Together Again: Belichick Disciples Face Off

Patriots head coach and former Jets defensive coordinator Bill Belichick's resume has few black marks, but his five-year tenure as head coach of the Cleveland Browns is -- fair or not -- the largest one. He had only one winning season there (1994) and was let go a year later. He won't be directly involved in Sunday's game between the Jets and the Browns, but his imprint on the teams' head coaches is large.

Cleveland's Romeo Crennel has found success in Cleveland as elusive as Belichick did. Crennel, who was Belichick's defensive coordinator in New England before taking over as Browns head coach in 2005, also oversaw Jets head coach Eric Mangini on the New England squad. After a 6-10 mark last season, the Browns are 1-5 in 2006.

Crennel's problem -- and something the Jets should exploit, even on the road -- is a woeful offense. With the head man's background in defense, he can't take all the blame, but he did fire his offensive coordinator this week. Assuming the Browns don't make a quantum leap in their league-worst offense, the Jets deserve to be favored in this game.