Cold War Returns to Foxborough

Much like the divorce of the Soviet Union and the United States after their World War II honeymoon, the split between New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini and his former mentor, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has grown cold.

The history between these two coaches is about as sour as the history between these two teams, which have shared much more together than you might think.

The current state of the rivalry can be dated to a very specific moment, in fact a day, January 4, 2000. It's truly a day that will go down in infamy for Jets fans. And a day that has remarkable ties to the Patriots.

It's the day that Belichick, then head coach of the Jets, resigned after less than 24 hours on the job. Belichick had been picked by Bill Parcells, former coach of the Jets AND Patriots, as his successor, but was afraid of the direction of the team, causing him to resign from his position, without making a single football move.

After the 1999 season, the two teams were on equal footing, so it seemed. Both teams finished the regular season with identical 8-8 records, they split the season series and were both at turning points for the franchise.

Belichick would eventually sign on to coach the Patriots, like Parcells had done before him, and the man he replaced in New England was current USC coach Pete Carroll, a former coach of the Jets.

So now you see the coaching links, but don't forget about the former players. Curtis Martin, once a draft pick and rookie of the year for the Patriots, went on to become one of the most well liked and most productive Jets of all time. Don't forget about the Ty Law's and Damien Woody's who spurned their former coach to come play for the Jets.

And while it's true that since Belichick left the Jets, the Patriots have had their way in the AFC East, all indications point to the Jets finally turning the tide on their misery of the last eight years.

Thursday night's game will draw as much attention as the NFL Network and Cable providers across the country will allow it. Jets fans everywhere see this game as a turning point in their season and the way the division looks going into it, that is probably an accurate destinction.

Going into the game, the Jets and Patriots are tied on top of the division with 6-3 records. Both teams have identical 2-1 division records, as well as 4-3 conference records. Whichever team wins will have a big advantage heading into the season's home stretch.

Since the Patriots won the first encounter, this matchup becomes crucial for the Jets, as a season series split would make the first tie-breaker for the division the division record, followed by the conference record.

Jets fans are excited and confident, and rightfully so. After the Jets' season was on the brink of failure, following an overtime loss to the lowly Raiders and a near disaster against the awful Chiefs, the Jets rebounded with a solid win at Buffalo, and then a blowout win over the Rams.

The Jets have scored the most points in the conference and their defense is really coming into its own. Meanwhile the Patriots have scored the fewest points in the division and despite also giving up the fewest, at some point the injuries to their defense will catch up with them.

What does it all mean? It means there's a possibility that the wind is blowing a different direction and maybe its the Jets that are causing the change...