The New York Jets take on the San Diego Chargers in the 2010 AFC Divisional Playoffs on Sunday in San Diego. The Jets advanced to the AFC Divisional Playoff game after beating the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Wildcard game last week 24 -14. The Chargers are the AFC West Champions, are the 2nd seed in the AFC and enjoyed a bye on AFC Wild Card weekend.

The Jets come into this Divisional playoff game as a heavy underdog (Jets +7 under/over 42 points). That’s a huge spread for a playoff game - but spreads are made to be broken. And Thenflthisweek.com predicts that not only will the Jets beat the spread, they will win the game outright. Here’s why:

As everyone now knows, the Jets are #1 in team defense and 1st against the pass; they also have the #1 rushing offense. The Jets QB Mark Sanchez threw 20 interceptions in the regular season but hasn’t thrown one in the last 3 games. The Jets starting running back, Thomas Jones has a banged-up knee and was limited to 15 carries and 34 yards against the Bengals last week. However, rookie RB Shonn Green picked up the slack and rushed for 135 yards. Sanchez has two good receivers in Jericho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards.

The Chargers are the hottest team in the NFL and the winners of 11 straight. They have captured their 4th straight AFC West championship and will be rested from the bye last week.

Chargers QB Phillips Rivers is ranked 3rd in the NFL in QB passing rating with a 104.4. He completed over 65% of his passes for over 4200 yards and 28 TDs. Rivers has a exceptional retrieving corps in Vincent Jackson, Malcolm Floyd and Antonio Gates. And don’t forget they have running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

Many NFL analysts and armchair quarterbacks believe that the Chargers will win the game. Others believe that for the Jets to pull an upset, its up to the Jets defense to stop the powerful Chargers offense. We disagree!

The key to a Jets win is their #1 rated rushing attack. The Jets offense must be able to keep drives alive by running the ball and taking time off the clock. They must keep Rivers and the Chargers offense off the field. If the Jets rushing attack is successful it opens up the chances of Sanchez taking advantage of the play action pass for some big plays.

To a lesser extent, the Jets Defense must stop the Chargers running threat, LaDainian Tomlinson. If they can do that, the Jets could take advantage of their #1 ranked defense against the pass. This will allow them to play man-to-man and put heavy pressure on Rivers and force turnovers.

The Jets have something else going for them, it’s the Chargers bad karma in the playoffs. In 2006 they won 10 straight going into the playoffs then were cut down by New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Playoffs. In 2007 they won 8 in a row before losing to the Patriots again in the AFC Conference Title game. And last year, they upset the Colts in the Wild Card matchup and lost to the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

And finally, the Jets have the momentum, confidence and belief they can go all the way to the Super Bowl.

Thenflthisweek.com Prediction:

Jets 35 Chargers 31