Victory over rivals best way to say bye-bye to Bill
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — A game between a fourwin team and a six-win team on the final Sunday of the NFL season should not have much intrigue. But this is the Patriots and the Jets, so even with the stakes being low, it still has some fun storylines.
For one, the Jets (6-10) have lost 15 straight games against the Patriots, dating back to 2016. There is no player or coach currently on the team who has beaten the Patriots as a member of the Jets. The streak is the longest current losing streak to one team in the NFL. Jets players are tired of hearing about it.
“This week especially is a big game because we play the Patriots,” linebacker Quincy Williams said. “The goal is breaking the losing streak, honestly. With it being the last game, most people already have their mindset on their vacation and stuff. It’s not that way in the locker room.”
This also could be the Jets’ final time facing Bill Belichick as the Patriots head coach. There has been rampant speculation Belichick will be out as the Patriots coach following this season. He has tortured the Jets ever since resigning as “HC of the NYJ” a few weeks before officially being named Patriots coach in 2000.
Belichick has won six Super Bowls since spurning the Jets, who have failed to make the playoffs in each of the past 13 seasons.
“I’m looking forward to working, getting ready for the Jets,” Belichick said in his typical fashion this week when asked about this possibly being his last game.
Jets coach Robert Saleh is 0-5 against Belichick and has endured two brutal losses in New England, giving up 54 points in 2021 and losing on a last-minute punt return for a touchdown last year.
“He’s transcended the sport just in terms of how they prepare, their in-game management, their communication, everything they do and, at least, he does,” Saleh said of Belichick. “They’ve been a model of consistency. They have produced a lot of really good football players, obviously, and they’ve had a lot of championships. The guy has won over 300 games. You’ve got to stick around for a while to do that. He’s a special, special football coach.”
Though a segment of the Jets fan base will be rooting for a loss by the team to improve draft position and hurt the Patriots’ draft position, the players and coaches want to win this one. Quarterback Trevor Siemian was asked what a win would mean.
“Massive. It would be everything,” Siemian said, “so whatever it takes this week, we’re going to be trying like hell to get it done, by any means necessary.”