FOXBORO — By all accounts, Wednesday morning sucked for the Patriots.
Coach Bill Belichick aired them out in a film session designed to guarantee there will be no hangover from last Sunday’s emotional loss to the Colts in Indianapolis. There was no bury-the-football moment, as Belichick has done in the past. Instead, it was all about moving on, putting the defeat in the rear-view mirror and moving on to a key divisional contest that could ultimately drive a stake through the heart of the Jets’ playoff chances.
“You can’t [replay] it,” linebacker Junior Seau said. “What’s in the past is in the past.
“We need to have a short-term memory. That’s the only reason why you’re going to be able to succeed in this league, and in life. You have a short-term memory, whether it’s good or bad,” Seau added. “Go to work the next day. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
If that’s not enough to get ready for the Jets, the Patriots can draw on plenty of emotional firepower: New York gleefully celebrated in the wake of its Week 2 win over New England like it was a Super Bowl victory, and Darrelle Revis and Bart Scott took their shots at Randy Moss.
Oh, and one more thing — it was a year ago that Brett Favre led the Jets into Gillette Stadium and knocked off the Patriots in overtime. The loss was one of the determining factors in New England just missing out on the playoffs despite finishing with an 11-5 record.
“It’s a division game [and] it’s November, so we’ve got to play well Sunday. We need to play a good game here against the Jets,” Belichick said. “We know the Jets are tough; they’ve beat us the last two times we’ve played them. We need to try to reverse that trend.”
Here are four other things to watch for Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium:
Randy Moss vs. Darrelle Revis. The two went head-to-head back in Week 2, and no matter the coverage the Jets used on Moss (the Patriots say New York rolled a lot of coverage over the top toward Moss, while Revis insisted he was in man coverage on No. 81), even the most ardent of New England fans have to admit Moss was shut down — the receiver had four catches for a season-low 24 yards. In addition, Revis picked off a pass meant for Moss, making a really nice interception when he simply snatched the ball away from the receiver.
However, Moss said after the game that it wasn’t only Revis who held him in check.
“All week, he was taking about being a shutdown corner, but there are no shutdown corners in the league because they have help most of the game,’’ Moss said that day. “I probably could be a shutdown corner if I had [Brandon] Meriweather over the top for the whole game.”
As of Wednesday, Revis was sticking to his story.
“Everybody saw the game,’’ Revis said. “Everybody knew I was in man coverage. Everybody knew that was the case. He’s supposed to say that, because that wasn’t his day. He got shut out, and he was frustrated by it. Which is cool.
“I don’t have nothing against him. I still think he’s one of the best receivers in the league. When we go up against each other, it’s great competition. If he says that, he does. But that’s on him. We play them twice a year. I have to see him again just as much as he has to see me again.’’
However, New York defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said earlier this week that Moss wasn't subject to true single coverage.
“We mixed our coverages up a lot. You have to do that against New England. You can't give them one look,” Pettine told the Newark Star-Ledger. “I can say this, we weren't in a lot of true [man-on-man] with no help. Nobody in the league is. Most teams in the league, I would be shocked if they averaged more than four or five snaps a game of straight man coverage with no help.”
Oops.
Can the Patriots finish drives? At the start of
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