One of the beauties of Thanksgiving football is that you know you’ve got an entire nation of turked-up fans and semi-fans at least gazing in the general vicinity of the TV. For the Patriots, this proved to be very fortunate – it was an opportunity to instill a bit more fear in their opponents and their fans across the league. For the Jets, well, they probably feel like the guy who got pantsed immediately after taking the Thanksgiving Day Plunge.

Obviously this game got out of control in a big way, fast. After a scoreless first quarter, the Patriots reeled off 35 points in the second quarter en route to a 49-19 victory. Rex Ryan, who referred to Tom Brady as a “machine” early this week, seemed more obsessed than ever with stopping the man who has single-handedly ruined his professional life as of late. In 65 plays from scrimmage the Jets would match up with 5 or more defensive backs an amazing 56 times. But get this – the Patriots lined up 3 or more wide receivers on less than a quarter of those snaps. Despite almost every receiver being double teamed, Tom Brady averaged 11.5 yards per attempt and passed for 3 touchdowns (while running one in himself). For the Brady haters out there, chew on that for a bit.

But beyond all the crazy statistics that came out of this game, it also served as a perfect opportunity to stop and reflect on the men that lead both teams. “I’ll put it to you this way,” said Rex Ryan. “We’re about as wounded as you possibly can be, but we’re not dead.” Belichick, on the other hand, won the 200th game of his career. Perhaps more impressively, his Patriots improved to 19-0 in the second half of the season since 2010 (an NFL record). Given that Belichick has had very young teams, nothing could speak more to the coach’s ability to take in a young group in the preseason and turn them into contenders through a system of  week to week improvement.

While I’m sure Belichick washed down this win with a celebratory glass of eggnog, this was undoubtedly one of the toughest losses of Rex Ryan’s career. Despite being a Patriots fan, I’ve long voiced mostly positive opinions of Rex. Sure, he’s a clown and he talks way too much, but I’ve always gotten his schtick. I maintain that if I was a player, I’d be happy to play for Rex. But after years of guarantees gone wrong, of soundbites about being happy Gronk is out against the Jets, of locker room chemistry issues and most importantly, of shotty on-field coaching, Rex now has nowhere to hide. No one feels bad for him, and he has only himself to blame. If he doesn’t turn things around real quick, I suspect it’s just a matter of time before he’s shown the door.

Oh yea, and remember Julian Edelman? That hockey player trapped in the midst of one of the best football teams in the NFL? Yes, he’s still seeing sideways.

After a two game slide, the Patriots leveled the ship against their biggest division rival yesterday, with Tom Brady leading the way in a dominating second half that resulted in a 37-16 win. With the victory the Patriots swept their division series against the Jets while taking control of the division. With an easy schedule from here on out, the Patriots’ playoff fate now lies firmly in their own hands.

Aside from the playoff implications, there were four other items of note to me throughout this game.

1) The play of Tom Brady – After receiving really the only interception related controversy of his career the last couple of weeks, Brady silenced his critics with a dominant 329 yard, 3 touchdown passing performance. There’s no doubt that few if any quarterbacks with a 100+ rating have ever been subject to such criticism. Brady was nearly flawless in the second half last night – to steal the wonderful words of Chris Collinsworth we were witnessing “quarterback play at the absolute highest level” as Brady relentlessly marched a no huddle offense down the field. And while Benjarvus Green-Ellis tore up the Jets in their last meeting, Danny Woodhead led the Pats’ rushing attack with a measly 38 yards this time around – meaning Brady’s help from the run game was nonexistent.

2) The play of Rob Gronkowski – Rob Gronkowski – lover of playmates and touchdowns – may very well be the best tight end in the league right now. Standing at 6’6 and 265 pounds, the Gronk man also runs a 4.65 40-yard dash. That means he’s fast enough to get open, is a huge target, and basically can’t be taken down after the catch. Welker aside, Gronk has become Brady’s favorite receiver. His performance last night (113 yards, 2 TDs) was spectacular, although he needs some pointers from Aaron Hernandez on awesome touchdown dances. Since he broke into the league no tight end has been as productive offensively, and his blocking is also second to none.

3) The play of Darrelle Revis – This should come as little surprise to anyone, but Darrelle Revis was just about flawless last night. In all the NFL games that I watch, Revis is one of very few players that consistently impresses me. In my eyes, he has no peer in the NFL. Let’s put it this way – he spent all night matched up with Wes Welker, the league’s leading receiver. Welker’s stat line at the end of the game? Only 6 receptions for 46 yards.

4) The play of New England’s Secondary – Leigh Bodden? Gone. Patrick Chung? Out. Devin McCourty? Out. James Ihedigbo? Out. The Patriots’ already worst pass defense in the league played last night with one starter and three back-ups, frequently using their 5th string backups. A recipe for disaster, right? Not so fast. Give credit where credit is due, this group manned up and played one hell of a game. Now can they build off of it?

All in all a big win, and it should be fun to watch Tom Brady rack up fantasy numbers from here on out. The fun begins with a Monday night matchup next week against the Chiefs.

Now….let me first say that being in the Bahamas was a blessing this past week following the Patriots loss to the Jets. I largely avoided the onslaught that came with the loss, although I’m sure I’ll still hear plenty about it. That said, in the spirit of fairness, I must address the topic rather than hiding under a rock. Here’s my take:

Give the Jets complete credit. They played a great game, especially defensively, and Mark Sanchez avoided turnovers. In this case, as opposed to other past Patriots-NY football games, the team that played better won. No doubt about it.

Now I’m faced with a dilemma; who do I root for in the AFC? I’m going to have to go with the Jets, as much as I hate it, because I don’t want Big Ben to get his third ring in Pittsburgh. Ben < Tom, and I don’t want to hear those comparisons. That said, I’m rooting for the Packers to win it all.

A very disappointing end to a great Patriots season. You can’t take anything away from the Pats regular season; a 14-2 record and arguably the best regular season by any quarterback in NFL history were pretty awesome to watch. I’m sure they’ll be back next year, and I know they’ll be extra hungry.

Following a horrible Celtics loss in game 7 of the NBA Finals, an injury plagued Red Sox season, and now this loss, Boston has had a tough go of it lately. What do you have to say about that, Celtics (or Red Sox)?

Don’t worry, loyal howiGit reader. Trust me, I am not ignoring this whole Rex Ryan foot fetish issue. Frankly, this story is just too good to be true. The hard ass, player’s coach, smack talking Rex Ryan gets all excited over women’s feet….are you kidding me? I also think that we’ve got to give ESPN some credit for running the headline “Rex Ryan Finds New Way to Put Foot in His Mouth.” Well played.

This is a story I’m going to sit back and let run it’s course before commenting on it appropriately. It’s a beef stew just steaming away in the howiGit crock pot. I’m going to let it stew, let the flavors stir — when this story is ready for me to write-up, it’s going to be delicious.

Those are some pretty sexy feet, no?

Well then……no one saw that coming. Although I am a Rex Ryan fan, I have to admit it was pretty entertaining watching his facial expressions during the Pats 45-3 beat-down of the Jets. You could just hear the voices in his head. Maybe he did a little too much talking before this one. The outcome of this game speaks for itself, but here are my 10 reactions to this game and what it means going forward.

1) Suprise suprise, I’ll start with a Mr. Tom Brady — he was the man. Tom completed 21-29 passes for 326 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 turnovers. In his last 7 games he’s thrown 17 TDs and 0 interceptions. I’d say at this point he’s got his hands wrapped pretty tightly around the NFL’s MVP trophy. He’s leading the league in passer rating and according to Jaws, “He’s one of the all-time greats. The NFL is a quarterback league and Tom Brady is THE MAN.” ‘Nough said.

2) The Jets will be fine — sure this was embarrassing and will give the Jets a more difficult road to and through the playoffs. But they’ll bounce back — they’ve got too much talent not to.

3) The Patriots defense is making strides — sure, they aren’t nearly as good as they played last night, and Mark Sanchez made them look a lot better than they are. That said, there has been definite progress — as I’ve said before, give them a year or two and this team could be scary good.

4) Jerrod Mayo is a beast — he’s now leading the league with 144 tackles.

5) Give Rex Ryan credit — that was no was not an easy press conference to do after the game. Rex handled it with class, yet still managed to give it his old Rex twist. You could see the pain on his face and the foot in his mouth. Kudos to him.

6) Danny Woodhead got his revenge — to the tune of 104 yards on 4 receptions, as well as some big special teams play. You know he took pride in that.

7) The Pats are ok without Randy — trust me, I’m Randy Moss’ biggest fan and I still don’t agree with his departure from New England. That said, Tom Brady has incredible chemistry with two of his receivers — Wes Welker and Deion Branch. That chemistry is worth a lot.

8)The Jets missed Jim Leonhard – the “quarterback of the Jets defense,” his presence was undeniably missed. Rex made a good point in saying that no one player makes a 42 point difference, but it’s likely some mis-communication was taking place out there.

9) The Jets have some firing to d0 — I’d start with kicker Nick Folk (maybe the worst performance I’ve ever seen from a kicker) and whoever the hell was in the Jets’ review booth.

10) This is Patriots weather — if the Patriots can hang on to home field advantage throughout the playoffs, they’ll have a huge advantage. I’ll be hoping for more 20 degree weather and snow every game.

The bad news in all of this? The Patriots now officially have the target back on their backs, and everyone in the league knows it.

This was a big weekend for the NFL, as the league’s best rivalry of the past decade (Patriots-Colts) were in action as were the NFC favorite New York Giants taking on the NFL’s new wonder boy, Michael Vick, and his Eagles. A few games to touch on, so we’ll break them down one by one.

1) Patriots beat Colts 31-28 — The latest game in the Brady-Manning rivalry, this one embodied the relationship these two quarterbacks have. Brady played near flawless football, completing 78% of his passes for 186 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Manning put up 396 yards on a zillion passing attempts, but ultimately threw a crippling interception after storming his Colts back from 17 points down in the 4th quarter. He had me shifting in my chair, for sure. That being said, I saw one major flaw with the Patriots — with a big lead in the 4th quarter they became complacent and began to play “contain” defense. This formula didn’t allow a big 50 yard play, but it allowed the Colts to gain 10 or 15 yards on practically every play. If you’re giving that to Peyton Manning, he’s going to score very quickly on you, as we saw. I think the Patriots would have been much better off staying aggressive and putting pressure on Manning. This is what ultimately led to the game losing interception, and this has been shown time and again as the only real strategy that works in flustering Peyton.

On another game note, I’d like to address my readers in New York who have been suggesting strongly lately that Tom Brady is soft, cocky, can’t back it up, and is generally viewed as an ass. Let me start by saying, you couldn’t be more wrong. As I was watching the pregame show, nearly every commentator on every national news station showered both Peyton and Brady with praise — both for their skill, their leadership, and what they do for the game. The words “class act” was used referring to Brady. Brady is unbelievably popular and seen in a very positive light by almost everybody, even those who are jealous of his success. Second of all, for all of you haters I’d suggest you listen to a Tom Brady news conference after a game. The man is incredibly poised, very frank, and showers praise on both his team and his opponents wherever it is due. He always, in particular, is kind with his words when speaking about Peyton’s game. Sure, on the field he gets fired up and talks. That’s cause the guy is a competitor — he wants to win as much as anybody in the league week in and week out. He’s confident in his ability, as he should be, but he always give opponents their due. Listen people.

2) Eagles beat Giants 27-17 — Eli being Eli, he made a bonehead play and fumbled the ball as he drove him team down the field at the end of the game. While Eli has improved most aspects of his game significantly, he still remains a turnover machine. Yes, many aren’t his fault, but no matter whose fault they are turnovers equal loses.  You’ve got to give the Giants’ defense credit, they did a pretty good job on Michael Vick. He still had a great game, but it was not the Michael Vick show ala last week. That said, I don’t think you can expect 6-10 touchdowns out of Vick every game as everybody seemed to expect after last week.  I think it’s hilarious how the Giants lost, especially with Eli coughing it up, but honestly I don’t think this is a big setback for the Giants. It’s a tough divisional loss, but they are still a good team and this won’t derail their season. They’ve got a pretty easy schedule the next three games before taking on the Eagles again.

3) Jets beat Texans 30-27. This one was wild. The Jets scored in the game’s closing moments to pull out another unlikely victory. It wasn’t dripping with good consistent play, but they pulled it out and that’s what matters. That’s what the Jets have been about as of late, and there is a lot to say about teams that just keep on finding ways to win. The Jets have so many talented players that somebody could always get open or make a big game-winning play, and that’s what’s happening. As a Patriots fan it’s incredibly frustrating, but you’ve got to give them credit. The AFC East will likely ride on the Patriots-Jets Monday Night Football game on December 6. I think after wins against the Ravens, Steelers, and Colts the Patriots are now officially the team to beat in the AFC — big surprise I’m picking the Pats to beat the Jets. They want revenge.

The Manning brothers blew it this week and the Patriots beat the Colts, so I could not be more happy in week 10. This is quickly turning into one of the best, most competitive NFL seasons in a long time. Let’s face it — no one has any idea who is going to be hoisting the Super Bowl trophy this year.

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