Have you ever had such a casual attitude while watching a Patriots game?
I know I sure haven’t. Even with the Jets driving in the fourth quarter inside Patriots territory, I never became concerned.
Thanks to my nervous nature, I usually worry about 24-point leads with under four minutes to play. “A few two-point conversions and a successful onside kick or two and this could be a game again,” I’ll mutter.
If you lived through three pulse-pounding, win-at-the-end Super Bowl victories, you can probably relate.
It’s difficult to type these words but, honestly, don’t you feel just a wee bit sorry for Jets fans? If there were ever a star-crossed franchise this side of the Arizona Cardinals, the Jets would be it.
Remember opening day against the Patriots a few years back, Vinny Testaverde went down with a torn Achilles tendon?
Or how about when John Hall’s game-winning field goal was blocked during the Tuna’s Sunday night return to Foxboro Stadium? A date with the Patriots in last year’s AFC Championship Game was served on a silver platter by the Steelers, yet the Jets kicker couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
Around here we complain aabout 10-6 seasons like the one we’re currently suffering through.
Please… If you measure the Patriots historically against the Jets, we have nothing to complain about.
Perhaps there is a logical explanation as to why the Jets fans sometimes display unruly behavior when they head up I-95 for a game at Foxboro. How ornery would you be if you haven’t sniffed a Vince Lombardi Trophy since Neil Armstrong landed on the moon? And then you are subjected to sitting through this embarrassment of a season? I reckon it would almost be enough to junk your Gang Green jersey and go Big Blue.
If you are a Patriots fan, Sunday’s 16-3 win over the lowly Jets will serve as the penultimate “the glass is half empty/half full” debate.
On the one hand, they kept a lousy Jets team around long enough so that a few fluke plays here or there could have made it way too interesting. Yet, wasn’t it a blast to see the Patriots finally get a decent pass rush going? I’m pretty sure I recently saw a picture of the Pats’ pass rush on the side of a milk carton.
Or how about that silly forward lateral and a personal foul negating a Jet fumble in the second quarter that could have ended the game before the half? That’s not the Patriot way.
But yet, I caught you smiling when Corey Dillon started pounding out tough yards on the ground in the second half and Kevin Faulk returned to dazzle us with his usual patented third down high-wire performances.
Suddenly, the Patriots are a respectable 7-5 and have won three out of four as we hit turn four of the 2005 NFL season (Okay, okay. I know they beat the Bills, Saints and Jets. But that’s what they were supposed to do, right?)
Do I harbor any illusions that this season will end no later than the divisional playoff round? Nope. Just watch a Chargers, Chiefs or Jaguars game and if you’re honest, you’ll see the difference.
But what I can buy into is that this team will indeed acquit itself well as defending Super Bowl champs by making an appearance in the playoffs much like this year’s Red Sox did.
And if you were looking at life from underneath one of those schnazzy Jets firefighter helmets, that might look real good right about now.
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