Assessing the Competition

At 5-2 the Jets are considered among the league's elite teams however; they are still looking up at the perennial "thorn in their side," the New England Patriots. The Patriots are currently sitting atop the AFC East at with a league-best 6-1 record, coming off a big home win against the Vikings. The Patriots' success has Jets fans up in arms in disbelief, this was supposed to be the year that the Jets would over-take the Pats as the class of the AFC East. Yet, despite trading away their starting running back, Laurence Maroney and their number one receiving threat, Randy Moss early in the season, the team continues to win games and surpass the Jets. With a rag-tag group of misfits including BenJarvus Green-Ellis, re-tread Deion Branch, and Jets cast-off Danny Woodhead flanking Tom Brady on the offensive side of the ball the Patriots have reeled off five straight wins, the last three coming against 2009 playoff teams:Ravens, Chargers, and Vikings. Despite how much Jets fans don't want to hear it, there is one man responsible for the Patriots' surprising success, he is known by many names among Jets Nation, many of them unfit to print regardless of what you call him: Beli-cheat, "the Hoodie," etc, this is one of Bill Belichick's best coaching jobs. The man continues to have sustained success despite a blatant lack of talent at every position, save the quarterback. The schedule softens this week as Belichick goes back to Clevland to take on former protege, Eric Mangini and his tough-luck Browns.

We will find out whether the 2010 Patriots are for real or just a well-crafted house of cards when they take on the Steelers and Colts back-to-back. Unfortunately for Jets head coach, Rex Ryan his tow goals of hosting a playoff game and leading the league in wins may coinicde if the Patriots continue to run through the AFC. Despite their struggles against the Packers at home, the Jets schedule opens up a bit with two extremely winnable road games against the Lions and Browns respectively. The Jets have the upper-hand on the Patriots, with a 3-0 division record and a 1-0 head-to-head record, so everyone should be circling Monday, December 6th as the Jets go into New England to take on the Pats for divisional supremacy and possibly the right to host a playoff game.

Aside from the Patriots, the Jets should not be so quick to write off the Dolphins, who have played close games against a host of quality opponents and are nipping on the Jets heels in the division, only one game out in the loss column. If there's anything the Dolphins have proved during the first half of the season is that they can go toe-to-toe with any team in the league on any given Sunday. They could very well be 6-1 right now, if a few plays go their way against the Steelers and Jets. Tony Sparano's unit definitely has the talent to hang with anyone, with the dynamic two-headed running attack of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams and Chad Henne coming into his own as he continues to develop a rapport with Brandon Marshall. The Fins defense has less big name talent but is just as capable, sitting just outside the top 10 in both rushing and passing defense. The past two years under head coach Tony Sparano have been night and day in terms of the team's performance in the stretch run. In 2008, the Dolphins won their final five games and nine of their last ten to finish 11-5 and win the AFC East. On the other hand in 2009, Miami stumbled down the stretch, finishing 7-9 and missing out on the playoffs. Whether the Dolphins will be faders or surge in crunch time is uncertain however; after week 10 the schedule does open up a little bit with games against the Raiders, Browns, Bills and Lions.

As for Ryan's Jets, hopefully their performance against the Packers was just a momentary hiccup as their scchedule only gets tougher after week 10 and will need to continue to show the resiliency they displayed during their five game winning streak. The best prescription for gang green's success is wins, wins, ande more wins, if they take care of their own business everything else will fall into place. As to who will emerge victrious in this three-horse race in the AFC East has yet to be seen however; on thing is for certain, it will make for some entertaining football as the calendars turn towards December.