On the third Thursday night game of the season, the New England Patriots will be heading up north to East Rutherford to take on the New York Jets. One team lost at home in overtime, and the other held on to win on the road, so both teams are feeling different heading into what should be a very tough rivalry matchup. Aaron Rodgers is fully healthy, so the Jets are trying to remind the world why they were hailed as playoff contenders for the last couple of years, with a fully revamped offense and elite defense to get the job done. The Patriots, once again, are playing with little to no expectations. The goal is to see improvement and progress on both sides of the ball, but as the season has progressed, it has been more and more challenging. Let’s look at the five biggest things to pay attention to on Thursday Night Football, strengths that can aid the Patriots for sixty minutes, but also weaknesses that could give the Jets a big advantage.
NFL Week 3: Patriots Preview vs Jets
1. Aaron Rodgers vs. Jacoby Brissett
When this quarterback matchup is looked at from the surface, it seems like a complete mismatch since Rodgers has four MVPs and a Super Bowl while Jacoby Brissett has mainly been known as a bridge quarterback. However, neither quarterback has thrown for over 200 yards this season, so it is only a matter of time before one or both of them get past that threshold. Rodgers is slowly getting back into the NFL rhythm after tearing his Achilles last year, so while the statistics might not scream “superstar”, he has been efficient and timely with the football. He has made the right reads, and while he has not been able to push the ball down the field the way that he wants to yet, his team is still in a reasonable situation heading into Thursday night. Brissett, on the other hand, has still not had a quality performance. He was okay against the Bengals, but on Sunday against the Seattle, the passing game was a no-show once again. The Jets have one of the best secondaries in the league that could take Hunter Henry out of the game plan, so one of these wide receivers is going to need to have a big game for the Patriots to even have a chance. While they can still run the ball against a weak New York run defense, it will only be a matter of time before they dare Brissett to beat them by himself, and that will be a tall task if this passing game fails to improve.
2. Breece’ Lightning Could Strike Again
The last time that Breece Hall went up against this Patriots’ defense, he had the most signature performance of his career. He carried the ball thirty-seven times and ran for 178 yards, scoring the team’s only touchdown and two-point conversion of the contest. Granted, it was in the snow and Trevor Siemian was his quarterback, but Hall was also coming off a season-ending knee injury. Now that he has Aaron Rodgers handing him the ball, there is a strong chance that the lanes could open once again for Hall to take off, whether it is on the ground or through the air. What makes it even more difficult for New England is that not only is Christian Barmore still out indefinitely, but they just lost their best middle linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley for the rest of the season due to a torn pec. The Patriots have already lost their three best defensive players in the span of a month, so all hands are going to be on deck when it comes to shutting down the run.
3. Christian Gonzalez is a Difference Maker
So far through two games, Garrett Wilson has been Rodgers’ number one receiving target, as it should be right now. Last week against the Tennessee Titans, he was lined up against top cornerback L’Jarius Sneed for most of the night and only made two receptions, but finished the game with four for fifty-seven yards. The last time that he lined up against Christian Gonzalez, it was the rookie cornerback that only allowed Wilson to make just three catches for fifteen yards. The next best receiver on the Jets is Allen Lazard, and then the next two are running backs Hall and Braelon Allen. This could be a promising night for the Patriots’ secondary if Gonzalez continues to slow down anybody lined up against him because New York does not have too many guys that can stretch the field or get behind them in space. If New England can load up the box and blanket Wilson, then there is no doubt that they can make things very interesting early on, but it all comes down to the efficiency and productivity of the offense.
4. Patriots O Line Banged Up
Right now, the Patriots offensive line is a wreck. Almost every starter is on the injury report and one of their tackles literally left the team. Granted, the Jets front four has not lived up to the hype so far, and they just lost Jermaine Johnson for the rest of the year. But if David Andrews, Michael Onwenu, or even Layden Robinson are not good to go, then Quinnen Williams could have the best night of his career. Last week, Will McDonald had a career-high three sacks against the Tennessee Titans, and he was a first-round pick last year. What if he picks up where he left off on Sunday? Things can always flip on its head once teams get enough reps in, so there are going to be plenty of flaws exposed on Thursday night. Some Patriots starters will try to give it a go, but if they cannot run the ball effectively, then this offense is going to look one-dimensional from start to finish.
5. First Coaching Matchup Between Mayo and Saleh
Over the last decade, the Patriots have only lost two out of ten Thursday Night Football games. Robert Saleh, on the other hand, has not won a game on that platform as the head coach of the Jets. To be fair, his starting quarterbacks have been below average, to say the least, but that is still a damning statistic. This will be the first time that Jerod Mayo will be under the big spotlight as the head coach of the Patriots, so there is a good amount of pressure on both him and Saleh to get this team extra prepared. It is not going to be an ordinary blowout for the Jets because they have more talent and success on both sides of the ball. New England has not lost a game to this team at MetLife Stadium since 2015 when Ryan Fitzpatrick was the quarterback and Bill Belichick thought it was a good idea to defer at overtime and have his defense give up the game-winning touchdown. Thursday Night Football is going to be very interesting to watch because the adjustments will be made and the play calls will be sent, but the mentally tougher team can do enough to improve to 2-1 for the year.
Main Image: David Butler II-Imagn Images
