2010 Postseason Rewind: New York Jets at New England Patriots

Divisional Round Weekend
Sunday, January 16, 2011

Rex Ryan and his Jets could not keep their mouths shut; New England claimed to be only more fired up for the game by the Jets’ comments. Instead, New York shocked everyone by backing up their words and beating a team that was widely thought to be even better than the ’07 Patriots who went 16-0 and narrowly lost the Super Bowl.

Mark Sanchez worked on whatever it was he had been having issues with the previous week and threw as well as I’ve seen him in his two year career that will now include two AFC Championship appearances. He threw three touchdowns and no picks, while the Jets defense got to Brady and picked of one of his passes, something that hadn’t been done in several weeks. The Jets capitalized on everything they could, and even when they couldn’t force turnovers they stalled drives. Even though the Patriots had possession for almost 10 minutes more than the Jets, New York controlled the tempo of the game.

Taking a 14-3 lead into halftime, the Jets didn’t let up. When the Patriots scored a touchdown and scored two points after it to pull to within three, the Jets responded with a touchdown of their own on an amazing catch by Santonio Holmes on a perfectly placed ball by Sanchez.

New England scored a field goal to pull to within seven (21-14), but the Jets scored again, too. When the Patriots put the ball in the end zone again, it was too late and the Jets went on to win.

This is the second consecutive year New England has lost their first game of the postseason, this after missing the playoffs the year following their perfect regular season (Brady’s knee injury).

The Jets, meanwhile, would again be in the AFC Championship game with the goal of winning it this time.

To do so they were going to need another perfect game. The game would be in Pittsburgh. It would be no easy task, but flying high after this upset, and after becoming the first team to beat the Colts and Patriots in consecutive weeks, the Jets expected to be up for the challenge.

Final Score: New York – 28, New England – 21