Surprising Jets ready for the Pats
East Rutherford, N.J. — Todd Bowles figures he'll have to continue drawing up game plans to defend against Tom Brady for years to come.
Forget the fact that the New England Patriots quarterback is already 40. Brady is still performing as if he's a spry youngster.
"Brady will probably be playing after I'm long retired at the rate he's going right now," Bowles said with a smile.
Brady is off to a terrific start statistically, leading the NFL with 1,702 yards passing while ranking second with a 112.0 passer rating. He also has the league's two best passing PATRIOTS AT JETS 1 p.m., MetLife Stadium (Ch. 3) yardage games of the season, throwing for 447 yards against New Orleans on Sept. 17 and 378 against Houston a week later.
"Everybody knows what he can do," Jets defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson said. "You can never doubt him or count him out."
Brady and the top-ranked offense of the Patriots (3-2) head to MetLife Stadium to take on the Jets (3-2) today for early-season supremacy in the AFC East .
On the other sideline, Brady will see a quarterback who's just two years younger in New York's Josh McCown.
"It'll be nice for once and hopefully it will happen again later this year," McCown said of facing an older QB. "Obviously, Tom has set a standard and a mark for quarterbacks in our league. What he's been able to do is nothing short of remarkable and, to a degree, it's special to go against him because he's widely regarded as the best to ever play. In my opinion, probably rightfully so."
With a victory, Brady would break a tie with Brett Favre and Peyton Manning for the most regular-season wins by a starting quarterback in NFL history with 187. Brady's 211 combined career wins, including regular season and playoffs, are already a league record.