What Vegas thinks of Jets-Pats
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- December
- 12
There have been plenty of games hyped more than this one. Pats-Colts was called Super Bowl XLII 1/2. Cowboys-Packers was Super Bowl XLII 3/4. But I don’t think a spread has ever been more highly anticipated than Sunday’s Pats-Jets game. From the moment New England started putting the hammer down on people—think 55-7 over Washington—people have been licking their chops over how badly the Pats were going to crush the Jets. Belichick supposedly wants to rub Mangini’s nose in the dirt over Spygate, so he’s going to pull out all the stops (throwing on third-and-inches, going for it every fourth down, etc.) to get the final margin over 50. It was anticipated that Vegas’s line would reflect that with a historic spread—something like 27 or 30 points.
Indeed, Vegas’s opening line was the biggest ever—27.5. Yet it quickly shrunk to 23.5 where it sits now. While still huge, that’s not the biggest for even this season. Philly was a 24.5 underdog to New England, and someone else (can’t remember who off the top of my head) was 24.
It’s been my belief all season that whatever bloated line came out for this game would be ridiculous, and I stand by that now even though it’s not as bloated as I anticipated. That 23.5 number is based on some sadist fantasy that Belichick will have his players literally bodyslamming the Jets into the dirt between plays like they’re facing a Pop Warner team. That Brady can throw a TD on every play if he wants to while Vince Wilfork takes Thomas Jones’s lunch money on the sideline. Â
The theory is that Belichick is mad about getting caught spying. You know who should be mad? THE JETS! They were the ones who got spied on! Don’t they have just as much motivation to stick it to a team that cheated against them? Won’t they be pulling out all the stops?
Let’s say the Pats are winning by two or three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and Belichick decides to humiliate the Jets by going for it on fourth down. The Jet players have been hearing about such a scenario for the previous week. They’re all amped up to prove they won’t get smoked. Their pride is on the line. Now here’s a jerk who cheated against them trying to embarrass them. They will be pissed. Very pissed. And maybe when Brady drops back to pass, a Sean Ellis slips his blocker and puts a little extra oomph into his hit on Brady. And maybe Brady gets up limping, and maybe that puts the fear of god into Bad News Belichick. Because the only thing that can derail his season is an injury to Brady. And if he goes around exposing his quarterback to an angry, prideful team, he’s flirting with disaster. He must know this. For that reason, I think he won’t try to humiliate the Jets as bad as everyone thinks. New England will go up early, hang on to the lead until such time as it’s insurmountable, then call off the dogs and replace. That’s my prediction. The Jets will beat the spread by a couple of points.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 7:02 pm by Jake Thomases.
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Jane McManus 
The only way the J-E-T-S have any kind of a chance in this game is to start Chad. Clemens takes too long to get rid of the ball. He will throw 2 or 3 picks in this game. And the team cannot afford this. Chad may be just the spark the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets need.
The only reason the line is this LOW is due to the forecast.
Realistic line should be around 35.
Even at 35 how many of you would feel confident taking the points?
Easy to write it here, but if you had a thousand hard earned bucks to wager, would you lay or take the current 24?
Easy for me.
Agree with another commenter that we might see Chad this week. Mangini announce Kellen starts, but if he looks skittish early Eric may go to the bullpen. He wants to win this game as much as any in his short history.
But the only way that happens is if the Jets shizo O Line reverts to its PIT performance and starts opening holes for TJ, and if Brady and Moss get hurt early.
IF I were the HC of the NYJ, would blitz everyone EVERY down with clear instruction to hit Brady each and every play. Not try to injure, but make solid contact.
Again and again until Bellicheat and Brady get the message. At some point you hope they do and bench Brady to save him for games that actually matter.
The only path to victory.
LET IT SNOW!!! LET IT SNOW!!! LET IT SNOW!!!
FINAL SCORE; J-E-T-S 19
SCUMBAGS 10.
You never know… On any given Sunday…
(Hey, I couldn’t be a Jet fan for nearly 40 years if I wasn’t able to continually delude myself.)
I have to agree with Joe on this. I’ve been secretly hoping, against all possibility, that Mangini would guard his hand and surprise everybody by sending Chad out behind center on the opening series. That’s not meant to be a knock on Kellen, but he is simply not ready for what Belichick will cook up for him. Think about how he looked against Dallas and imagine what he could look like against NE. I believe the Jets will fight hard, but (and I hope I’m wrong) get torn apart if left in the youthful hands of Clemens.
Going off topic: If Joe Namath sold his soul to the devil, who did that fat ass, Bob Kraft, sell his soul to…and how many of those 1985 style blue and white-collared monkey shirts does he have in his closet? As a fabled old fave once pondered ”...the beach is backwards, isn’t it”.
[...] Thomases takes a pretty levelheaded look at the Jets [...]
Are you guys NUTS!?Kellen Clemens gives us the best chance of winning hands down.Plus,we need to see how he handles what Belicheat throws at him.We are gonna have a really good draft pick this year and if hes not the one(i dont believe thats the case at all)then we need to draft one.Just for the record,we couldnt score a ONE yard touchdown on THREE attemps vs the CINCINATTI BENGALS!!You have to have a solid running game to open up the passing game!Anyone who knows the basics of football knows that. J-E-T-S JETS! JETS!! JETS!!!
Hey Keith…the same thing happened last week and he threw an INT on the goal line. He may be the QB of the future. But he won’t help us today if he plays like he has been playing. Chad has seen everything Billy the spy has to throw at him. If the D plays better than Chad will be our best chance.
Hey Keith…How Bout That…Good choice. Your man is 1 for 1 with a TD
team is pathectic.How mangini hasnt been fired yet ive no idea?
prideful team? send me some of what your smoking.So i can get through the second half
Why in the world does he send out Brad Smith after the turnover. Why? Because that was the game plan coming out of the lockeroom, thats why.
Absolutely no ability to adjust for situations.
jets were supposed to be agains the wind in the third quarter. Bellicheat gave us the wind instead, as is his right. Mangini did not adjust, cost the Jets the ball game.
Instead, Manidiot fell for it and used up the most important possesion of the second half running option plays with the wind. Stupid. He should be fired.
That said, for all the stupidity, IF Coles was healthy they win the game. McCarreins has the worst hands in the league.
Enough ranting, there are many problems here but the worst is the offensive line. If only they had a veteran left guard they may have won 4-5 more games this year, including this one.
Oh? They had one and let him walk for want of a million bucks? You dont say? How stupid does that look now?
Horrible organization, yet the players they do have have a ton of heart, including Chad. Kudos to him, Coles for trying, and all the others except McCarreins for leaving it all on the field.
For that I guess you have to give the coach some credit, but I just believe these players, as limited as they are talent wise, have true heart and should be commended for continuing to play their hearts out in a lost season.
Because of the weather this game was a defensive battle. The only offensive TD came after a great defensive play by Kelly Washington. The Jets held Brady TD-less for the first time this year. If Brady is going to break the record he is going to have to do it against the Giants. As bad as Miami is I think they will have a little fight in them next week. So much talk this week about the two coaches anomosity toward each other didn’t show at all. Isn’t it ironic that best QB in each conference both replaced Bledsoe. NE is gonna have to step it up in the playoff or be in jeopardy of being upset.