New York Jets @ New England Patriots Monday Night Football Pick

New York Jets @ New England Patriots Monday Night Football Pick: The mighty must fall in this one! That really means nothing because both of these teams are mighty coming in. At 9-2, both can claim to be the best team in football, but I guess only the Jets can say they’re the best team in football with a win over the only other team with a record as impressive as theirs. In a season where people love to say “I’ve never seen a league so even across the board” these two teams have excelled. The Jets have done it with defense and the Patriots with offense, but both have battled through close games to get to where they are, the Jets probably more than the Patriots – but a lot of the games the Pats have finished on top by a couple touchdowns were close heading into the final frame. Let’s just say this, both are 9-2, but it’s not like they haven’t been tested all season long.

I just see the Jets playing with fire lately, and eventually that’s going to catch up with them. They have needed that comeback victory numerous times, and have gone right down to the wire with mediocre teams. When they are ahead, it seems like they can’t step on the gas – and while winning a lot of close games isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the inability to close games out could haunt this club going forward, or in the playoffs. They’ve won overtime games against both Detroit and Cleveland. They won by a field goal over Houston. Their last game against Cincinnati was close heading into the 4th, and before that it was a 9-0 loss to Green Bay, a 24-20 win over Denver, and a 29-20 win over a Minnesota team that has been, quite frankly, bad.

With the Patriots ability to put points on the board in a hurry, to have one of the best cold-weather quarterbacks of all time, and to never get swept in their division, they seem like a great bet here giving up just a field goal. They are at home, they need this win to even up the season series with the Jets, and a victory puts them into first place in the AFC East all by themselves. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

New York Jets @ New England Patriots (-3)