Jets and Patroits Thursday Night Struggle

First place in the AFC East is up for grabs Thursday night when the New York Jets and New England Patriots renew one of the emerging rivalries in the NFL. Both teams are 6-3 and fans and sports bettors have more storylines to follow than As the World Turns. New England would have what amounts to a two-game lead in the tiebreaker, giving them the edge with six games left. New York would have a lesser advantage, nevertheless, both teams have similar schedules the rest of the way and the Jets have one more home game than the Patriots.

The Jets(5-4 ATS) had a historic first half against St. Louis last week, scoring on each of their seven possessions to build a 40-point lead, en route to a 47-3 victory. Their defense forced four turnovers, returning one for a touchdown, and kicker Jay Feely hit field goals of 22, 49, 46 and 55 yards. Feely had 17 points a week after getting 14 in a win at Buffalo, and running back Thomas Jones totaled 149 yards and scored three times.

With most of their starters rested in the fourth quarter, the Jets shouldn’t have any issues dealing with the short work week. Perhaps it’ll help them snap a longstanding funk against New England, which has captured 11 of the last 12 meetings, including a 2006 playoff game and a 19-10 decision in Week 2 of this season. New York is 11-2 ATS as road underdog off a double digit cover against and opponent who is won and covered last week.

Coach Eric Mangini has become obsessed with wanting to beat his former mentor. Since signing with the Jets, Bill Belichick turned his back on Mangini, basically disregarding him as a person for going to division foe. Mangini was taken aback by most insiders and has made it his personal mission to win the AFC East and stick it to his former boss. Since beating the Patriots in New England 17-14 two seasons ago, Mangini and the Flyboys have lost four in a row, getting no closer than nine points. New York is 1-7 ATS after scoring 30 or more points in their previous game.

The Patriots (5-4 ATS) come off an impressive 20-10 victory over the free-falling Bills. Running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who began the season fourth on the depth chart, had 105 yards and one touchdown as head coach Belichick’s offense continues to find a suitable ball carrier. Quarterback Matt Cassel (23 of 34, 234 yards) ran an efficient offense that soaked up more than 37 minutes of clock, and the defense held Buffalo without a touchdown until inside of two minutes. That win raised the Pats record to 11-3 ATS after two or more consecutive wins against the spread.

The Cassel vs. Brett Favre matchup is good stuff. This is why the Jets acquired Favre for games just like this. They want his veteran leadership and savvy to make it through the rough spots. Favre however, has regressed in terms of playing under control this season with 12 interceptions. The New England coaching staff has learned Cassel is much more effective throwing the short ball and has adjusted their offense to match his talents, getting the ball to Wes Welker and Randy Moss more efficiently. The Patriots are 10-1 ATS off a win and cover, having gone Under the total two games in a row and playing division opponent.

Bookmaker.com has New England as three-point favorite with total of 41.5. The host team is just 2-16 ATS in these meetings.

New England is facing a much more confident Jones and Brett Favre than it did Sept. 14. Jones has seven touchdowns in the last five games, and Favre has hit on 33 of his last 47 pass attempts with only one interception. New York has the No. 5 rushing defense in the NFL (76.4 yards per game), thanks to Kris Jenkins being stout in the middle of the 3-4 defense and withstanding constant double-teams at the point of attack. The Patriots have won recently with massive time-of-possession advantages that won't be possible against the Jets if they can't run. The Jets have covered five of their last seven road games.

The Patriots are 2-8 ATS in their last 10 home games and 2-9 ATS in their last 11 tilts following a win. They will need to confuse Favre into mistakes and have Cassel continue to manage the game and provide ball protection.

The NFL Network will once again broadcast this Thursday night showcase starting at 8:15 Eastern.

NFL Quarterback Carousel

Round and round, up and down.

So goes the beloved amusement park pastime and so goes the quarterback carousel in the National Football League.

The scenario that has played out in 2008 could not have been predicted by anyone and has the signs of becoming even more complex. This is about as crazy of a game of musical quarterbacks as I've seen in my brief sportslife.

Through nine weeks of the season we’ve witnessed 46 different signal callers under center for 32 teams. There have been six permanent quarterback changes due to performance or injury and after this week, only half of the teams will still be playing with the same QB they started the season with.

You might be able to point the blame of this quarterback chaos to Kansas City Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard. He sparked this uncontrollable downward spiral after rolling into Tom Brady’s knee, effectively ending his year (and my fantasy football season) in the first quarter of Week 1.

And now Matt Cassel, who never started a game in college and was probably a better baseball prospect than football player, is attempting to lead the New England Patriots back to the Super Bowl where perfection narrowly escaped the dynasty a season ago.

The QB changes are many I have to use extreme brevity in this recap because you would grow tired of scrolling through the pages if I delved deep into the intricacies of each alteration.

I'm going to spare elaborating on teams like the Chiefs who have had 16 different quarterbacks (okay, maybe just three) and the Lions who also have a new QB, but still haven’t won a game even with the departure of the evil Matt Millen.

I won't even begin to mention how the Tennessee Titans made the right move by benching youngster Vince Young, whose commitment to football is questionable at this point, and opting for wily veteran Kerry Collins.

Vikings head man Brad Childress must have stolen a play from the Jeff Fisher quarterback school of thought as Minnesota also elected to resurrect a has-been from the brink of extinction in Gus Ferrotte, opposed to enduring another learning season from inexperienced gunslinger Tavaris Jackson.

And who could forget the Brian Griese experiment? He did throw for 407 yards after winging the ball 67 times in a win at Chicago but subsequently lost his starting job two games later to Jeff Garcia.

If I haven’t lost you already, strap into those saddles and stirrups because this ride is about to get rowdy.

The merry-go-round continues with the NFC West, which has experienced complete quarterback disarray. All four teams have encountered some form of QB controversy at one point this season. Trent “I Have A Concussion” Green got a sympathy start from the Rams former head coach Scott Linehan but current coach Jim Haslett has since reverted back to old ways with Marc Bulger at the helm.

The Seahawks went 1-3 with Matt “Bad Back” Hasselbeck to begin the season and are 1-3 without him since. That team has been decimated by injuries all over the field and you can’t expect Seneca Wallace to guide Seattle to a fifth consecutive division title. Hasselbeck is expected to return in Week 11.

How about the laughable San Francisco 49ers? They drop 24 million on a #1 overall pick in Alex Smith who has turned out to be about as good as Ryan Leaf. So they opt to go with offensive coordinator Martz’s man who came to the Bay from Detroit. But that guinea pig failed as J.T. O’Sullivan helped them to a 2-6 record and as soon as Mike Singletary replaced Nolan as the head coach, found himself standing on the sidelines. This week, Shaun Hill is preparing himself to be the most recent 49ers quarterback failure.

I have the perfect remedy for the Niners. They need to put Michael Robinson, former Penn State QB, and Frank Gore in the backfield and run the Wildcat formation every down. You even have Arnaz Battle, who was a thrower back in his days with the Irish, to set up the triple Wildcat backfield! What defense wouldn’t be confused with all the reverses, pitches, handoffs and an occasional toss to Vernon Davis?

The final portion of this NFC West shakedown involves the division leader in a pre-season QB change. Question remains, will Matt Leinhart ever live up to the expectations bestowed upon him?

Ken Wisenhunt surely isn’t sold on him as being the future of his Arizona Cardinals club. He has had three seasons to take the starting job that has essentially been shoved to him on a silver platter. But Arena Football League star turned Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner has claimed the top spot season after season.

And Warner is ready to retire at the drop of a dime. He threw a bad pass to Anquan Boldin who got his jaw shattered and felt bad so he wanted to quit. How bad do you have to be to not snatch the starting job away from a guy who doesn’t even really want to play anymore?

I guess if you have Reggie Bush, LenDale White, Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith you really don’t have to be that good to win ballgames. And maybe he wasn’t, perhaps we should ask the 2005 National Champion Texas Longhorns.

Speaking of USC Heisman Trophy winners, this should have been the year that Carson Palmer was talked about in the same breath as Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Brett Favre. But that may never happen.

Palmer put together a stellar season in 2005 and showed glimpses of greatness, but ever since that knee injury has been nothing but disappointing. Now he needs Tommy John surgery? Isn’t that a surgical procedure for baseball players? Regardless, Ryan Fitzpatrick is slinging it around in Cincy and that should hint to someone that the team needs a complete overhaul.

So the Houston Texans finally found their man huh? Snatched Matt Schaub away from the Falcons, just before the Vickster gets indicted on dog fighting charges, to replace David Carr. Who I have to say was the beneficiary of a good college team and system…ahem…Alex Smith.

But now Schaub is out 2-4 weeks with a sprained MCL and “Pinch of Sage” Rosenfels will get a second opportunity to prove his worth. He suited up against the Colts in Week 5 and nearly had a stranglehold on the starting gig but threw a pick-six and fumbled away two balls to allow Indy to overcome a 17-point fourth quarter deficit.

Our pinkie finger is probably the most expendable appendage we have. But to Tony Romo and the Cowboys it is worth its weight in gold. Seriously though, a pinkie? I pick my nose with my pinkie finger, and that’s about all it is good for. You should be able to throw a football with a bum pinkie.

No matter, the ‘Boys are 1-2 without their savior and his second coming may be too late. They sit at the bottom of the NFC East standings with a 5-4 record and have a brutal schedule left after their bye week, starting with a date in Washington against the ‘Skins.

The most recent changing of the guard happened in our first NFL Network Thursday night matchup. Four-year pro Derek Anderson might have splintered his booty squirming around on the bench having to watch pretty-boy Brady Quinn get the nod after starting 23 straight contests.

Anderson just hadn’t appeared to have been able to put up to the lofty numbers he did a season ago (29 TDs, 3700+ yards), but maybe if Braylon Edwards could catch a pass or Kellen Winslow actually tried to run a route he could have kept his job.

And I’m sure his uneasiness didn’t subside after the kid went 23-35 with 239 yards and a couple of touchies. Well, at least Kellen Winslow was still dropping passes and fumbling balls. That guy needs to take a seat in the corner and put on the dunce hat or he is about to REALLY start pissing some people off.

There looks to be another QB swap on the horizon as well, but most likely a temporary one. We never heard the end of “Rex is our quarterback” from Chicago coach Lovie Smith in 2007. And then Da Bears roll into 2008 with the “Kyle is our quarterback” campaign plastered all over the walls.

This worked out pretty well until Orton went down with a high ankle sprain last weekend. And now we will get to see how disgusting Grossman can look against the mighty Titans defense. He was able to mount a comeback in last week’s game, throwing for a score and running in another, but this test won’t be against the hapless Detroit Lions.

As long as quarterbacks in the NFL keep underachieving and getting injured, we’ll keep pumping tokens into this carousel.


Scott Cooley is a free-lance writer and chimes in from time to time at 3Daily Winners.