wide receiver Jeremy Kerley responded with a 9-yard strike.

Green-Ellis did everything on a late third quarter drive, including his second 3-yard touchdown run. It felt like New England would put it away with another touchdown to start the fourth quarter but Gostkowski had to settle for a 24-yard field goal (27-14).

Yet again, Sanchez made some plays when he had to as he found Holmes for a pretty 21-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. Thanks to New England's determined running game, they were basically able to keep the ball away from the Jets and Gostkowski ended the comeback attempt with a 28-yard kick.

This was the 13th straight time that New England has scored 30+ points, that's only one behind the NFL record set by the Rams' Greatest Show on Turf (1999-2000).

New England will try to win its third consecutive game next Sunday afternoon as they host the Dallas Cowboys (2-2). Not to underestimate Tony Romo and his teammates but they're exactly the type of squad that the Patriots almost always defeat. You can count on Romo to make a couple outrageous mistakes and I'd be shocked if Dallas' defense (coached by Rob Ryan) can do much to stop Brady and this prolific offense.

The Buffalo Bills (4-1) won again today, beating the Eagles, so they're tied atop the AFC East with the Patriots and they hold the tiebreaker. New York is in third place and Miami (0-4) had a bye week so at least they can say they didn't lose today.

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When did the New England Patriots turn into the Indianapolis Colts?

If the NFL playoffs have taught us anything, especially this season, being a top seed or favorite doesn't mean anything these days. Last week, the New Orleans Saints lost to the Seattle Seahawks, the Indianapolis Colts lost to the New York Jets and on Saturday, the Atlanta Falcons got creamed by the Green Bay Packers.

Those were all trumped by the epic no-show, choke job pulled off yesterday by the New England Patriots who lost 28-21 to the Jets in the AFC Divisional Round at Gillette Stadium.

New York took the rubber game of the season series with New England and advances to its second straight AFC Championship game, on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Everything was falling the Patriots' way before the loss; all they had to do was win two games at home (against teams they had already beaten this season) and then top an NFC team that they would be favored over and they'd have their fourth Super Bowl title of the decade.

However, unbeknownest to myself and most of the fan base, we have become the Colts or San Diego Chargers, team built to rack up mostly meaningless regular season games and then turtle in the playoffs.

It's time to face facts: the Patriots haven't won a playoff game since the 2007 AFC Championship. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have lost their last three playoff games and each has been in horrific fashion: losing the perfect season to the New York Giants in Super Bowl 42, getting crushed by the Baltimore Ravens last season at Gillette and then yesterday, losing to your most bitter rival.

While we're dealing with some real talk, can we also admit that Rex Ryan despite all his ridiculousness (foot fetish videos, diahrea of the mouth, etc.) can coach a football team and his method works. All week leading up to the game, it was endless trash talk from the Jets and you had to hope that the Pats would let their play on the field do the talking. Who knows if it had any effect but clearly, there's more than one way (Belichick's no fun model) to win in this NFL.

Patriots honks are the most delusional fan base around here so it'll be interesting to see if this makes them admit the truth, that Belichick and Brady aren't perfect. What is the excuse for yesterday? There is none not that it will necessarily stop them from whining.

I hate the Jets but I have to admire the way they play loose and back up their big talk. They still have to win two games to capture a Super Bowl but this was the biggest win for them in a long, long time.

I want to be really bitter about this defeat but what can you say if you're a Patriots fan? They didn't get screwed by the refs (a loser's excuse) or a random play (tuck rule), they simply didn't execute as well as New York and they seemed rattled from the beginning of the miserable game until the end.

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (16 for 25, 194 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) played better than Patriots icon Tom Brady (29 for 45, 299 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) and that was supposed to be the one area where New England had the biggest advantage.

All day, the Patriots receivers were covered by the Jets' outstanding secondary or simply thrown off their routes. Whatever the case, Brady had to wait too long and getting sacked five times didn't help his confidence either.

Shayne Graham had the only points of the first quarter, a 34-yard field goal. Brady threw a terrible pick, on a screen pass but New England's defense held the Jets to a field goal attempt which Nick Folk promptly missed.

New York got on the board in the second quarter when LaDainian Tomlinson scored on a 7-yard pass from Sanchez.

Braylon Edwards gave the Jets a 14-3 lead with 33 seconds left in the half when he fought through tackle attempts by Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty and safety Brandon Meriweather to reach the end zone.

That late score was the biggest one of the game and it came as a result of a bizarre call which will go down in Patriots' lore as one of the worst in history. Apparently, Patrick Chung called for a direct snap on a punt. The problem was he fumbled it then couldn't get a first down and that gave New York prime field position deep in New England territory. Why would you ever make that choice in that spot? Mystifying.

Alge Crumpler got the Patriots back into the game with a 2-yard touchdown catch from Brady late in the third quarter, the frame's only points. Sammy Morris took a direct snap on the two-point conversion and ran it in to cut it to 14-11 Jets.

In the biggest quarter of the season, New York made the plays. Santonio Holmes, one of the most clutch players in the NFL, made an absurd 7-yard touchdown catch and Shonn Greene had a 16-yard touchdown run when the Jets were running out the clock.

Shayne Graham's field goal in between those New York touchdowns had made it 21-14 but there was only 1:57 left. Deion Branch (5 catches, 59 yards) caught one last touchdown with 24 seconds left but New England couldn't recover an onside kick (it couldn't get the one after Graham's kick either) and the upset was official.

This one will take a while to get over. The Patriots overachieved all season with a collection of young players and no-names that combined to go 14-2 in the regular season. Still, when it mattered not enough of them showed up to beat a team they knew very well. And I hate to be a realist but the window on Belichick and particularly Brady closes a little more since they'll both be a year older when the team gets back together for training camp in August.

Reality Bites

The past few weeks with Matt Cassel playing the best football of his life, it was easy for Patriots fans to think that just maybe this team could make a playoff run in the AFC that other than the Titans, has no heavyweights in 2008.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3) came to Gillette Stadium yesterday afternoon and made a statement with a 33-10 victory over New England (7-5).

We were getting ahead of ourselves and this team-while still in position for a playoff spot given such an easy remaining schedule-has to get its shit together and fast.

The Pats actually led 10-3 late in the first half (and it should have been more) but the Steelers reeled off 30 straight points.

One of the hallmarks of the last eight years for New England has been smart, physical football. Rarely do the Patriots make more mental mistakes than their opponents.

That trait was totally absent yesterday as the Patriots turned the ball over five times and had countless drops and stupid mistakes.

After posting 400+ yards in his last two starts, Cassel quickly came back to earth against the No. 1 defense in the NFL. He was 19-for-39 for 169 yards and two interceptions. He also fumbled twice.

Cassel's teammates didn't help him much as Randy Moss (twice), Ben Watson and Jabar Gaffney all dropped very catchable balls.

Kevin Faulk (73 yards rushing, 48 yards receiving) seemed to be the only New England player that showed up all day.

Things started out well as Mike Vrabel picked off Ben Roethlisberger deep in Steelers territory on their first drive. Sammy Morris punched it in from 2 yards out to put the Pats up 7-0.

Pittsburgh drove down to the red zone but New England's defense held up, forcing a 20-yard field goal by Jeff Reed.

Stephen Gostkowski's 29-yard kick put the Pats up 10-3 in the second quarter.

Big Ben and the Steelers moved the ball downfield efficiently and Roethlisberger found Santonio Holmes for a 19-yard TD pass.

Cassel and the offense looked like they would go up before halftime but Moss dropped a pass in the end zone and then Gostkowski shanked a 27-yard kick.

In the third quarter, Pittsburgh took a 13-10 lead on a Reed 25-yard kick then everything fell apart for New England.

Normal return man Ellis Hobbs was on the bench with cramps so rookie Matthew Slater took the ensuing kickoff and promptly fumbled which Pittsburgh recovered.

Two plays later, Roethlisberger hit Hines Ward with an 11-yard TD pass.

James Harrison started to get around Matt Light at will and he caused both fumbles by Cassel that Pittsburgh recovered. Two more Reed field goals and two more Cassel picks made this an ugly blowout.

Gary Russell went in from a yard out to make it 33-10 Steelers.

It was a pretty depressing game, fittingly played in miserable pouring rain.

Wes Welker left the game in the second half after taking a kill shot from a Steelers defensive back. Somehow, he walked off under his own power after being drilled when he was defenseless and trying to make a catch.

The Jets lost and the Dolphins won, meaning New England is still a game behind the New York and tied with Miami. Buffalo lost so they're officially done from the AFC East race.

The schedule maker gave the Pats a gift at the beginning of the year in the form of consecutive games at Seattle and Oakland.

Since they're still on the outside of the playoff picture, the remaining four games for the Patriots are crucial. They have to win at least three, four to be safe.

Just like they have no excuse for yesterday, there is no reason in the world they should lose to the Seahawks or Raiders, two of the worst teams in the NFL this season.