A New England Masterpiece

Entering Monday night’s heavily publicized showdown between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots, all of the attention focused on Rex Ryan’s quotes and the Jets resurgence this season. Judging by their performance this season, people thought that there was a new leader in the AFC East, as the Jets have used an arsenal of weapons to complement their stout running game. Jets fans stubbornly believed that the Patriots were an inferior team to them and that they had the personnel and winning mentality to win the Super Bowl this season. However, there was one big problem: the Jets heavily underrated the abilities of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to deliver in the clutch, and on Monday night, New England put together an absolute masterpiece on both sides of the ball.

Ever since wide receiver Randy Moss’s departure, the Patriots have not had to rely on one or two receivers to deliver the big plays. Instead, Brady has used every running back, tight end, and wide receiver to make plays. As a result, the Jets defense, which was initially geared to stop New England’s prolific passing attack with cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie on the side, had no answer to the Patriot offense.

In the first half, the Patriots scored on their first four drives and set the tone of the game. None of the four drives were extremely time consuming, the longest one being 4:03, so the Patriots moved quickly and efficiently against the Jets defense. During the first two drives, one resulting in a field goal and the other a touchdown, running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis ran effectively through the tackles, which opened up the play-action passing game for the Patriots. Short and speedy receivers Wes Welker and Deion Branch torched the Patriots in the middle of the field, as they consistently found holes in the secondary. Both players were targeted a combined eight times in the first two drives, with six of them resulting in receptions.

As Branch and Welker continued to find holes in the New York defense, the entire New England receiving corps began to quickly wear out the Jets defense. The Patriots scored touchdowns in each of their ensuing two drives, and Brady continued to open up the playbook and use Brandon Tate, Rob Grownkowski, Aaron Hernandez, and Danny Woodhead, who had a key 35-yard reception in the second quarter that set up a Brandon Tate touchdown reception. By the half, New England scored 24 points offensively and absolutely picked apart the New York defense. The Jets’ pass rush was virtually nonexistent, as Brady seemingly had all day to throw the ball. The linebackers could not cover the Patriot tight ends or effectively tackle the New England running backs. The secondary was absolutely picked apart by Brady, as the Jets committed a boneheaded pass interference call that set up the Patriots first touchdown.

The second half was much of the same as the first half. Between the third and beginning of the fourth quarter, the Patriots had two 93+ yard touchdown drives to put the game out of reach. Like he did in the first half, Brady targeted six different players in both of the lengthy drives, as the Patriots needed only 8 plays on each of those drives to score the touchdown. Instead of the long 80-yard pass plays that were a staple of the New England offense in recent years, the Patriots methodically moved down the field with 10 and 20 yard plays. The 45 points scored by the offense was a tribute the superiority and brilliance of the New England offense, as this unit absolutely picked apart the Jets defense and put on an absolute masterpiece.

Defensively, the Patriots were equally, if not more, impressive, as they frustrated Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez all night and neutralized the Jets running game. The defensive linemen were able to generate a consistent pass rush on Sanchez and allowed the linebackers to play in coverage. The Jets offensive line looked overmatched by the Patriots defensive line, as five linemen had great difficulties guarding three pass-rushers. After a modest first half, the Patriots harassed Sanchez in the second half, forcing him to throw interceptions in three consecutive drives. Sanchez had a quarterback rating of only 27.8, as his struggles resulted in only three points scored for the Jets.

Overall, the Patriots sent a message to the rest of the NFL with the dominating performance against the Jets on Monday night. In all likelihood, the AFC Playoffs will run through New England, as the Patriots have the hold on the top overall seed in the AFC. They have already beaten all of the elite teams in the AFC, including Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Indianapolis, and the New York Jets. Judging by Monday night’s performance, the Patriots seem primed to make another Super Bowl run this season and if they continue to play as efficiently as they did on Monday night, they will virtually be unstoppable as a team.