Do or die in week 2

It’s always been about the coaches in the Pats/Jets rivalry. First, it was Parcels jumping ship while pretending to coach a Super Bowl team. Then it was Belichick turning down the HC position of the NYJ. Then it was Mangini, spurning the advice of his mentor to coach a division rival. Then it was spygate and a year’s worth of annoying ESPN coverage.

Now, it’s about the coaches again. Only it’s not.

Everyone wants to make this about Belichick showing off his coaching muscle in the post-Brady era. Everywhere you turn the question is being asked: “Can Bill win without Tom?”

But this isn’t about Belichick and it’s not about Brady either. It’s not even about Brett Favre (for once). This is about little brother challenging big brother for the first time in more than half a decade.

The Pats are Ivan Drago here, and they’re cut and bleeding. You could almost hear Mangini yelling “He’s not a machine, he’s a man!” all the way from Miami on Sunday.

This is the Jets’ best chance to win the division since 2002. Sure, they won a home game against New England in 2006, but they never challenged the Pats’ perch atop the division that year. It’s now or never for them.

If the Jets win on Sunday, they can show that they are the class of the AFC East. They would move to 2-0 and would clearly be the favorite in the division. But most of all, they would prove to themselves that they could actually win this thing.

But the flip side of that is they could lose. And if they do, who knows if they can recover? This is as good a chance as you’re going to get to beat the big bad Patriots. The star player is down, and Matt Cassel is getting his first start since 1999 (in high school). No matter what you may think of Matty C, it’s more than likely he will at least get better with every snap considering he’s had such limited playing time in his career.

I hate to pull an ESPN and say the season is riding on one game (in week two no less), but this time it might actually be true. The course for the 2008 season for each team may be set in the Meadowlands on Sunday.

No pressure, Jets.