Jets-Pats Game Tonight

Tonight there's a NFL game pitting the New England Patriots against the New York Jets. These two teams, it is said, may be the most bitter rivals in football, at least on the professional level.  They're the two teams in the AFC East that have had the most success in recent years (although the Patriots have come to dominate this division).  The Jets-Pats feud is part of the New York-Boston collective sports rivalry that flows over into baseball, basketball, and hockey.  The Jets successfully accused New England, back in 2007, of illegally videotaping opposing teams' signal calling to help themselves with play strategies: the Patriots reacted to this by indignantly going (almost) all the way to an undefeated season, ironically falling to another New York team, the Giants, in one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history (and one of my favorite Super Bowls).  No there's no love lost between these two cities in the realm of sports.  But there's more...

New England is a tightly controlled, disciplined organization that keeps to itself and makes a great emphasis on letting its performance on the field speak for itself.  The New York Jets, on the other hand, starting with their head coach and filtering down through their player roster, are brash and outspoken, openly derisive of other teams and quick to criticize each other in the media.  One of their assistant coaches even once stuck his leg out and tripped up a Miami player who was running down the sidelines in a game a few years ago.  So these two franchises, apart from not liking each other, have two completely different ways of running things.  Seems like the Patriots have the upper hand here, as they win...and win...and win.

But there is one factor that, in my mind at least, unites these two: they are divisional rivals of "my" team, the Miami Dolphins.  I want BOTH to lose on any given game day, and it distresses me to know that, since they are playing each other, somebody's going to win.  But at least, excepting a highly improbable tie score, that also means there's going to be a loser as well.

It bothered me last Sunday that the Jets were able to capitalize on Tampa Bay mistakes and upset the Buc 18-17...although in retrospect the outcome may not be remembered as an upset: I'm not too optimistic about Tampa Bay's prospects this year.  New England edged out the other divisional rival, Buffalo, as well.  But the main thing is that the Dolphins won their game.  Ultimately, that's how it will play out for me this year: Miami has to keep winning...especially in those crucial head-to-head matchups against New England, New York, and Buffalo, each of whom the Dolphins play twice.  Once that starts to happen consistently, maybe the Pats and Jets will loosen their death grip on each other and start to throw a little hate in Miami's direction...