What' gives?
Am I missing something? Did I not get some memo that went out league-wide? It is still Pats/Jets week, right?
Right?.
Not only are the Patriots playing the Jets today, they are playing the Jets at home in a huge AFC East game that will determine who is in the drivers seat in the division and has the early inside track to a playoff berth. It's also game that the Patriots absolutely need to win in order to get the taste of last week's loss out of their mouths and get themselves back on track. It's a chance to once again shut Rex Ryan's mouth, remind everyone who still reigns supreme, and return to the Patriot Way.
So why doesn't it feel like that? Why does today's game feel just like any other one?
I should have spent this entire last week fired up. I should have been a bundle of nervous energy that everyone in my immediate vicinity found completely intolerable. I should be absolutely terrified of what it means for this team if the Pats lose this afternoon. But I'm not. I'm not any of those things, and that's what's making me nervous.
Am I just writing the Jets off? Do the Jets not scare anyone anymore, even though they always play the Patriots tough and are sure to make a game of it? Is it because the rivalry is once again dying down? Or is it because I'm still so sore from last's week's debacle that I have just been too disgusted to pay any attention this week? Whatever it is, there's some bad mojo in the air and I don't like it one bit.
Maybe it's just me and the Pats/Jets vibe is as strong as ever, but it just doesn't feel the same this year and I don't know why.
I