Jets look to hand Titans their first loss

Earlier this week, Jim Rome referred to this weekend’s Patriots-Bills game as the “game of the week.” Say what now? Did Romey not realize that the division leading New York Jets play the undefeated Tennessee Titans this week? Last week, the Jets smacked down the defending AFC Champion, for a half at least. Even though the Jets may have done their best Herm Edwards defense impersonation last week, they are rolling like a club kid in Vegas.

The Jets have won four in a row and six of their last seven games. Even though the Jets played typical Jet football last week and almost blew a game they had to have, the Jets now control their own destiny. Well, until of course Tennessee takes it from them this week.

Aside from the Jets almost blowing the game and making Matt Cassel look like Johnny Unitas in the second half, the Jets still won and that was a big freakin’ game. To Jets fans, this is a huge win. Its not just first place in the division, but for a Jets fan to get a win at New England is a bigger upset than Albert Pujols winning the MVP. It’s a bigger upset than Rocky over Drago minus the homoerotic training sequence in Siberia, but that’s beside the point. It was a big win, OK. I’m not going to lie; it took me almost as long to come down from that win as it would take Robert Downey Jr. to come down from a long weekend in 1996. I still feel it a little bit.

The Jets got the job done up in Foxboro, its as simple as that. Brett Favre played like the Brett Favre of the past few years, the only difference being that he was on Eric Mangini’s leash and not Mike McCarthy’s. Favre managed to not turn the ball over for the second straight game which is probably a career high for him. Rookie tight end Dustin Keller is really starting to come on and Jerricho Cotchery made one of the greatest catches last week that you will ever see. Thomas Jones has morphed from a one touchdown also-ran last season to bettering his Chicago Bear form and becoming a certified fantasy beast.

Other than the collapse in the 2 nd half last week, the Jets defense has been all over the place. Kris Jenkins should be NFL Defensive MVP. That’s right. The Jets secondary has also played better than I could ever remember. Darrelle Revis and Kerry Rhodes are certified stars.

The Jets now control their own destiny. Championship teams respond in situations like this and finish the deal. The players need only to look at those who inhabit the practice bubble outside Gate D at Giants Stadium to see how to handle themselves. It has been forty years and this is not a chance to be taken for granted. They are playing with a quarterback who may actually be retired by the time training camp comes around next year when he decides he wants to play again putting the team in financial disarray, so they must take advantage of the situation they find themselves in now.

> Buy NY Jets jerseys & merchandise online through Pro Football Fans, find NFL Fathead posters or check the updated NFL scores!

The Jets strength over the past few weeks when they have been most successful is their ability to run the ball and stop the run. This coincides directly with the strengths of Tennessee. There’s a reason why the Titans are undefeated. Their defense destroys teams with more ease than Lute Olson destroyed the once proud Arizona basketball program this summer. Their version of thunder and lightning with Chris Johnson and LenDale White gets the job done. Johnson sets them up and LenDale knocks them down.

BUT

Kerry Collins is still Kerry Collins. He may not be the same boozing turnover machine he was when he played for the Giants, but he’s also not Tom Brady circa 2007 or better yet, Kerry Collins circa 1994. The point is, just the same with most quarterbacks in NFL, that he will self-destruct if there is pressure on him. If the Jets can continue their defensive prowess that has cultivated over much of this season and get after Collins, he will make mistakes.

There are some questions that remain regarding this game however. Will the Jets be able to overcome the Titans defense and successfully run the football? Will the defense be able to control Chris Johnson? Is Jillian’s going to pander to the Niners and Raids and not put this game on the big screen when it is obviously the game of the week? Is Russ Pennel going to realize that you DON’T foul in a tie game with less than 10 seconds on the clock? How long can I keep this going?

The truth is that I’m really starting to like this Jets team and its not just because I’m delusional or because I just had 3 double Chivas’ on the rocks (BULLY). But that doesn’t mean I’m going to pick them…

The Prediction:

Titans 30

Jets 17

Let’s pray that I’m wrong.

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