Patriots’ defense focuses on shutting down opponents instead of dwelling on Tom Brady’s injury

Linebacker Tedy Bruschi, and New England’s defense have set their sights on grounding quarterback Brett Favre and the Jets at the Meadowlands tomorrow.



It seems as if everyone is concerned about the Patriots’ offense without Tom Brady running the show.


Everyone but the Patriots, that is.


New England defensive coordinator Dean Pees isn’t worried.


“There is only one group that can control the outcome of this game and that is the defense,” Pees said. “If they don’t score, then we either win or tie. We have the bottom line in this thing.
”

That, he said, is the message that he has been giving to his players since he first began coaching, 36 years ago.


“Our job on defense is to stop the other team from scoring,” Pees said.


Pees isn’t worried about the Patriots’ offense, because the Patriots’ defense, he said, has the ability to control the outcome of the game.


“It doesn’t matter if [our offense] puts up 50 or they put up six, it’s our job to keep [the opposing team] shut down and to keep the score down as low as we could possibly keep it. We try to keep them to zero if that’s humanly possible.
”

Many of the Patriots defensive players are echoing his statements.


“When you’re told something like that by your coach, whether it be your head coach, defensive coordinator, or positional coach, you’re going to take it to heart and really try to correlate that to when you play on the field on Sunday,” Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said.


So what is the key to containing the Jets’ offense, led by future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre?

“It’s just a matter of us going out there and executing our game plan, making tackles, making plays on the ball, and not giving up big plays,” Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said.


“We definitely have to win on first-downs so that we can get in situations where they can’t get back on track, and [keep them] in third-and-long type of situations,” defensive lineman Richard Seymour said. “…I think first down is always a big down and then third down to get off of the field…I think if we take advantage and do all of the things as far as stopping the run, no big plays in the passing game, and create turnovers, any team can be successful [if they do] that.
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Last Sunday against Kansas City, Pees said that he was pleased that the Patriots’ defense won the majority of first-down plays, meaning that they consistently had Kansas City on second-and-7 or longer.


The Pats hope to do that again tomorrow against the Jets.


The Patriots allowed the Chiefs to convert on 8-of-16 third-downs, which Pees was upset about. The Patriots had the fourth-best third-down defense last season, allowing teams to convert on third down only 34 percent of the time.


“Last year, we did a fairly decent job on third down and we want to continue that,” Pees said. “Last week there were a couple of situations where we were very competitive on the routes but the guy still made the catch, basically [Tony] Gonzalez. Regardless of that, we have to do a better job on third down. When we went back and studied it, I always do a win-loss column on how we do on first, second and third down.


“It was probably the best we have done on first down in a long time. Our win percentage was very, very high. That is what you want. You want to get them to third down and get them off the field. We just have to do a little better job of playing our techniques and doing some things to get off the field. We have to get that number (third-down success rate) lower.
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Pees said that the Patriots’ secondary must be patient to have success against Favre because Favre holds on to the ball a little longer than some other quarterbacks, which gives his wide receivers more time to get open.


“It’s always a challenge when any team can throw the ball vertically down the field,” Pees said. “You have to defend it and you don’t want to give up the big play. Anytime you are doing that, then there is more of a chance they are throwing the ball underneath. [Favre] has always been a challenge and always will be a challenge just because of that. The other reason that makes him a challenge is that he can make plays when things break down.
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His defensive backs are taking his words to heart.


“We have to be patient,” Harrison said. “We can’t get frustrated. They’re going to make their plays. They get paid to. But at the same time there are certain things that we can control and we can control the way we tackle, the way we can try to control to stop the run, as well as not giving up big plays.
”

With the talk about Favre, people are forgetting about the Jets’ running game, Seymour said. The Jets ran the ball for 112 yards last week against Miami.


“I still think they are going to come in and establish the run but Favre does have a huge arm and he can make plays out of broken plays,” Seymour said.


“He always ad libs and I think he is the master at taking a play that doesn’t look like much or scrambling around and finding a guy wide open down field so I think our defensive backs have to do a good job of covering their guys for a few extra seconds and defensively that may give us a chance to get down on the quarterback and make a few plays. We’ll see how it turns out.
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Jets-Pats rivalry transcends games

Their history involves stealing players, reneging on contracts, tattling to the commissioner, suing their bosses and then playing some football. All of it happens in the sports crucible that is Boston-New York contempt.

Now that's a rivalry.

The New England Patriots and New York Jets have established their series as the NFL's most intense.

They'll meet Sunday at the Meadowlands in a game that could symbolize a shift in the AFC East. The Patriots don't have star quarterback Tom Brady anymore and are considered the underdogs. The Jets have another first-ballot Hall of Famer in Brett Favre.

"The New England Patriots are the standard bearers in the AFC East," said former Patriots and Jets running back Keith Byars. "But the Jets smell a little blood in the water."

Sunday's matchup is compelling, but it's merely another episode in a series that has been nothing short of fascinating for a generation.

Head coaches Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini, sharing professional lineage and mutual disdain, have worked for both teams and accused each other of various transgressions (see the Spygate chapter in your Rivalry Handbook). Several assistants and 51 players have jumped back and forth since Bill Parcells became Patriots coach in 1993 and Jets coach in 1997.

"When Joe Walton was coaching the Jets, we weren't taking Jets-Patriots calls," said legendary New York sports talker Chris "Mad Dog" Russo. "It wasn't Boston versus New York like Red Sox-Yankees, but when Parcells got in the mix, that's when the Jets-Patriots rivalry began in earnestness and spiraled out of control.

"It's all off-the-field stuff. It transcends the actual games."

While Byars contended the rivalry is fueled more by franchise or coaching animosity, Curtis Martin, who also ran for both teams, said "it was more like competing against your brother. When you're competing against people that you know, it just brings a little extra out of you."

Going into a Patriots-Jets game, the players are fully aware of the added importance. They're well-versed on the story lines. They look across the field and see so many familiar faces. They feel the added hostility swirling around the stadium like a nasty wind.

"It almost feels combustible," said Martin, who bolted the Patriots for the Jets to reunite with Parcells. "You almost expect fans to get into a fight in the stands. There's that type of tension.

"You know the history. You know where both coaches come from. You know what's going on. You don't necessarily feed into the media, but you understand and you're not oblivious to it."

The Patriots-Jets blood feud has been rehashed often enough, but here's the CliffsNotes version:

* After 30-plus years of coexisting in relative harmony as AFL brothers, the Patriots hire lightning rod and former New York Giants head coach Parcells in 1993.

* Parcells, upset over being overruled by Patriots owner Robert Kraft in the 1996 draft, defects to the Jets at the end of the season. Kraft demands draft compensation. The NFL orders the Jets to surrender four picks over the next three years.

* Parcells signs Martin to a six-year, $36 million offer sheet in 1998, knowing the Patriots can't match. The Jets give up first- and third-round picks as compensation.
* Parcells leaves the Jets sideline after 1999 and abdicates to Belichick. On his way to the podium for his introductory news conference, Belichick scrawls a resignation note on a napkin.

* The Jets forbid Belichick from pursuing other jobs. Belichick responds by filing an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.

* Belichick becomes Patriots head coach in 2000 and goes on to win six AFC East titles, four AFC titles and three Super Bowls.

* In September 2001, Jets LB Mo Lewis delivers the sideline hit that changed the Patriots franchise. Drew Bledsoe suffers internal bleeding, and virtual unknown Brady takes over.

* Patriots defensive coordinator Mangini leaves to become Jets head coach in 2006. He tries to pick up his things the next day, but he's locked out of Gillette Stadium.

* Patriots file tampering charges against the Jets regarding WR Deion Branch.

* The Jets report Patriots videotaping violations to the NFL last year, and Spygate becomes an obsession well into the offseason.

The Patriots-Jets series, however, is more than good theater. These games have counted.

The Patriots have won six of the past seven AFC East titles. The Jets won the other one in 2002 in a three-way tiebreaker with the Patriots and Miami Dolphins.

They met in the playoffs two seasons ago. That year, they split in the regular season (the road teams won each time), and the Patriots beat the Jets 37-16 in the playoffs.

"It's always serious," Martin said. "One significance to this is that it seems the winner of these games usually wins the division. It's really taken serious. There's a lot at stake with these games."