The Jets are 4-4, but they haven’t beaten a good team this whole season.  They played tough against the Patriots in the first game played between these two teams, but lost 24-17.  The Patriots are coming off of a tough loss last Sunday night against the Colts and should be focused this week.

Look for the Jets to try to run the football against the Patriots with Leon Washington (397 yards rushing) and Kevan Barlow (252 yards rushing), but it won’t be easy because the Patriots only allow 75.1 yards rushing per game and 3.2 yards per carry.  If Pennington gets the time to throw the ball and his shoulder feels good (it looks pretty weak lately) he could have a little success through the air.  Lauveranues Coles (46rec, 606 yards) and Jerricho Cotchery (35 rec, 461 yards) could have good games, but Pennington will have to be careful.

The Patriots will attack the soft Jets run defense with rookie Laurence Maroney (458 yards rushing) and Corey Dillon (381 yards rushing).  The Jets run defense has allowed 143.0 yards rushing and 4.4 yards per carry this season as it’s adjusting to the 3-4 defense.  After the run is established look for Tom Brady to attack the Jets deep with his play-action passing. 

Look for the Patriots to kick the Jets butt on Sunday.  The Jets can’t stop the run and that is the Patriots strength on offense.  Also, look for Tom Brady to rebound from his tough game last Sunday against the Colts.

Chad Pennington has played much better than the Jets could have expected after he’d been so banged up the last couple of seasons.  Chad has lacked the zip on his short passes which has resulted in some interceptions.  Pennington has completed 62.4% of his passes for 1, 558 yards with 9 TDs and 8 INTs.  Pennington has a QB rating of 82.3 which is about league average.  The Jets really need a running game to protect Pennington because his arm will fall off if he has to throw the ball 35-40 times a game.

Curtis Martin tried to comeback and ran pain-free when he ran in a straight line, but when he tried to cut he felt big-time pain.  The Jets decided to call it a season for Martin, but Martin refused to retire saying that he might want to play next season.

The Jets are 4-4 because of the weak schedule they have played this season.  The second half will be much tougher, so the Jets had better work on their running game on offense.  Leon Washington has run the ball well as a rookie, but Kevan Barlow had been a huge disappoinment.  The Jets need to run the ball better so that they can protect Chad Pennington (whose arm is looking a little weak) and their horrible defense.  It usually takes time to adjust to the 3-4 defense, but this is getting ridiculous.  The Jets are allowing 143.0 yards rushing and 4.4 yards per carry.  The Jets pass defense has been nothing to write home about either, allowing 216.1 net yards passing per game.

Did any of my fellow green backs happen to check out the segment on Total access called Officials review?  If didnt it was a total let down on how the officials make so called “judgement” calls.  It is totally mindnumbing to set there and listen to this head official tell Rich Eisen that the call was way to close to even discuss in a indepth manner, when quite frankly it was obvious that Chris Baker would have caught his first TD of the season to tie the game in Cleveland.  In this case I attended the game in person but was on the opposite end where this event occurred but still able to see it on the jumbotron made me believe that the Jets would have been able to even the score.  In closing I would like to say thanks for letting me vent to anyone reading this, I bleed green and hate anyone playing my beloved J-E-T-S!!!!                  seriously green,   Chuck…