For most of the week, the Jets have been speaking about the Patriots in reverant tones. They've focused on how you've got to beat them before you can be taken seriously as a contender for the division title, on how well they're going to have to play to win this weekend and, generally, said nothing particularly interesting or provocative.
We don't know which player decided to break ranks, except that he's an offensive player, but someone spoke to the New York Post's Mark Canizzaro and slagged the Patriots. He said that the Jets were still upset at losing the Week 2 game and that the feeling was the Patriot defense was vulnerable. He called them "slow" and "old," and believes the Jets should be able to put up "a lot of points" on them tonight.
The funny thing is that Canizzaro notes that the player spoke anonymously because he didn't want his words to provide motivation to the Patriots. That smells fishy, because it's going to be up on the bulletin boards anyway. It's more likely that the player didn't want to be named because he'd catch hell from Eric Mangini, who has disingenously played down the importance of this game all week.
He's also wrong about the Patriots. The problem with their defense isn't that it's old, it's that injuries have left them playing neophytes all over the secondary. The "old" players, Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour and Mike Vrabel, are the ones who make the Patriot defense go. Slow or not, they've been shutting the Jets offense down for years. While they seem beyond the need to be motivated by silly comments, these things have a way of finding their way into celebratory post-game interviews.
