Rookie TE Garrett Mills will miss the rest of the season after being placed on the Injured Reserve list due to a thigh injury.  Mills played really well in the pre-season, but he didn’t take one snap during the regular season.

Reserve Guard Billy Yates was placed on the injured Reserve list after breaking his leg Sunday against the Jets.

 

Tom Brady just couldn’t bring the Patriots back against the Jets.  Brady completed 25 of 37 passes for 255 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT.  Corey Dillon had a great game with 11 carries for 98 yards (8.9 ypc).  Laurence Maroney only had 12 carries for 37 yards (3.1 ypc).  Reche Caldwell had a good game with 9 receptions for 90 yards and a TD.  Jabar Gaffney caught 3 passes for 35 yards.

The defense played hard, but in the end it wasn’t enough to win.  Tedy Bruschi (16 tackles) and Junior Seau (15 tackles) were all over the field making plays.  Roosevelt Colvin added 7 tackles and a sack.  Safety Artrell Hawkins had six tackles and an interecption in his first game replacing Rodney Harrison.  The Jets ran the ball well with 29 carries for 117 yards (4.0 ypc).  The Patriots allowed the Jets to complete 22 of 33 passes for 161 net yards passing.

Coach Belichick lost a tough one to one of his old coaches.  The Patriots lead over the Jets has been sliced to 1 game in the AFC East.

The Jets are 4-4, but they haven’t beaten a good team this whole season.  They played tough against the Patriots in the first game played between these two teams, but lost 24-17.  The Patriots are coming off of a tough loss last Sunday night against the Colts and should be focused this week.

Look for the Jets to try to run the football against the Patriots with Leon Washington (397 yards rushing) and Kevan Barlow (252 yards rushing), but it won’t be easy because the Patriots only allow 75.1 yards rushing per game and 3.2 yards per carry.  If Pennington gets the time to throw the ball and his shoulder feels good (it looks pretty weak lately) he could have a little success through the air.  Lauveranues Coles (46rec, 606 yards) and Jerricho Cotchery (35 rec, 461 yards) could have good games, but Pennington will have to be careful.

The Patriots will attack the soft Jets run defense with rookie Laurence Maroney (458 yards rushing) and Corey Dillon (381 yards rushing).  The Jets run defense has allowed 143.0 yards rushing and 4.4 yards per carry this season as it’s adjusting to the 3-4 defense.  After the run is established look for Tom Brady to attack the Jets deep with his play-action passing. 

Look for the Patriots to kick the Jets butt on Sunday.  The Jets can’t stop the run and that is the Patriots strength on offense.  Also, look for Tom Brady to rebound from his tough game last Sunday against the Colts.

Rodney Harrison will be out multiple weeks with a broken shoulder blade.  Artrell Hawkins will replace Harrison until he can come back.  WRs will feel a little more confident going over the middle against the Patriots without the intimidator in the middle of the field.

Tom Brady has been sabotaged by the front office that let his best two receivers (Deion Branch & David Givens) walk.  Brady doesn’t seem comfortable throwing to the bunch of wide-outs and tight-ends that are on the Patriots roster.  The Pats receivers lack the speed to get deep, and that is one of Brady’s strengths is throwing the deep ball.  Brady has completed 58.1% of his passes for 1,799 yards with 14 TDs and 8 INTs.  Brady has a 83.5 QB rating which is just a tad above the league average.  Brady will find a way to make big plays as the games get bigger in the second half, because he’s better than he’s played so far this season.