Jets Face Big Test in Buffalo

Favre & Company look to topple divsional foe

I know I didn’t write for this website last week after attending Jets-Raiders in Oakland. Don’t worry I’m not dead, just lazy.

In the past two weeks, the Jets have lost and nearly lost at home to two of the worst five teams in the NFL or as Ron Jaworski would say, The National Football League. When that happens, guess what, you’re not very good. When you let Yancey Thigpen’s little brother Tyler throw all over you, not only is that a showing of bad defensive football, you should be embarrassed and by you, I mean me. What is defensive coordinator Bob Sutton still doing here? I mean really. He almost got fired in the offseason and was saved by Rob Ryan not getting fired. Smart move.

The Jets defense tallies up sacks every week, but fails to consistently get after the quarterback. Let’s be honest. Tyler Thigpen? TYLER…THIGPEN? Herman Edwards? HERM EDWARDS? I just threw up in my mouth. In fact I think a little dribbled down my chin. I am disgusted by the way this team played the past two weeks and for the entire season for that matter, but there is one reason for the majority of the Jets shortcomings and let me just say it’s not Leon Washington.

Eric Mangini’s act is starting to wear thin on me and guess what Jet fans…Brett Favre is done. He’s finished. He is more washed up than Heather Locklear. He has taken harder hits this year than Tommy Chong. Yes, that was a weed reference. Let’s face it people, in football terms Brett Favre is almost as old as John McCain, except he doesn’t have a hot little piece trolling the campaign trail for him. Favre just can’t get the job done anymore. I don’t know if he should be more embarrassed by his play this year or his horrific acting in There’s Something About Mary (I’m not saying he was bad in that movie, but Shaq was a lot more convincing as Neon Bodeaux in Blue Chips).

The Jets have not been all bad this year; let me focus on some of the positives for a second. I am more excited to see Leon Washington return a kick than I am to see Naylin Paylin. Calvin Pace has been ferocious getting after the quarterback. His play this year kind of reminds me of a black Mark Gastineau. Tommy Jones has even scored touchdowns against teams other than the Dolphins and Eric Mangini has only fallen asleep during games twice, but at least he hasn’t pulled a Samurai Mike and dropped his pants. So things haven’t hit rock bottom…yet.

This week the Jets head to Buffalo’s stadium conveniently named after the owner of the team to play an upstart Bills squad. Trent Edwards has evolved from starting QB of a losing Stanford team into arguably one of the top ten quarterbacks in the NFL.

This is a huge game. As Glenn Katzman says, “This game between the Jets and the Bills will determine who the primary power is in the AFC East.” I don’t agree 100 percent with that because I am an enormous pessimist, but this is a massive test this week. It will determine whether or not the Jets hang with the pack, or fade away the rest of the season and go wherever old quarterbacks go.

The Bills have been pretty impressive this year. Other than a slight hiccup last week losing to the Dolphins on the heels of wildcat, the Bills have been pretty solid as long as Trent Edwards is at the helm. Other than last week, their only loss was in Arizona when Edwards sat out most of the game after being injured early. For the first quarter of the season it seemed as if the Bills could run away with this division, but I’ll quote Lee Corso and make my SECOND ESPN reference and say, “Not so fast my friend.” The Pats are now also 5 and 2 and sit atop the division along with Dick Jauron’s squad. Although the Jets keep meandering around, they are nipping at the heels of both teams at 4 and 3, while the Dolphins can smell a division crown as well being only 2 games back on the heels of wildcat. This division is up for grabs and if Brett Favre’s AARP card arrives in time for Sunday, come Monday morning (Jimmy Buffett reference) the Jets may be a major power player in the AFC.

This is a monstrous week for Jets Nation. However, the Bills present some problems for the NYJ. Not only did the Jets drop two games to the Bills last year, but D’Brickashaw Ferguson consistently gets owned by Aaron Schobel. So basically, if you’re scoring at home, and I don’t see why you wouldn’t be, isn’t good especially if your 39 year old quarterback holds onto the ball longer than the four hour cut of Queen’s Boulevard.

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The Jets played atrociously last week. An effort like that will not fly in Buffalo this week. The Jets need to find their identity on both sides of the ball and until they do, this is going to be a long season.

The prediction: Bills 37 - Jets 20

Let’s pray that I’m wrong.

By Dan Rein
ProFootball-fans.com New York Jets Correspondent