Pats roll over bitter "rival"

"I'm gonna have to start winning some of the matches to call it a rivalry!" -Andy Roddick on being asked whether he and Roger Federer had a rivalry that would last for years

I kept thinking of this quote every time the sports announcers and analysts tried to hype the Patriots-Jets game as a "bitter division rivalry." Since 2002, the Patriots have won 9 out of 11 matches against the Jets!

Though I admit many of those contest over the years have been reasonably close affairs, today's was far from it, as the Pats stomped the Jets 38-14 and pretty much dominated throughout. The game was hyped as a matching of wits between coaches Belichick and Mangini (aka "Mangenius"), but there didn't seem to be a ton of scheming or trickery--the Patriots just had more talented players.

Thoughts from the game:

-Randy Moss did not disappoint. The Pats took their time, gashing the Jets with the run until they got one-on-one matchups on the outside, then hit Moss for big plays. Though the 3rd quarter catch where Moss pulled away from 3 defenders has made all the highlight shows today, it was his second catch down the right sideline that caught my eye. I have not seen the Patriots hit that play in several years, probably because they never had the tall, fast receivers to do it with. Amazing stuff...it will be interesting to see if he can dominate like that against a good defense.

-Ellis Hobbs has a nice 108-yard kickoff return for a TD. While it was a nice play, this likely means that sometime in the next few weeks, a cocky Hobbs is going to run one out of the end zone and get popped at the 10 yard line. I guess it was worth it tho.

-I was really surprised by the Jets' lack of blitzing. It seemed like the game plan was to fake the blitz and drop back in coverage a lot. This reminded me of the Pats strategy in the 2001 Super Bowl against the Rams and the 2003 AFC championship game against the Colts. This clearly didn't work against Brady, as he simply sat back in the pocket and waited for his guys to get open. When the Jets did choose to blitz, Brady read it and exploited it. Brady didn't look like he got touched all day.

-You gotta feel for Chad Pennington. Though he didn't really play that well, he certainly didn't deserve to hear the Jets crowd cheer his exit as he limped off the field with what looked like a badly twisted ankle. The crowd seemed happy to see QB-of-the-future Kellen Clemons enter the game, and to his credit, he didn't let the Patriots' pressure faze him too badly. But he certainly doesn't look like any sort of saviour for what ails the Jets offense.

(As I write this, Keith Olbermann on NBC is calling out Jets fans for this exact same thing. I'm going to have to reconsider my position here, as I don't really want to agree with Keith Olbermann on...well, anything).

-I'll agree with Blogman that the Jets O-line protection is going to be a serious problem this year, regardless of who's behind center...

-...but I'll disagree that the Jets did a good job against the Patriots running game. The Pats established the run early in the first quarter, forcing the Jets to commit more men to stop the run, opening up the passing game for Brady. Classic "run to set up the pass." And once they had the lead, the Pats ran all over the Jets to kill the clock in the 4th quarter. This was a Jets weakness last year, and it looks to be a problem this year as well. (Note: According to Pro Football Prospectus advanced metrics, the Jets actually had a worse run defense than the Colts in 2006).

-As Belichick says, it's only one game, and it doesn't really mean anything, so despite the score, the Pats have a long way to go if they are going to be any good. Hey, if the team buys into it, why shouldn't I?