The New York Jets (8-5) are playing their best football of the season, stringing together three convincing wins over the Bills, Redskins, and Chiefs. Mark Sanchez played with a higher level of confidence this past Sunday against Kansas City than I’ve seen in the first 51 games in the league. He scored four touchdowns, two passing and two rushing, in what was very possibly the best performance of his professional career.
Gang Green will travel take the short trip to Philly this Sunday to face the Eagles (5-8), a team that was once dubbed the “Dream Team”, a nickname that got the kibosh after an incredibly slow start to the season. But there’s no doubt that they can still be a dangerous team. The Eagles blew out a hot Miami Dolphins team last Sunday on the road, scoring 24 points in the second quarter.
Both the Jets and Eagles have, for all intents and purposes, started their playoffs already. Though the Jets have sole possession of the sixth seed in the AFC, pretty much the entire pack in the chase control tiebreakers over them. And you can bet that the Titans will have no problem beating the Colts, Jags, and a Texans team that will most likely being playing second-stringers should they clinch the division prior to the last Sunday.
It’s do-or-die in Philly this Sunday, and it very well may be a matter of which defense can hold off the opposing offense for more time. The Eagles have Michael Vick back after missing some time due to injury, and he and LeSean McCoy scored three touchdowns within nine minutes in Miami.
But the Jets offense has truly caught fire after struggling for most of the first eleven weeks. Two of their past three games have seen early scoring, unusual for a group that usually takes a quarter to heat up, and they didn’t stop either. Sanchez threw for a career-high four touchdowns against the Bills just a few weeks ago and Shonn Greene ran for a career-high three touchdowns the following Sunday.
And even though the Eagles secondary has not met the offseason expectations, it’s still Nnamdi Asomugha, Asante Samuel, and Antonio Rodgers-Cromartie and it takes surgeon-like precision to have a successful passing attack against them. If Mark Sanchez and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer have any tricks for carrying momentum from one game to the next, they better use them.
Expect the Eagles to try and take advantage of a run defense that has struggled this year behind prolific running back LeSean McCoy. But that doesn’t mean the pass game will be abandoned, especially after the Jets lost safety Jim Leonhard to injury last week. Brent Celek could see more passes come his way than normal, as tight ends have caused problems for New York all season.
There’s no doubt that both teams will bring everything they have to the field Sunday. Anticipate a battle that lasts the entire game, four quarter, sixty minutes. My prediction, for what its worth, is for the Jets pull off the upset win by no more than one score behind yet another compelling performance from the Jets’ offense.
