SOURCE: NY Times

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“You know, I appreciate all the different story lines associated with the game and I understand them,” Mangini said, “but they really have no effect on what we need to do, which is prepare for the game, prepare for all the challenges that we’re going to face. There are plenty of them. Any focus on things that are external won’t help what we need to do, which is get really to play well-executed football.”

Bowens knows he may not be among the majority, but he thinks the Jets have “guys who can match up” with the Patriots.

New England, which blew out the Jets, 38-14, in the opener, has won two of its last three games by 3 points. Bowens said he did not need to look at tapes of New England’s close calls against Philadelphia and Baltimore for inspiration. The Jets (3-10) have generally played better in their last four games after the bye week, even winning two of them, against Pittsburgh and Miami.

“What we’re focusing on right now is what we need to do to win,” Bowens said. “This is a huge challenge for us. We’re playing the best team in the game. But if we can eliminate the big plays, and the penalties, we can put ourselves in a position to be successful.”

Safety Kerry Rhodes has heard that people think the Jets will lose by 70 points. He has heard people say that the Patriots could probably polish off the Jets and the Dolphins in less than an hour.

“Is it motivation for us just because of the point spread? No,” Rhodes said, smiling politely. “We are going to come out and try to play them tough. They are a division game; it’s a rivalry still even though they have won a couple times more. We are going to come out and try to be competitive.”

Rhodes said the Jets were not deriving incentive from trying to become the first team this season to knock off the Patriots, let alone end their drive at immortality. New England’s 13-0 record, he said, is the furthest thing from his mind.

And Mangini is not going to put the numbers 13-0 or 23½ in his players’ minds, either.

“It’s hard for me to imagine anybody in the United States doesn’t know where they are,” Mangini said, referring to the Patriots’ charge toward posterity. “It’s pretty much reported every day, and not just in your traditional sports section.”

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