An Immediate, Vicious Stomping

The action of the game must be simple, and it must be brutal. "Every game against us," a Buffalo fan I know remarked, "is a trap game." Everyone will swear up and down they aren't looking past this game. They insist they respect their opponent. No one is fooled. Buffalo is 0-3 and they've spent each miserable week hearing every pundit who cared to weigh in spit on their effort. They can see a long, ugly road ahead of them and that makes them dangerous. There's no accounting for what that will do to a man. This time last year Handsome Mark threw five interceptions against the Bills. I can picture Jairus Byrd sitting, waiting, knowing that Sanchez's Positive Mental Attitude is a fragile thing, and if he can just get his fingers inside of it it will crack open. The Jets cannot let that happen. They need to make an immediate statement. They need to announce with full force what the tone of the game will be. The National Football League pays no reward for mercy and swiftly punishes hesitation. The Jets need to stab Buffalo in the eye.

Baltimore cut Trevor Pryce as part of a little roster shuffle. That was their idea, anyway. Pryce had other ideas and signed with the Jets He is a welcome addition to the defensive line, but this is bigger than that. This is what Rex is building.

“I guarantee you there’s probably people in the same spot now, jealous,” [Bart] Scott said. “Trevor’s probably getting some texts like, ‘Hey, come get me, too.’ I guarantee that there’s at least 15 other players over there that are praying to God that they get released for a half-day so they can come over here, too.”

Let them all come. Let them all come, let them celebrate Rex and his tenuous grasp of professionalism. I will welcome them, so long as they come angry and hungry, so long as they know that the opposing quarterback should be hit so hard he becomes a gibbering mess, so long as they are desperate for blood. So long as they come to play football, let them come.