In September, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady got the huge (four years, $72 mil, $45 mil guaranteed) he so rightly deserved, but it won’t be until tomorrow that he *really *earns his money.
When he was traded for by the Jets, cornerback Antonio Cromartie asked to be fronted $500,000 for child support. Earlier this week, Cromartie called Tom Brady an “a—hole.”
There’s a lot on the line Sunday afternoon in Foxborough, especially for the Jets, since coach Rex Ryan has decided to label the game “the second biggest” in New York Jets history, only after their legendary Super Bowl III victory way back in 1969. Even though the Jets have played in two AFC championship games- a 1983 loss to division rival Miami and a 1999 loss to eventual champion Denver- since their only championship.
The insanity doesn’t stop there. Jets linebacker Bart Scott, never one to mince words, said in an interview that Patriots receiver Wes Welker’s days “are numbered,” after Welker took some playful shots at Rex Ryan’s wife’s foot fetish videos in a press conference this week. Ryan before has said the game comes down to Rex Ryan versus New England coach Bill Belichick, to which Belichick chided “I might have a little quickness on him, he’s probably got a little strength and power on me.”
The Patriots are the masters of mind games. The Jets keep trying their hardest to provoke the Patriots in a war of words, yet the Pats resist and will prevail, as is the current standard at Gillette Stadium these days. The usual motto around New England these days, “In Bill We Trust,” has been proven true this year more than any other in Patriots history. But there’s another motto that most true fans know and understand to be true:
“Don’t give the Patriots billboard material.”
In 2002, the Patriots were big time underdogs going into their AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh. A story broke about the Pittsburgh players having already booked their hotel room and travel accomodations for New Orleans and the Super Bowl. The Patriots took offense to this blatant disrespect and beat the Steelers, 24-13, in Pittsburgh.
Again in 2007, then-Steelers random safety Anthony Smith had this to say about the then-unbeaten Patriots, who were 12-0 at the time. Smith said that he could “guarantee a win,” a comment so absurd that even Steelers linebacker James Farrior said that Smith “has to keep his mouth shut.” The Patriots thusly took proper offense to these remarks and went on to destroy Pittsburgh by a score of 34-13. The game is most memorable for the headbutt that Brady gave to Smith after one of the quarterback’s four touchdown passes (he also had 399 passing yards).