The game the linesmen got wrong: Patriots vs. Jets
Game Time: Friday, September 18, 2009 12:00 AM ET
By: CrazyLou
Linesmen are imperfect people living in an imperfect world. Good luck convincing a linesman they are hanging soft numbers, though. That is akin to a stake through the heart of any old school industry professional.
The good news for insecure linesmen is that their job is simplified for them. They can follow the lead of big boys like Pinnacle, Olympic, CRIS, and adjust their numbers accordingly.
If I were a linesman, I would take a stand on this ballgame that pits the New England Patriots (1-0) vs. the N.Y. Jets (1-0), the divisional rivalry game that has all the SBRforum handicapping experts chattering like teenage women at a formal.
Why the line dropped from -6.5 to -3.5
The line between Sunday afternoon’s match up of the Patriots and Jets opened at New England -6.5 at Pinnacle Sports. Within a mere matter of hours the line plummeted to -3.5. The “sharps” have spoken. Those guys with six 22" monitors and poor hygiene that have been up for 36 hours straight have spoken.
The Jets played exceptionally as 5.5 point road dogs in Houston, and covered from wire to wire, winning outright.
The Patriots played poorly as 13 point home chalk against Buffalo, falling behind 7 early and never looking close to covering, in fact they were down by 11 with five minutes to play and the fact that they were able to claw their way back to squeak out a one point victory amazes me.
Those two facts are undoubtedly influencing this line movement. People are not sold on Tom Brady’s effectiveness this early on as he’s making his return from his season ending knee injury, Tom’s timing was off, he completed 39 of 53 for 377 yards yet he was inaccurate like a drunken archer in key situations.
Despite Brady’s rust, and contrary to the boxscore, New England outplayed the Bills for most of the game, surpassing the Bills in almost all game categories. The Patriots led the first down department 28-17, they dominated time of possession with 37:08 to 22:52, and led 441-276 in total net yards.
When the game was on the line though, Brady led his team to two consecutive scoring drives and appeared to be Joe-Cool under pressure like we are so used to seeing. I’m expecting more of fourth quarter Tom than first quarter Tom in the game against the Jets this Sunday.
Rex & Jets, put a sock in it!
If there’s one thing that rookie head coach Rex Ryan’s Jets don’t seem to understand, it’s that you don’t want to provide the Patriots with any bulletin board material. Here are some nuggets to chew on, courtesy of Jets free safety Kerry Rhodes in an interview with the NY Daily News:
"You go out from the first quarter on, from the first play on, and try to embarrass them (Patriots)," Rhodes said. "Not just go out there and try to win, try to embarrass them. Try to make them feel bad when they leave here."
Pretty bold considering the New York Jets have dropped eight straight home games to New England. It gets better. Star defensive tackle Kris Jenkins was quoted as saying that the Jets will play this game, "like it’s the Super Bowl." I appreciate Kris’ passion, but you certainly don’t want your rookie quarterback who is making his home debut buying into that. The fact that he is sure to be thrown a bevy of defensive looks by genius head coach Bill Belichick is enough to digest.
If the Jets are to stay in this game, Mark Sanchez needs to play this game like it’s any other game. Sure, it’s a divisional game, and that makes it important to both teams, but the Super Bowl is played in February.
Here’s what it comes down to for me. The Jets are overvalued here due to their solid outing vs. a less than spectacular Texans squad. The Patriots are undervalued due to their struggling to put the Bills away. The Patriots defense is slightly worse than average, the Jets offense is slightly better than average. The Patriots offense is great, the Jets defense is good.
The Patriots have the head coach advantage vs the rookie head coach. They've got the skill position advantage on the offensive side of the ball by far, and the Patriots have historically owned the Jets. I expect that to continue Sunday.
Free Pick: Patriots -3½ -110