FOXBOROUGH - Might Sunday get a little "Sauce-y" between the Patriots and Jets (sorry. I couldn't help myself)? Considering the lopsided nature of this matchup in previous years, typically, that notion would easily dismissed. But these aren't the Pats of glory years gone by. Then again, this could be the same old Jets. The jury is out on both.
"They don't really have a complex offense," said Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner of the Pats. "It's pretty simple for the quarterback to get. The gap scheme, everything is really simple. But they excel at it. What they try to do is get other people to mess up and make mistakes. They do everything right."
Okay, so that started a little spicy but ended up mild. It's not quite like the Rex Ryan-era Jets circa 2009 and 2010, with Bart Scott running his mouth and Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie patrolling the secondary. But hey, baby steps are needed for both sides. If anything, I'd quibble with Sauce's assertion that the Pats do everything right. Penalties, blown assignments, and turnovers say otherwise. So does the record. The Pats are 0-2 to open the season, and while the Jets beat the Bills in week one, Zach Wilson is their quarterback. We've seen this movie before.
Then there's the history between these two sides. Bill Belichick almost sounded happy Wednesday morning when he announced this is "Jets week." We know of the history between this man and that organization and how much he revels in beating the Jets. It happens often. Since losing to New York in the 2010 Divisional Round, the Pats are 22-2 versus the Jets, including 14 in a row—their average margin of victory is nearly two touchdowns per game (28.7 to 15.2).
"It's time that things change around here," Garrett Wilson said. "I don't like talking about it too much, but this is one of the first steps. Fourteen straight is unacceptable. That's unacceptable. I'm 0-2 against them. That's unacceptable."
"We just treat every game the same for the most part. Football is football," said Gardner. "But of course, that's something we think about. That streak we haven't beat them, 14 games or something like that? I wasn't here, I don't think any of the coaches or players were here, so we can't really feel for the whole 14, but… we want to end that."
As for the Pats, they aren't focused on their epic streak of success against Gang Green. They're just desperate to break through and get into the win column.
"Yeah, I don't think any of those games in the past matter," said Belichick when asked why they've had so much success against Gang Green. "We're worried about this week's game."
"We're hungry for a 'W.' We've put in so much hard work these past two weeks, and that we're close is kind of getting annoying," said JuJu Smith-Schuster. "We want to put good stuff on film and get a win."
At this point, the hell with getting good stuff on film. Win by any means necessary—defensive scores. Special team touchdowns. A gift from the football gods. A victory Sunday means there's life - so you're saying there's a chance? - even with Dallas looming the following weekend. A loss, however, implies near doom. Since expansion in 1979, only six teams have ever made the postseason after starting the season 0-3. Since 2002, of the 99 teams to begin in that big of a hole, only one, the 2018 Houston Texans, has gotten to play meaningful playoff football. Don't let it get to that point if you're the Pats.
"If you know anything about the guy that runs this organization, he's not letting think about anything besides today," said Mike Gesicki. "That's all we're focused on right now."
