First of all, Mike DeVito said that he's back to 100%. Joe McKnight said that he's ready to play and has a protective plate in his cleat. Fantastic news.
Now, in other news. OLB Calvin Pace said today that he wanted the Patriots to beat the Giants last week, so they would overlook the Jets this week. That is an interesting take on it, to say the least. I think we all wanted the Giants to win to even the division and make it easier for the Jets to win the AFC East. I'm assuming Pace thinks the Patriots will go all out this week to correct their last two losses and will not be reeling, as we have assumed. With a game and a half lead over the Jets, they would have presumably not.. um... tried as hard this week. Sorry Calvin, but that just doesn't make sense.
The Jets and the Patriots have a great rivalry, and the past few games keep trading games. Especially with the playoffs last year, the two teams HATE each other. I can't imagine the Patriots would have overlooked the Jets simply because they had a 1.5 game lead. This isn't a trap game, in any way. Division games are always important, especially against the one team that has a proven track record of beating you. Pace's theory is interesting but ultimately seems wrong. The Patriots would go all-out anyway, since they need to beat the Jets to fully control the AFC East. I can't imagine they'd slack just because of a one game lead. But it's fun to talk about. What do you all think?