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Patriots and Jets fans reveal the depth of their heated rivalry

The Patriots travel to MetLife Stadium for a Week 12 date with their longtime AFC East rivals, and one thing's for certain from the perspective of their fans -- their two annual clashes mean more for their pride than any other game on their schedule.

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Throw the records out the window for this one. When the Patriots and Jets meet up, anything can happen. The Patriots can boast about their long run of regular season success against the Jets (where they've won 21 of their past 27 matchups), while Jets fans can hang their hat on going into New England's house and pulling out a postseason victory in January, 2011 that sent the Jets on their way to their second consecutive AFC Championship Game.

The one constant throughout the years of acrimony -- from Joe Namath to the Butt Fumble, from Bill Belichick's blink-and-you-missed-it tenure as Jets head coach to Eric Mangini blowing the whistle on Spygate -- is that these fans can't stand each other. They don't like each other's coaches, their players, even the cities where they happen to play.

And it doesn't really matter how each team is faring. Whoever loses this game will have a devastated fan base that mercilessly absorbs the taunts and jabs of the other ... at least until the next opportunity for revenge on Christmas Eve.