On Sunday, the Patriots and their fans are going to be in a curious position. The Pats play at 1 p.m. in Buffalo, and, thanks to the NFL and its infinite wisdom (READ: greed), they won’t have to worry about scoreboard-watching.That’s because the league has decided to put the Dolphins-Jets and Ravens-Jaguars games on at 4.The NFL, of course, is thinking about ratings and money. As if it doesn’t have enough money already.League officials, influenced no doubt by CBS, obviously feel that if all three games are played at once, and the playoff picture is settled by 4:15 p.m., there’s no point in even watching the late games (the only other game that matters, Denver vs. San Diego, is on NBC at 8:15).Ordinarily, that would be a legitimate concern. And the league can come back and tell you that since the Jets would make the playoffs should the Patriots win and Ravens lose, they still have something to play for on the other end of the Border War.But does anyone really think Jacksonville is going to beat the Ravens in Baltimore? I didn’t think so.So what we have left is the prospect of the Jets – whom we already have to hold our noses and root for – acting like professionals and playing to win against the Dolphins without something other than pride to motivate them.And while everyone will say the right things – that these ARE professionals, and that nobody that competitive is going to lie down simply out of spite – something nags at us. These are the Jets we’re talking about. The evil Jets. The Jets who turned in Bill Belichick last year to precipitate Spygate. The Jets who stole Bill Parcells and enticed the Man Genius to go over to the Dark Side.Those Jets.And I’m telling you that the minute the touchdowns start piling up down in Baltimore, the Jets are going to lie down like dogs.And do you know what’s ironic about all this? Back in 2003, when the shoe was on the other foot, and the Jets had to beat a decent Green Bay team to win the AFC East and freeze the Patriots out of the playoffs, Brett Favre – now a Jet himself – and The Pack dutifully mailed in the game. The Jets went to the playoffs and the Patriots stayed home.So if the NFL says that it’ll rely on integrity to rule the day, and you’re buying that, you probably also think that the Red Sox were never REALLY interested in Mark Teixeira, too.The NFL is relying on the huge New York market to stay tuned to CBS at 4:15 to see whether their choke of a football team can capture a little of its dignity back by beating the Dolphins and making the playoffs if the Patriots lose to Buffalo.However, it is also gambling. The league and the network probably won’t get much of an audience if the Patriots win (at least, not in New York, which is obviously what they’re banking on). That’s something very appealing about that prospect, isn’t there?The league should have played it straight instead of messing about with the schedule for ratings purposes. It should have allowed all three games to be played at 1 p.m., so that no team would be unduly influenced by the results of another. Just play and let the chips fall as they may.As it stands now, the NFL is going to open itself up to all kinds of criticism that it allowed a scenario where the Jets tanked it once they found out that there was nothing in it for them to put themselves out to beat Miami. And that’ll go double if Miami runs away with the game.For all anybody says about Bill Belichick (someone on ESPN said this week he’s the most-hated coach in the NFL), he took the high road this week when asked about it. He said the only thing he cared about was going out and playing good football, and that the Bills – after going out to Denver and beating the Broncos in a game that meant nothing to THEM – would certainly show up and do the same.But you can be sure that behind the scenes, he’s fuming about it. How could he not be?Steve Krause is sports editor of The Item.