With two days to go before the big playoff clash between the Jets and the New England Patriots, Mayor Bloomberg pulled a Joe Namath this morning and predicted Gang Green will not only win the game — but go all the way to the Super Bowl this year.
“The Jets are going to the Super Bowl. You heard it from me. The Bloomberg prediction,” the mayor said during his radio show.
The Jets face the Patriots on Sunday night in the AFC divisional playoffs. The winner of that game will play either the Baltimore Ravens or Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship.
“I don’t want to jinx them,” Bloomberg added.
The Super Bowl will be played on Feb. 6 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
In talking about all of New York’s sports teams, Bloomberg said, “All this stuff is good. Sports — even if you don’t like it — your livelihood depends on it, your tax rates depend on it. We want New York teams to be successful.”
Gang Green, led by quarterback Mark Sanchez, split its two previous meetings with the Patriots this season — losing the second 45-3 in what Jets coach Rex Ryan at the time called “the biggest butt-whipping I’ve ever taken as a coach.”
When he shook Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s hand after the Dec. 6 blowout, Ryan told him, “We’ll see you in Round 3.”
“He just looked at me,” Ryan said when recalling the encounter earlier this week during a news conference.