A Blockbuster Is Expected by Jets and Patriots

The pits. The trenches. The tight battleground where so many football games are won.

Several of the New York Jets and New England Patriots--including the linemen who scratch and claw one another for every inch--believe their AFC wild-card game at Giants Stadium today will come down to who does the better job blocking or avoiding being blocked.

“Pete Brock on Joe Klecko is the key matchup in this game,” said Patriot running back Craig James, a 1,000-yard rusher this season. James was referring to the matchup between New England’s center and the Jets’ Pro Bowl nose tackle. “In all the films we’ve seen of the Jets on defense, Klecko is in the backfield,” James said. “We can’t let him get that kind of penetration.”

Klecko punctuated one of his best seasons in a nine-year National Football League career with a superb performance against the Cleveland Browns last Sunday as the Jets clinched the home-field advantage for this game against their AFC East rival, which also finished 11-5.

Klecko, the only player ever voted to the Pro Bowl at three different positions (defensive end, tackle and nose tackle), had 62 tackles and 7 1/2 sacks this season. In the Jets’ 37-10 win last Sunday, he spent almost as much time in the Browns’ backfield as Cleveland runners Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner.

“Against Cleveland,” Patriot guard Ron Wooten said, “Klecko made a couple of hits in the backfield before anyone had a chance to stop him. That does a lot to destroy a line’s confidence.”

Klecko’s fellow Pro Bowl lineman, Mark Gastineau, also was sensational in that game, and the Patriots are leery of what that pair can do to stop an offense in its tracks.

But New England’s defense can be just as intimidating, led by Pro Bowl linebackers Andre Tippett and Steve Nelson. And the Jets’ offensive line has been porous, allowing quarterback Ken O’Brien to be sacked 62 times.

“We know there’s a burden on us to keep the defense off of Kenny, to give him the time he needs,” Jet tackle Marvin Powell said. “The Patriots come at you hard, with a lot of blitzes, and it’s always a punishing afternoon against them.”

Jet center Joe Fields, who is bothered by a bruised chest and ribs, noted that in uncomfortable weather, the play of the lines takes on added importance.

“Both teams like to run, both teams have good running games, and in the cold, it’s easier to keep the ball on the ground,” Fields said. “That means you have to control the line of scrimmage and drive through your blocks to open holes for the backs.”

Conditions figure to be chilly for the 1 p.m. PST start, with temperatures in the low 30s. All of which means that James and Freeman McNeil, the Jets’ 1,000-yard man, will carry the ball a lot.

“That will be fine with me,” said McNeil, who has a bruised left knee but is expected to be healthier for this game than for any in the second half of the season. “It’s a challenge I’d welcome.”

So would James, who along with Tony Collins gives the Patriots a backfield tandem at least equal to New York’s McNeil-Johnny Hector combination.

“If it takes my running the ball 30 times to win, that’s OK,” James said.

O’Brien was the league’s top-rated passer. He threw for 25 touchdowns and had only eight passes intercepted. But he fumbled 12 times.

Tony Eason, who began the season as Patriots’ No. 1 quarterback and then was replaced in Game 6 by Steve Grogan, returned when Grogan suffered a broken leg in a 16-13 overtime loss here (the Patriots beat the Jets at Foxboro, Mass., 20-13). Eason wound up only 11th in the AFC but played well after a slow start.

“We’re down to one game at a time and that, in itself, is a motivator,” Brock said. “I don’t think we have to look around for any other reasons.”

The Jets made a roster change Friday, reactivating defensive back Russell Carter, who had been out with a back injury. Defensive back Bobby Jackson, who has a hamstring injury, was placed on injured reserve.

NFL PLAYOFFS

FIRST ROUND Today: New England (11-5) at New York Jets (11-5), 1 p.m.

Sunday: San Francisco (10-6) at New York Giants (10-6), 10 a.m.

SECOND ROUND Saturday, Jan. 4 Cleveland (8-8) at Miami (12-4), 9:30 a.m.

Dallas (10-6) vs. Rams (11-5) at Anaheim Stadium, 1 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 5

San Francisco-New York Giants winner at Chicago (15-1), 9:30 a.m.

New England-New York Jets winner vs. Raiders (12-4) at Coliseum, 1 p.m.

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Sunday, Jan. 12: Times, sites to be announced

SUPER BOWL XX

Sunday, Jan. 26: at New Orleans, 2 p.m.

All times PST.