The New York Jets hope of taking over sole possession in the AFC East were crashed after their devastating loss the New England Patriots (45-3) Monday night in Foxboro.

You could almost hear Dandy Don Meredith singing “Turn out the lights …”, after the Patriots took a 17-0 first quarter lead. By half time it was 24-3.

But this is NFL football, and most of us expected to see the Jets come out of the locker room, hell-bent on kicking Patriot butt – but who would have “thunk” it. The Jets never got over their shell-shock from the first half!

While Tom Brady and the Patriot offense added 21 more points, the Patriot defense, ranked 31st in the NFL, shutout (and shut up) the Jets in the second half. The final score 45-3.

Why did the Jets lose so badly? Are the Patriots that good? Is the Jets Bark bigger than it’s Bite?

The answer is both, plus another factor – Tom Brady! Here are some tidbits to back it up:

• With Tom Brady at QB, the New England Patriots have won last 25 consecutive games at home.
• Brady hasn’t thrown an interception in his last 228 passes.
• Brady has thrown at least one TD pass in all 12 of the Patriots games in 2010.
• Brady followed up a 4 touchdown, perfect 158.3 QB rating against Detroit last week with a 4 TD passes and 148.9 QB rating against the Jets.
• 8 different receivers caught Brady passes against the Jets.
• An ex-Jet, Danny Woodhead, had 4 receptions for 104 yards. Wes Welker had 7 catches for 80 yards and 1 TD. Deion Branch, Aaron Hernandez and Brandon Tate were each on the receiving end of a Brady TD pass.
• Brady is the NFL MVP
• The Patriots have the #1 ranked offense in the NFL.
• The Jets allow an average of 19 points per game – 6th worse in the NFL.
• The Jets score on average 22 points per game – 14th in the NFL.
• The Jets average 356 yards per game – 12th in the NFL.
• The Patriots have beaten Baltimore, San Diego, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and the Jets.
• The Jets record of 9-3 comes against teams with a combined record of just 39-68, with only one of those teams being over .500 (the Patriots in Week 2, who were 1-0).

The Jets can take one consolation from the game; it only counts as one loss. If they can come to terms with this loss and play better football, they may still have a chance to snatch first place in the AFC East division title from the the Patriots. But it won’t be easy and they’ll need some help!

The Jets play the Miami Dolphins (6-6) at home, travel to take on the Steelers (9-3) and the Bears (9-3), and return home for the season finale against the Bills (2-10).

The rest of the Patriots schedule is away at Chicago (9-3), home at Green Bay (8-4), away in Buffalo (2-10). They finish at home against the Dolphins (6-6).

But one question remains:  Will the Jets get out of their seats after their near-fatal crash in Foxboro?

We’ll have to wait a week!

Sources: new york daily news, sportsillustrated.com

The AFC East Division champion New England Patriots (10-6) host the AFC wild card winner Baltimore Ravens (9-7) in the second AFC matchup of Wildcard Weekend. If you’re a betting man, you can bet on the Patriots winning this one and moving on to the second week of the AFC playoffs.

The Patriots certainly aren’t the same team they were in their Superbowl seasons of 2001, 2003 and 2004. But they still have arguably the best active coach in the NFL – Bill Belichick. They also have future hall-of-famer Tom Brady leading the offense. One impressive stat that stands out is the Belichick-Brady combo have a 14-3 playoff record.

The Baltimore Ravens are lead by sophomore coach-QB combo of John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco. In 2008, the Ravens stunned the masses by not only making the playoffs but advancing to the 2008 AFC Championship game. However, in 2009 they barely beat the Oakland Raiders to win one of the two wildcard spots. And since the departure of defensive coordinator Rex Ryan (Now the Jets coach), the Ravens defense just isn’t the same.

The New England Patriots offense does have one big issue to overcome. They will operate without their star WR Wes Welker (placed on injured reserve). But Thenflthisweek.com believes that the combination of Patriots future hall-of-fame WR Randy Moss and rookie WR Julian Edelman should be able to pickup most of the slack left by Welker’s absence. The Pats also have a multitude of running backs in Kevin Faulk, Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris available to carry the ball.

Don’t be misled by the Ravens offense. QB Joe Flacco has a complement of talent to help move the ball in RB Ray Rice, WR Derrick Mason and TE Todd Heap. But based on his 2009 regular season statistics, QB Flacco is not as effective on the road as he is at home.

The Patriots are favored by 3.5 points with the under/over is 43 points.

The combination and playoff history of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady is the determining factor in our prediction.

Thenflthisweek.com AFC playoff prediction

Patriots 21 Ravens 17

The 2010 NFL Playoff schedule kicks off this Saturday with what is better known as Wild Card Weekend. Interestingly enough, three of four games are rematches of the final week of the NFL season. The Jets do it again against the Bengals, Eagles repeat against the Cowboys and the Packers mix it up again with the Cardinals. Here is the 201 NFL playoff schedule for Wild Card Weekend.

The New York Jets (9-7) will visit Ohio to take on the AFC North division champion Cincinnati Bengals (10-6) in the first of 4 NFL playoff games this weekend; kickoff is 4:30 pm ET.
The Jets truly earned their spot into the Wild Card Weekend, beating the undefeated Indianapolis Colts on week 15 and then demolishing the Bengals in the last week of the NFL regular season 37-0. Don’t expect the Jets to beat the Bengals by the same score, but it sure does look like they are just hitting their stride.
Thenflthisweek.com prediction: Jets 28 Bengals 7

On Saturday evening, the Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) head to Texas to take on the NFC East Division Champion Dallas Cowboys (11-5) at 8:00 pm ET. The Eagles are also looking for revenge of their final regular season game loss to the Cowboys 24-7. That loss gave the Cowboys the NFC East title and homefield advantage for the Wild Card Weekend matchup. Cowboys also look like they are clicking on all cylinders.
Thenflthisweek.com prediction: Cowboys 31 Eagles 14

On Sunday, Wild Card Weekend continues with the other AFC wildcard winner, Baltimore Ravens (9-7), traveling to play the AFC East champion New England Patriots (10-6) in a 1:00 pm ET start. In week 16 of the NFL season the Ravens clinched the wildcard spot with a win over the Oakland Raiders 21-13 while the Patriots lost to the Houston Texans 34-27.
Ravens had a tough time beating the lowly Raiders while the Patriots seemed to be in “rest” mode against the Texans.
Thenflthisweek.com prediction: Patriots 21 Ravens 17

And finally, game 4 of the Wild Card Weekend is the Green Bay Packers (11-5) heading to the desert to play the AFC West champion Arizona Cardinals (10-6) at 4:00 EST. In week 16 action, the Packers beat the Cards 33-7. Again, don’t expect to see the same result.
Tough call here – but playing home in the desert definitely gives the Cards a sizable advantage.
Thenflthisweek.com prediction: Cardinals 24 Packers 21

The 2010 NFL Playoff Schedule has NFC first-round byes to the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings while the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers enjoy an AFC first-round bye.