The rubber match, the deciding battle to end the Border War will commence 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 16, 2011, at Gillette Stadium. Pats vs. Jets. These two teams split 1-1 in the regular season, the latter of which New England dealt a 45-3 shellacking to the visiting New York Jets. But the playoffs clear the slate and Gang Green is coming off of a thrilling 17-16 defeat of the Colts, while the Patriots laid back on a first-round bye.
*ESPNBoston.com* talked to several Jets about how they viewed their last meeting in New England and how they will prepare for the second-round showdown.
Read more about the last time these two teams met in the *Boston Herald*.
The *Boston Globe* sheds a comical light on the drastically different personas and coaching styles between AFC skippers, the Patriots' Bill Belichick and the Jets' Rex Ryan, while seated in a fictional plane from Indianapolis back to the East Coast. "It was a big bowl of awkward at 10,000 feet," writes the Globe.
The *Boston Herald* examines a possible edge the Jets may have bouncing off of their first-round win over Indianapolis. Also read *ESPNBoston.com*'s predictions based on the Pats-Jets Dec. 6 meeting.
Read more about the rivalry in the *Herald*. Read a similar story in the *Boston Globe*.
The *Boston Globe* talked to Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich, who's trudged through a rough road in his five-year career, which landed him in New England in 2009. All his hard work has paid off, however, starting in all 16 games in the 2010 regular season for the first time.
