This year’s Patriots squad is indisputably great. So they’ve played plenty of big games already — Baltimore on Oct. 17, Pittsburgh on Nov. 14 and Indianapolis on Nov. 21, for starters.
But none can hold a candle to what’s in the offing tonight.
The Pats are carrying a 9-2 record and a three-game winning streak into the Gillette Stadium matchup with the Jets — also 9-2, but with a four-game winning streak.
They’re the top two teams, record-wise, in the AFC. They’re both full of national figures, from polar-opposite coaches to pretty-boy quarterbacks. And they’re bitter rivals, separated by just a few hundred miles of highway.
Beat that, Baltimore.
Or Pittsburgh.
Or Indy.
In the end, no other regular-season game this year can come close to this one. It’s been hyped endlessly, occupying time on SportsCenter and local newscasts all week. It’s sure to draw a huge prime-time audience. And the stakes almost couldn’t be higher.
Indeed; this is as big as it gets.
