New York state of mind

Here we go, the final two against the Jets and Bills. These two teams have been so disappointing this season that beating the Patriots would certainly be their "Super Bowl."

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I wrote a column this week on the AFC East being a dud division.

A few of you responded with stats to point out the division has won 32 games, more than any other division. My response to that is "So what?" Forget the stats, and the fact that the Patriots have won 12 of those 32, what do your eyes tell you? They should tell you that Miami, Buffalo, and the Jets have been underachievers and very disappointing. The Dolphins and Bills were considered divisional favorites by major publications. The Jets should have been over .500 and contenders. Dave Wannstedt and Gregg Williams might be fired at the end of the season.

The Patriots beat the Dolphins twice.

The Patriots ran away with a division that was built up to be the most competitive in the league.

In this case 32 wins says nothing. It tells me one team (Patriots) dominated and the others slipped and fell face-first into the mud.

It turned out to be a dud division.

Tom Brady called the Meadowlands "probably the toughest play to play. It is a division game. The teams are so familiar with one another. It is a regional rivalry. It is a national rivalry. There are a lot of guys that have been on the other side of the ball, on both sides. It is a battle every time we play them. We have very similar styles. We are powerful teams that want to be tough and smart and disciplined."

The Jets certainly don't have quit in them and that's because of their fine head coach Herm Edwards, who gained the respect of everyone around the league the way he's kept the Jets playing hard even though they've been out of it.

The Jets won't need too much to turn things around next season. What they need is a healthy Chad Pennington, just like the Patriots need a healthy Brady.

Pennington is class act, very much like Brady.

"Obviously I would like to be in a different situation than what we are in," he said this week. "But the biggest thing is that as a quarterback I have to use this as a learning situation and make sure that I can do everything in my power from here on out to not let this situation happen to us again because we definitely want to be competing for the playoffs year in and year out. Similar to the Patriots, we have to find ways to win games. That is what they have been able to do and that is why they are 12-2."   Continued...