Patriots hope second verse isn’t same as the first

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots can wrap up the AFC East today.

Not officially, of course, but a win over the New York Jets sends yet another division rival deeper into the abyss.

What’s it going to take to get that done? Change all the things that went wrong in the first meeting between these two clubs, a 16-9 Jets win in the Meadowlands.

The main thing: Stop the Jets ability to put pressure on quarterback Tom Brady, which really hampered the offense last time, thanks in part to the absence of slot receiver Wes Welker.

Welker has been back for awhile now, and is going strong with 64 receptions (tied for second in the league) for 662 yards and four touchdowns. Think he’ll be a factor today? Of course he will.

“We always miss Wes,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said. “He’s one of the best players on our team, one of the best in the league. Whenever he’s not playing, you have to make up for it in other ways. Julian (Edelman) stepped in there the last time and did a good job against them. But there’s only one Wes Welker out there.”

And his presence may help Brady to unload the ball quicker against that Jets blitz. That and better protection from his offensive line.

“It’s everybody,” said Patriots center Dan Koppen when asked just who can be key in recognizing and picking up the blitz. “Everybody’s got to see it. How we do things may be a little bit different than other people do things, but it’s our way. We’ll figure it out the best way we can.”

Indeed, the Patriots are a much better offensive club than the one that looked anemic in Week 2.

“I hope so,” Koppen said. “I hope we’ve improved. Not just with the guys we’ve had out there, but what we’ve seen the past few months and what we’ve seen as an offense. What we did in Week 2 is what we did now. We’ve got to go out there and prepare to face anything and everything.”

“We’re going to see how well we prepare and how much better we understand what they’re doing,” Brady said about the Jets’ blitz. “But it’s a good scheme. It’s been proven for a lot of years, but the Jets really seem to have adapted to it. They’re playing some great football.”

Well, with an attacking defense, at least, but the Jets do come in here reeling after losing five of their last six. They desperately need to win this game. Actually, both teams do for their own psyche.

“(A loss) would put us in a near impossible spot to win our division, obviously,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “But, if we beat New England head to head, the way I look at it, we’re only one game out of the standings and you have six games to play and we’d have a tie-breaker with them. So, that would put us in a great position.”

The odds on that happening?

Anything’s possible. After all, the Jets also managed to shut down wide receiver Randy Moss with cornerback Darrelle Revis doing most of the work last time – with a little help from safety Kerry Rhodes. The odds on that happening again? Well, “If Randy Moss beats me on a touchdown, yeah, I’ll live up to it,” Revis said. “He’s a great receiver. I believe I’m a great corner, too. That’s just how it goes. When you play against the best, you have to bring your game. … One thing I know is I’m giving him respect, he’s one of the best and it’s a great competition between me and him. I love it, and I’m sure he loves it, too.”

The Patriots will no doubt try to find ways to free up Moss that the Jets haven’t seen. Recently, he’s been lined up in the slot for a few plays.

But the best way is to stop the blitz better than in that first meeting. Might it be easier with Jets nose tackle Kris Jenkins out?

“They look just as aggressive to me on film the way they play,” Koppen said. “It’s not going to change just because one guy goes down.”

It’s an opportunity today that the Patriots realize they need to take advantage of, now that they’ve moved on from the tough Indy loss and are certainly a better team than the Jets saw two months ago.

“Well, I’d like to think we’re a better team now than we were in the second week of the year,” Brady said. “We’ve made some good improvements. But this team really challenges us. It was probably our lowest output of the season in points, yards, production, third downs, all the way across the board …

“They’re a good team, and they challenge us in a lot of ways. Playing them one time, I think that’s going to help you, but we can’t play much worse than we played (that day). There’s got to be some saving grace in that.”

Beat the Jets today and there will be plenty of grace to go around.