After all the trash talk, it's game time
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - For the past week, leading up to their third meeting of the season and first since a 45-3 loss to the Patriots on national television last month, the Jets have done their share of trash-talking, engaging in enough verbal sparring to overload an incinerator.
From Rex Ryan making it personal against Bill Belichick, to Antonio Cromartie's unflattering comments about Tom Brady, to Bart Scott telling Wes Welker in no uncertain terms to watch what he says about Ryan, there's been no shortage of verbal barbs hurled from New York toward New England.
"It's kind of like a boxing match," LaDainian Tomlinson said. "Before the fight, you are going to get guys that are talking and trying to get in each other's head. It's the same way with football . . . Then you go at it, and after the game, guys are going to be hugging, I guarantee you."
Still, there's no love between these two rivals, and considering the stakes, emotions are sure to be running high Sunday when the sixth-seeded Jets square off against the top-seeded Patriots in their AFC divisional matchup at Gillette Stadium.
The winner takes on No. 2 Pittsburgh in next Sunday's AFC title game. If the Jets (already victorious in the postseason for a second straight year for the first time in their history) beat the Patriots, it will be their second appearance in the AFC Championship Game in as many seasons under Ryan, putting them a step closer to reaching that Super Bowl they've chirped about since training camp.
"It's huge for us," Mark Sanchez said. "This would set us up right where we want to be and put us in the AFC Championship Game, where we were last year, and hopefully move on from there. It's a tough challenge. We're facing a very good defense and a great defensive coach in coach Belichick, so we need to bring our best."
Ryan made no secret of the enormity of today's game. Even though they were one step from reaching Super Bowl XLIV at about this time a year ago - when they couldn't hold a 17-6 lead over the Colts in the AFC Championship Game and lost, 30-17 - Ryan thinks there's only one other game in Jets history that tops the importance of this date with the Patriots.
"This one will probably be the second-biggest game in the history of the franchise," said Ryan, whose team beat the Patriots, 28-14, on Sept. 19 at New Meadowlands Stadium. "Obviously, Super Bowl III being the most [important].
"I think this one is huge because you've got your rival, a team that has won three Super Bowls right there in your own division. You're at their place, you're coming off the huge, embarrassing loss we had in that Monday night game. I think this, without question, would be the second-biggest game in the history of the franchise."
A lot of opinions have been tossed around this past week - not only emanating from the Jets' locker room - and that prompted the NFL to contact multiple teams, making sure trash-talking doesn't carry over to the field and players don't cross the line with dangerous play.
Sure, the Jets-Patriots rhetoric reached unparalleled proportions, but not to a level that Scott and his teammates were worried about giving their opponent too much fodder to throw back in their faces.
"I'm not afraid of anybody," Scott said. "C'mon, man. This is the NFL. If you need bulletin- board material to be motivated, then you are probably a sucker to begin with. They should be excited. I think everybody in the playoffs is excited for the opportunity to play the next week, to have an opportunity to get a Super Bowl. If you can't get hyped for the playoffs, then you really don't have a pulse and you must be playing for money or something."
The Jets know they'll have to play better than they did Dec. 6 in New England. They were outclassed from the get-go, falling behind 17-0 en route to a 24-3 halftime deficit, forcing them to abandon their offensive game plan and be much more unbalanced than they wanted.
They watched that game's footage countless times. "I think it is motivation," Tomlinson said. "Obviously, the way we lost was one thing. It's embarrassing and it wasn't us. This time, we hope to put on a better performance, and I think we will."
They'll probably be ridiculed if they don't.
"I understand it, the buildup, the hoopla and the fanfare," Jason Taylor said. "But at the end of the day, it's the preparation that we put [in] away from the cameras, away from the press, away from the media and the hype. That's what will win the game for you."
