Quick programming note: I'll be joining Chris Forsberg and perhaps a couple of the other usual suspects for a live blog/chat during the Patriots-Jets showdown this afternoon. We had a lot fun with these last year and received a lot of positive feedback, so be sure to check in right around kickoff.

As for the game . . . to be honest, I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Conventional wisdom, at least among the Peter Kings of the world, is that the Jets, who are determined to justify their glib, over-the-top cockiness, will give the Patriots a tough time tomorrow.

There's plenty of evidence through the years that conventional wisdom and common sense don't always intersect when it comes to the prognostication skills of supposed NFL pundits, but I can't shake the feeling that the pro-Jets crowd might be onto something with this one.

I just haven't been able to convince myself that this is the best matchup for the Patriots' offense so early in the season -- and so early in Brady's return from his knee injury. The Jets' defense is designed to be a duplicate of the decorated group Rex Ryan coached in Baltimore -- quick, fierce, aggressive -- and the Patriots' offensive line played too much of Monday night's opener against the Bills in reverse.

The Jets have yapped this week that they will get their shots in on Brady, and despite my best efforts at rationalization, I believe them. I'd like to think the Patriots have a shrewd plan to turn the Jets' frenzied, trash-Tweeting approach against them -- a dose of Faulk, heaping helping of Welker? -- but the Patriots will have to be much more polished and efficient than they were in first 55 or so minutes Monday night.

Defensively, it's not about who's playing, but who isn't. Jerod Mayo, the bright and gifted second-year linebacker who's already the captain and centerpiece of this remodeled group, is out for a month, maybe two, with a knee injury. Adalius Thomas and Gary Guyton should be capable of handling the chores in the middle of the field, but neither is as adept at or as deeply prepared for the role as Mayo. Given that the Jets feature one of the most dangerous third-down backs in the league in pesky Leon Washington, this might not be the best week to be without the anchor of your defense.