The spread opened at 27 points. It's recently settled at 24 1/2 points, which, if held, would be the largest ever for an NFL game. More went into that spread than a terrible team playing an unbeaten one on the road. The Patriots have been running up the score on opponents all year, and everyone thinks they're doing it to teach the league a lesson after it was exposed -- on the word of jets Coach Eric Mangini -- that New England was recording the Jets' defensive signals during a Week 1 win in the Meadowlands. more ›

When they lost in Cleveland two weeks ago, the Jets all but removed their margin of error for the rest of the season. They looked as impressive in this week's 17-14 win over the Patriots as they looked listless in that defeat in Cleveland. Chad Pennington played aggressively, made huge plays on third downs, and the Jets defense shut down the Patriots to hold on in the fourth quarter. Kevan Barlow capped a clinical second-quarter drive that included a conversion on a fourth-and-one gave the Jets a 7-3 lead, and allowed them to play more sensibly on offense. more ›