ESPN NFL

Welcome to the portion of the AFC East blog where I fall on my sword.

Shame on me for not giving the division I cover more credit. All along, from the dog days of summer until three days ago, I predicted a solitary AFC East team would make the playoffs. I was certain the only way to reach the postseason was the division title, and there wasn't much disagreement.

The New England Patriots were the clear favorite, Las Vegas' choice to win the Super Bowl. They won 11 games without Tom Brady the year before, and he played enough like his old self in training camp to make fans salivate.

Beyond that? The other divisions were more stacked. The wild cards were coming from the AFC North and AFC South. Each had sent two teams in 2008 and seemed even more competitive.

AFC East teams, meanwhile, had four of the league's seven toughest schedules based on last year's win-loss records. Compiling a record worthy of a wild card seemed impossible, and that was before the Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos zoomed out of the blocks to make the wild-card scene even more crowded.

So I had my reasons. Good reasons -- at the time.

Turns out, they were wrong reasons.

Three AFC East teams could have made the playoffs this year and two probably will. The Patriots already are in. Improbable as it seemed before Christmas, the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins still are alive.

But guess what? I didn't predict the Dolphins, 1-15 in 2007, were going to win the AFC East in 2008 either.

What am I? Some kind of moron?

Maybe so.

"How could you even think the Jets would be out of the playoffs?" CBS Sports analyst and former Buffalo Bills special-teams star Steve Tasker asked me. "How dare you, with a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback and the remains of an Eric Mangini-coached football team? Who could not see that coming?"

As expected, the Patriots clinched the division championship on Sunday. About four hours later, the Jets, whose head coach had pronounced them dead, were in control of their own destiny with one winnable game to play.

That it took an absurdly fortuitous series of events for the Jets to be in this situation is irrelevant. Fact is, if they defeat the Bengals at the Meadowlands on Sunday night, the Jets are headed to the postseason with a 9-7 record. The Patriots won 11 games last year and didn't qualify.

Three weeks ago, the Dolphins had a marvelous shot to be in the Jets' position but bumbled the opportunity.

The Dolphins could have been only the fourth team to overcome a 0-3 start and make the postseason since the NFL adopted its current playoff format. They were so doomed in September, having dug themselves a rarely escaped hole and having lost MVP Chad Pennington for the year with a should injury.

Still, had Miami not sleepwalked into their past two games, we might be talking about the possibility of three AFC East teams qualifying for the tournament.

Who could have foreseen it? Certainly not the likes of me.

"It is a joke," Tasker said of preseason predictions. "It's an exercise in futility. You don't know who's going to show up. The Patriots were a lead-pipe cinch to win the division, and they almost fall flat, too. If the Patriots lose that game to Buffalo on opening day, they're done.

"You have no business picking two AFC East teams to make the playoffs this year. If you did, then you might as well have picked Cleveland, Oakland, Kansas City and Buffalo. And JaMarcus Russell for MVP."

The AFC East doesn't get the credit it deserves for its competitiveness. ESPN.com's power rankings panel grades the AFC East as the third-worst division ahead of the NFC West and (barely) the AFC West.

The panel rates the AFC South as best, but the AFC East can finish with a .500 record against the division with victories over the Houston Texans (at home versus the Patriots) and the Colts (visiting the Bills and vulnerable if they decide to empty their bench or put their punter at quarterback or something). The AFC East also went 9-7 against the NFC South, valued as the fourth-best division.

And yet the AFC East is on the verge of sending two clubs to the postseason. The NFC South will send only the New Orleans Saints. The Indianapolis Colts probably will be the AFC South's lone representative.

Of course, the Jets could lose Sunday.

Maybe I will have been right all along.

ESPNEWS anchor Will Selva humored me with a few questions about the AFC East for the latest edition of "Blogger's Blitz." We discuss the New York Jets' plump playoff chances, whether Bill Belichick will rest his starters in the season finale, the Miami Dolphins' recent problems and the Buffalo Bills' coaching search.

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick might help out an opponent by going for it on fourth down, but he indicated he's not going to pull a Jim Caldwell and rest his starters in advance of the playoffs.

Belichick, on a conference call with reporters Tuesday, said he "wouldn't even anticipate" holding his best players out of Sunday's game against the Houston Texans in Reliant Stadium. Sounds like the Texans will have to earn anything they get.

"That's not really something that we've done and, in all honesty, I wouldn't even anticipate doing it," Belichick said. "Having that discussion right now, what's going to happen now is we're going to go through the game plan, players are going to come in [Wednesday] and everybody's going to get ready to play. And that's how we're going to approach it.

"Whoever plays, plays. Whoever doesn't play, doesn’t play. But it's like that every week. We could go out there and on the first play of the game, something could happen and somebody else could be in there. Everybody needs to be ready to go all the time."

Belichick doesn't like to yank his starters. Even when the Patriots led Sunday's division-clinching victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars 35-0 in the fourth quarter, Tom Brady remained in the game until Brian Hoyer relieved him until there were 75 seconds left.

» NFC Stock Watch: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Falling

1. The Dolphins' sense of urgency: For the second game in a row, with their postseason hopes at stake, the Dolphins got mugged at the opening kickoff and couldn't fully recover. The Texans scored the first 27 points Sunday. A week earlier, the Titans rolled up a 24-6 lead in the third quarter and endured a 15-point fourth-quarter rally before winning in overtime.

2. Laurence Maroney, Patriots running back: He lost another fumble at the goal line, preventing the Patriots from capping an impressive drive to open Sunday's division-clinching victory over the Jaguars. Maroney didn't step foot on the field again. With Fred Taylor and Sammy Morris healthy, could Maroney stay on the sideline?

3. Marshawn Lynch, Bills running back: A deplorable season littered with bad games bottomed out Sunday. Lynch, a Pro Bowler last season, managed to come in below the career-low of 4 yards he set in Week 4 when he rushed three times for 3 yards Sunday against the Falcons. Lynch opened the season with a three-game suspension and lost his job as the featured back.

Rising

1. The Jets' good fortune: A week after head coach Rex Ryan declared his team's playoff hopes kaput, the Jets received a series of breaks that put them in control of their own destiny. The Dolphins, Jaguars and Ravens all lost, clearing the path. Then the Colts benched Peyton Manning with 5:36 left in the third quarter. The Jets went on to win with the help of a goofy fumble by backup quarterback Curtis Painter that the Jets recovered for a touchdown.

2. Tom Brady, Patriots quarterback: Amid concerns his various injuries were contributing to some less-than-stellar performances -- three of his previous four passer ratings were 74.0 or lower -- Brady had one of the most-efficient days of his career against the Jaguars. He threw for 267 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Most impressive was that he had just three incompletions on 26 attempts. One was dropped, and another was thrown away.

3. Brian Schottenheimer, Jets offensive coordinator: Schottenheimer called a game that prevented Mark Sanchez from throwing away their golden Indy opportunity. The Jets are 4-2 when Sanchez doesn't throw an interception, and he didn't have one against the Colts. The Jets got Thomas Jones going with 105 yards and a touchdown. Sanchez needed to do nothing beyond 12-of-19 for 106 yards with no touchdowns.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- When Wes Welker joined the New England Patriots three seasons ago, he had three career NFL starts and one career touchdown. His best season consisted of 67 catches.
Welker has a chance this year to double his most productive season before he became a Patriot.

He caught 13 passes in Sunday's manhandling of the Jacksonville Jaguars and inflated his franchise record to 122 receptions in a season. That also leads the NFL by a comfortable margin.

Welker has done all of this in 13 games. There's still one left, and he missed two in September with an injury.

His 9.4 receptions per game would be an NFL record. If he doesn’t catch a ball Sunday against the Houston Texans, then he will average 8.7 receptions in 14 games, one-tenth of a percentage behind Marvin Harrison's 2002 record.

Since Welker landed in Foxborough after three seasons with the Miami Dolphins, he has recorded at least 100 receptions every year. He's one of only five players in NFL history to hit triple digits in three straight seasons.

Those outputs -- 112 catches, 111 catches, 122 (and counting) catches -- are the three greatest in Patriots history and place him sixth on the franchise receptions list.

"No, I never envisioned" that sort of production when he joined the Patriots, Welker said. "I knew my numbers would probably go up just having Tom [Brady] and the type of offense we're in and things like that. I never knew it would be like this. Definitely, I'm very blessed to be a Patriot and to be here."

Welker notched at least 10 receptions in a game for the seventh time this year, tying the NFL record Andre Johnson set in 2008.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- This doesn't appear to be the mightiest New England Patriots team to enter the playoffs under Bill Belichick.

The Patriots don't seem elite anymore. They've shown some flaws. They've been beaten by the best and have struggled against the pedestrian.

Yet the dynasty hasn't been toppled. On Sunday the Patriots clinched their seventh division title of the decade with a 35-7 kneecapping of the Jacksonville Jaguars in Gillette Stadium.

"Now is the time of year where the depth of the team really comes into play and we start to understand what the stakes are and what we're fighting for," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who raised his record in December to 18-2.

The Patriots can take a deep breath and cool their cleats if they choose in next week's regular-season finale against the Houston Texans in Reliant Stadium. They do have the possibility of earning the No. 3 seed with a victory in Houston, so there is a little something to play for.

The Patriots (10-5) are in for sure. The New York Jets (8-7) would join them with a victory next week over the Cincinnati Bengals in the final game at Giants Stadium.

One week after Jets coach Rex Ryan bemoaned his team's "deceased" playoff hopes, they crashed the AFC East standings. The Jets went on the road to knock off the previously unbeaten Indianapolis Colts, 29-15, and put themselves into position to get into the tournament. The Bengals have clinched the AFC North already. They might want to rest their stars.

The Miami Dolphins ruined any prayer they had for a win-and-get-in situation. They gagged away a wondrous chance to navigate their way to the front of the wild-card race at home Sunday against those Texans. For a second straight game, the Dolphins faltered for the first 30 minutes, rallied late and lost.

A season after winning the AFC East on a tiebreaker over New England, Miami's struggles illustrate how difficult it is to maintain year-to-year consistency. That's what makes New England's decade all the more remarkable.

No AFC East team has finished with a better record than the Patriots in any year since 2000, Belichick's first as head coach.

"This year, we did more than the other teams in the AFC East," Belichick said. "We're proud of that."

New England's performance was reminiscent of the glory years in that it was thoroughly dominant. The Patriots easily could have scored another two touchdowns. Laurence Maroney fumbled at the goal line on their first possession, and they showed mercy by running into the center of the line to kill the clock on the Jaguars' 5-yard line on their final drive.

Are the Jaguars an extraordinary team? Not at all, but the victory was significant. It gives the Patriots the option to rest several achy starters next week and puts them in the right frame of mind for the postseason.

They'd lost three out of four games in November and early December, an aberration. Now they're on a three-game win streak. The first two came against the Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills, victories that could be dismissed as easy opposition.

But the Jaguars entered Sunday with playoff aspirations. They had something to play for Sunday.

Still, the Patriots pulverized their will with four first-half touchdowns.

Brady was automatic. He threw only three incompletions on 26 attempts. One was dropped. Another was an out-of-bounds throwaway. He threw for 267 yards, surpassing the 4,000-yard barrier for the season, and four touchdowns. Brady finished with a 149.0 passer rating.

Wes Welker's 13 receptions gave him 122 for the season, a franchise record. He accomplished this despite missing two games with an injury.

Maroney didn't see the field again after he fumbled, but the Patriots have a healthy stable of running backs for the first time in more than two months. Former Jaguar Fred Taylor played for the first time since he had ankle surgery, and Sammy Morris, who missed four games, ran for a season-high 95 yards and a touchdown on a dozen carries.

Defensively, the Patriots were sharp even without nose tackle Vince Wilfork. Free safety James Sanders made a game-changing tackle on fourth-and-1 from the Jaguars' own 35-yard line on their first possession. Strong safety Brandon Meriweather ended the next possession with an interception on the Patriots' 17-yard line.

New England's last three opponents have averaged nine points.

"It hasn't always been perfect," Belichick said of his defense. "But I think that our preparation, our communication, our understanding and just playing together and playing situational football has improved, which it should. We've had over 100 practices and 15 regular-season games. Those are the kinds of things you get out of it."

What the Patriots did Sunday doesn't come close to erasing the memories of what occurred in the domes of Indianapolis and New Orleans.

Those losses will resonate into the postseason. They failed against elite competition on the road, and if the Patriots want to make a deep run, they'll need to play elite competition on the road.

"We knew what we had to do in this room, which was taking care of business on a day-to-day basis," Welker said in front of his locker stall. "That's what we've been doing, continuing to work and just keep on grinding it out."

For a decade, it's what the Patriots have best at.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots might have pulled back on the freeway after spending a few weeks on the rumble strip.

The Patriots dominated the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, cruising to a 35-7 victory in Gillette Stadium to claim their seventh AFC East title under Bill Belichick.

It was the Patriots' second straight complete performance, but last week's came against the Buffalo Bills. The Jaguars went into Sunday a playoff contender, and the Patriots smacked them down.

The Patriots needed to win one of their last two games to clinch the division and left no doubt. Laurence Maroney fumbled at the goal line on their opening possession, but the Patriots still took a 28-0 lead into halftime.

The performance will help them get past what transpired in November and early December, when they lost three out of four games and opened the door for the Miami Dolphins to knock them off their perch.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady completed 23 of 26 attempts for 267 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. Randy Moss heard the crowd chant his name after he scored his third touchdown. Wes Welker padded his NFL receptions lead with 13 catches for 138 yards.

Sammy Morris ran 11 times for 97 yards and a touchdown.

And the Patriots' defense held the Jaguars without a point until the fourth quarter.

Other than that, the Patriots weren't that good.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots look like they're going to clinch the AFC East in authoritative fashion Sunday.

And they're probably going to be alone in representing the AFC East.

Over the last two games, the Patriots needed to win one, or the Miami Dolphins lose one. Both are well on their way to happening at halftime.

The Patriots lead the Jacksonville Jaguars 28-0 and should be up even more in a lopsided contest in Gillette Stadium. Laurence Maroney fumbled on the goal line to waste a long opening drive, but the Patriots recovered to tack on three more touchdowns before the break.

Tom Brady has been sensational. He has just two incompletions on 16 attempts for 150 yards and three touchdowns, two of them short darts to Randy Moss. I wouldn't be shocked to see backup quarterback Brian Hoyer late in the third quarter if this continues because the Jaguars are falling apart.

The Dolphins are getting skunked at home by the Houston Texans, 27-3.

With the season on the line, the Dolphins have started sluggishly two straight games. They rallied from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter last week, but succumbed to the Tennessee Titans in overtime.

If they somehow can make it a game against the Texans, with the way that game is unfolding, it would be a Christmas miracle.

Houston is outgaining Miami 307-107.

Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne has thrown for 82 yards and an interception. Ricky Williams leads them on the ground with 22 yards.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots opened Sunday's game with a strong statement. They just failed to punctuate it.

The Patriots were methodical in taking their first possession down the field for what should have been an 83-yard touchdown drive on the Jacksonville Jaguars, but running back Laurence Maroney fumbled away the ball on the goal line.

Jaguars defensive tackle John Henderson stripped Maroney, and linebacker Daryl Smith recovered. Maroney has fumbled three times inside the 5-yard line this year.

Another Patriots trend held up when Bill Belichick challenged the call. The ruling stood, making Belichick successful only once on seven challenges. He went into the weekend ranked 29th among all NFL coaches when it came to overturning calls.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The big pregame news in Gillette Stadium is the New England Patriots' inactive list for their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Nose tackle Vince Wilfork has been scratched for the second straight game with a foot injury, and right tackle Nick Kaczur is out again with a shoulder injury.

Fred Taylor is not on the list. The veteran running back will play against his former team after ankle surgery sidelined him for nine games. Patriots defensive end Ty Warren also is back after missing a game.

Conditions here are foggy and soggy. A light mist has fallen all morning, but the temperature is a pleasantly mild 52 degrees.

Be sure to check out the coverage at ESPNBoston.com. Mike Reiss and Chris Forsberg will blog their keen observations throughout the day.

Complete inactive lists for both teams:

Jacksonville Jaguars

• Receiver Tiquan Underwood
• Tight end Zach Potter
• Center Cecil Newton
• Guard Paul McQuistan
• Tackle Tra Thomas
• Defensive tackle Greg Peterson
• Linebacker Tank Daniels
• Safety Courtney Greene

New England Patriots

• Receiver Isaiah Stanback (third quarterback)
• Running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis
• Right tackle Nick Kaczur
• Guard Rich Ohrnberger
• Nose tackle Vince Wilfork
• Defensive lineman Titus Adams
• Cornerback Darius Butler
• Cornerback Terrence Wheatley

Jamie in Maryland writes in on Christmas: "I can't take it anymore. Sorgi? I'm not attacking you or anything but you really need to proof what you write."

Tim Graham: Actually, my problem was too much proof -- 151 of it poured into the eggnog. What Jamie is referring to is a post that went up on Christmas afternoon in which I brought up the possibility the Colts could unload their bench against the Jets. I mentioned the wrong backup quarterback by mistake. Now that I'm beginning to sober up, I was able to make the correction.

---

Aditya in Bangalore, India, is a Dolfan who doesn't know whether to root for the Patriots or Jaguars on Sunday because the Dolphins are mathematically alive for the AFC East.

TG: The Dolphins' best shot to reach the playoffs is as a wild-card entrant because the Patriots will clinch the division with a victory in either of their last two games or with any Dolphins loss. AccuScore pegs the Dolphins' chances at winning the division at 3.3 percent, but their chances at getting in as a wild card at 20.2 percent. Those odds were computed before the Chargers eliminated the Titans from the playoff picture on Friday night, so the Dolphins' wild-card chances have increases a skosh. So Dolfans ought to be pulling for the Patriots to win Sunday.

---

Anthony from Iona College and Micah from Pensacola, Fla., want to know who would have the tiebreaker between the Dolphins and Broncos if they both finish 9-7.

TG: The Broncos enter the weekend 8-6, while the Dolphins are 7-7. For both to finish 9-7, the Dolphins would have to win out, giving them a 7-5 conference record. The Broncos are 6-5 in the conference, but one of their remaining games is against the Eagles. So it depends on which of their remaining games they lose.

If the Broncos beat the Eagles but drop their regular-season finale against the Chiefs, then the Dolphins would have the tiebreaker on conference record. If the Broncos also go 7-5 in the conference by losing to the Eagles and defeating the Chiefs, then the second tiebreaker would be record against common opponents, but there's a four-opponent minimum on that, so it wouldn't apply. The next tiebreaker would be strength of victory, and the Broncos would hold that edge.

---

Ed in Leesburg, Va., is a huge Rex Ryan supporter but believes the rookie coach's bombast put too much pressure on his team -- particularly quarterback Mark Sanchez -- to live up to expectations.

TG: I would tend to disagree, Ed, but I can't totally discount your theory. The dynamic that Ryan brought to the Jets' locker room was the perfect remedy for the noxious atmosphere Eric Mangini cultivated. Under Mangini, football was a chore. Ryan arrived and made the game fun again. Ryan's boisterous talk was well-received in the locker room. That's what contemporary players want to hear from their coach, that he has the utmost faith in them with a little trash talk mixed in. I don't believe Ryan's words did them in. It simply boiled down to a green quarterback not performing to postseason standards.

---

Ryan in Los Angeles can't fathom how I could leave Bills rookie safety Jairus Byrd out of my top five candidates for AFC East MVP. Ryan writes "If you're going to make a list at least pretend not to be completely biased."

TG: First things first: It's a fictional award.

Second things second: For those who didn't see the item in question, my list was 1) Wes Welker, 2) Darrelle Revis, 3) Ricky Williams, 4) Thomas Jones, 5) Vince Wilfork. No way on earth Byrd is more important to the Bills than any of those players. As many as three of them could be All-Pros this year, and the other two are workhorse backs, carrying their offenses on playoff contenders.

I don't care if Byrd leads the NFL in interceptions. He's not a complete player yet. He's weak against the run. He wasn't good enough to crack the Bills' starting lineup until multiple injuries opened the door. What's more, I'm not even sure Byrd is the MVP of the Bills. Running back Fred Jackson has had a great season.

Third things third: Byrd is a fine player. He has the potential to be an All-Pro someday. But to consider him in the top five of all AFC East players just because he leads the league in interceptions is absurd. The list of players who've led the NFL in interceptions this decade includes Anthony Henry, Brian Kelly, Tony Parrish and Brian Russell. Over their careers, those players went to a combined zero Pro Bowls.

---

Jay in Portland, Maine, writes in with a grammar lesson: "Moss' is pronounced 'Moss.' How could anyone tell the difference between a man named 'Moss Shoe' and '[Randy] Moss' Shoe'? They could not. Moss's shoe. The possessive of a singular noun ending in 'S' is formed by adding apostrophe 'S.' Moss's catches were great."

TG: You make a riveting case, Jay. But allow me to share a passage from the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, considered the bible of newspaper writing.

SINGULAR PROPER NAMES ENDING IN S -- Use only an apostrophe: Achilles’ heel, Agnes’ book, Ceres’ rites, Descartes’ theories, Dickens’ novels, Euripides’ dramas, Hercules’ labors, Jesus’ life, Jules’ seat, Kansas’ schools, Moses’ law, Socrates’ life, Tennessee Williams' plays, Xerxes' armies.

I don't make the rules.

» NFC Final Word: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Five nuggets of knowledge about Week 16:

Maybe it was watching the Cowboys beat the Saints last week, but I can picture the Jets knocking off the Colts. We'll find out quickly how important an undefeated season is to the Colts. The Jets might see more Curtis Painter than Peyton Manning, which wouldn't hurt their cause. But the Jets could beat the Colts straight up. They do own the NFL's top scoring defense and run offense. The Colts are average against the run. As always, the difference will how well rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez performs against the No. 20 pass defense.

The Patriots can't afford to scratch Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren this week. The resourceful Patriots found a way to stop Bills running backs Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch despite the absences of two substantial defensive linemen. They'll need Wilfork and Warren to keep Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew in check. Jones-Drew is tough to tackle. ProFootballFocus.com says he leads the NFL with 831 yards after contact, almost 250 more than the next most persistent runner.

The Dolphins' pass rush will be pivotal to defeating the Texans. The Dolphins' sense of urgency should manifest itself in the pressure it puts on Texans quarterback Matt Schaub. Through the air is the only way the Texans should be able to win. Their rushing offense is tied for last in the NFL. Miami's rookie cornerbacks will need all the help they can get from Jason Taylor, Joey Porter, Cameron Wake and Randy Starks in trying to contain premier receiver Andre Johnson. In games when Schaub gets sacked at least twice, the Texans are 3-6.

Bills fans should expect anything they see from Brian Brohm to be a bonus. Brohm likely will make his first NFL start Sunday at Atlanta. He joined the Bills from the Green Bay Packers' practice squad barely a month ago, and until this week, has been running the scout squad. So Bills fans should not a) expect too much; b) project his performance as any significant indicator for the future. Brohm was a 2008 second-round draft pick who was never higher than third on the Packers' depth chart.

No matter what, the Patriots have ensured they will finish with the division's best record for the ninth straight season. The Miami Dolphins still can win the AFC East if they win their last two games and the Patriots lose their last two. But one of the more remarkable accomplishments of the Bill Belichick era is that no division rival has finished with a better record since his first year as Patriots head coach.

New England Patriots receiver Randy Moss isn't the talkative sort.

Whenever he opens his mouth, it's news, and on Christmas Eve, he granted Boston Herald reporter Karen Guregian an interview in front of his Gillette Stadium locker stall.

The topic was New England's disconcerting problems in the second half.

"That's unlike us," Moss said. "I don't know the answer. We come in and make adjustments. Then we go out on the field. I don't know. I guess we shoot ourselves in the foot, or we start sputtering. I don't know what it is. I think from a team standpoint, if we have a good first half, we want to have a good second half, but things never happen.

"It really hurts for us not to come out in the second half and not do what we're supposed to do. But to answer your question, I really don’t know what it is. I really don’t."

Boston Herald reporter Ian R. Rapoport, blogging about the interview, writes Moss paused for a long time to contemplate the issue.

"I don't know if we're not executing, or if we're not putting in the same focus,” Moss continued. "I don't [expletive] know. I really don't."

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on Wednesday claimed they still were searching for their offensive identity with only two regular-season games left.

Moss agreed.

"But the bad part about it is it's late in the season, and we still haven't figured it out," Moss said. "I don't have an answer. I really don't. The best thing is to keep fighting and keep making our halftime adjustments and go out there and see if we can make it happen. But to be honest, I don't know what the hell it is."

Jenny Dell of "Countdown Daily" previews Sunday's pivotal AFC matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and New England Patriots in Gillette Stadium. AccuScore finds the best formula for the Patriots will be holding Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew under 100 yards and Tom Brady not throwing more than one interception. If both of those things happen, then AccuScore gives the Patriots an 83 percent chance to win.

"First Take" NFL analyst Jon Ritchie unveils his "Ritchie Meter" to gauge the chances of making the playoffs in the AFC. Don't hold your breath, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets fans.