After a disappointing loss to the Miami Dolphins, the New England Patriots will head to East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday to take on their division rival’s the New York Jets. Despite the loss, the coaching staff would have been happy that Mac Jones put them in a position to win late in the fourth quarter. A consolation for the Patriots is that the Buffalo Bills, the preeminent favorites to win the division also lost at home in week 1 to the Steelers. The schedule-makers made this round interesting by matching up the Dolphins and the Bills this week. It makes this an early important week in the quest for AFC East supremacy. In this article, we will examine five points as we preview this divisional matchup.
1. New England’s Gameplan-Mac Jones had a great debut because he made throws accurately, under pressure, and distributed the ball to eight different players. He will take the confidence into week two because he will be playing a Jets defense that struggled to stop Sam Darnold in week 1. He completed 24 of 35 passes for 282 yards, one touchdown, and only suffered one sack. Jones will also lean on a highly motivated running back group who tallied 119 yards on the ground but made two costly fumbles to lose the game. On defense, the Patriots will lean on their pass rush to get after Zach Wilson, and it could be successful because the Jets’ offensive line gave up six sacks last week to the Panthers.
2. New York’s Gameplan-the Jets gameplan has to center around protecting Zach Wilson. In the second half of the week 1 loss, Wilson showed his potential in completing 14 of 21 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns. The Jets will need to improve on the running game to help the young QB because they only tallied 45 yards combined in the contest. If they can create traction, it might open up their biggest threat which is Corey Davis. He had five catches for 97 yards in week 1, and the Patriots’ cornerbacks struggled to stop Miami’s wide receiving duo of Jaylen Waddle and Devonta Parker. On defense, Robert Saleh will be tasked with stopping the Patriots’ budding offense. They will look to do so by forcing turnovers after the Patriots’ sloppy week 1.
3. Key Stat-the Patriots are poised to have success based on Bill Belichick’s history against rookie quarterbacks. Belichick boasts a 22-6 record against quarterbacks in their first year of starting. Belichick can disguise coverages and confusing young quarterbacks which will make it a difficult matchup for Zach Wilson.
4. Head to Head-according to the Football Database, the matchup favors the Patriots with a 69-54-1 record against the Jets. In fact, since 2000, the teams have met 44 times, and the Patriots have a 33-11 record against their division foes. In the same period, the Patriots are 16-5 on the road against Gang Green. In the same matchup last season, Cam Newton led the Patriots to a close 30-27 win over Joe Flacco’s Jets on Monday Night Football. What a difference a year makes because those two quarterbacks are not even on either roster!
5. Bold Prediction-Mac Jones and the Patriots’ biggest problems last week were converting in the red zone and ball security. I look for improvements in both areas due to the work of the coaching staff. However, these divisional matchups tend to be close affairs but in the end, I think the Patriots will prove to be the superior team. Final score Patriots 23-Jets 17.