If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking for an upset during the first round of the NFL Playoffs and you think a big spread is the way to go, then the visiting New York Jets at +9.5 in New England may be for you. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m no expert.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Jets beat the Pats 17- 14 at New England in week 10 and lost to them at home in week two by a score of 24- 17. So the spread, for this reason and a few others, seems big to me. But then again\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6? Here are some pros (go with the Pats) and cons (go with the Jets).<\/p>\n
CON<\/strong>— First and foremost\u00e2\u20ac\u201dNew England head coach Bill Belichik is NOT into running up point totals. He tends to do what it takes to win and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it.<\/p>\n PRO<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dBelichik has shown resentment towards his former assistant and the Jets\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rookie coach Eric Mangini. He may want to rub a playoff win in his former ball boy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face.<\/p>\n CON<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dRecently, coach \u00e2\u20ac\u0153B\u00e2\u20ac? was willing to give coach \u00e2\u20ac\u0153M\u00e2\u20ac? some kudos, tempered though they were.<\/p>\n PRO<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dQuiet guys like Belichik can carry resentment to a whole new level.<\/p>\n CON<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dMangini knows how his former boss thinks and calls plays.<\/p>\n PRO<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dMangini\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s former boss knows that he knows (man my head hurts) and knows how to confuse coach \u00e2\u20ac\u0153M\u00e2\u20ac? more than this point has confused anyone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s read it.<\/p>\n CON<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dPats\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153D\u00e2\u20ac? standout Rodney Harrison is injured. Will he play? And LB Junior Seau is out. TE Ben Watson and RB Kevin Faulk may not play.<\/p>\n PRO<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dPats\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 standout pass interception guru CB Asante Samuel is healthy as is much of the rest of the defense. NT Vince Wilfork is back from injury.<\/p>\n CON<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dPats CB Ellis Hobbs can be beaten.<\/p>\n PRO<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dTom Brady\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnot brilliant this year\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut he is Tom Brady. Against the Jets, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thrown 12 TDs and 5 INTs.<\/p>\n CON<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dChad Pennington\u00e2\u20ac\u201dalthough he had a much better than expected year\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had a tough time against the Pats, throwing 9 INTs and 7 TDs in 12 games.<\/p>\n PRO<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dNew England has one of the soundest defenses around and the Jets cannot find a running game, which means a whole lot of balls in the air and very little else.<\/p>\n CON<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dRookie kicker Gostkowski has been okay (77.6%) in his first season but has never played in a big game with the type of pressure New England fans exude. His accuracy lags far behind former Pat Vinatieri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 89.3% and Jet kicker Nugent\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 88.9%. That makes 9.5 look like a mighty BIG advantage!<\/p>\n PRO<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dBelichik is the most prepared coach in the NFL.<\/p>\n FINALLY<\/strong>:<\/p>\n In the last 12 meetings between these teams, New England is 6 and 6 versus the spread. In those same games, the point totals have been under for seven, over for three and a push on two.<\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d check out Madduxsports.com (hit \u00e2\u20ac\u0153HOME\u00e2\u20ac? above on this site) if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking for more in-depth information and to purchase some reasonably priced premium playoff picks.<\/p>\n [tags]New York Jets, New England Patriots,Eric Mangini, Bill Belichik, NFL Playoffs [tags]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking for an upset during the first round of the NFL Playoffs and you think a big spread is the way to go, then the visiting New York Jets at +9.5 in New England may be for you. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m no expert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl-handicapping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1219,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/1219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}