Pats Pulpit
For the first time in more than two years, Gillette Stadium will host a prime time game again. On Thursday night, the New England Patriots will welcome the New York Jets to their home arena — a chance to improve to 3-0 against the AFC East, to add an eighth straight win, and to give the new Rivalry alternate uniforms a proper introduction.
Obviously, none of that is a given considering that the Patriots will be playing on a short week and without several starters. Also, division games tend to follow their own rules.
That being said, anything other than a Patriots victory would be a major disappointment when looking at the two teams’ records — 8-2 versus 2-7 — as well as our head-to-head comparison.
Patriots pass offense vs. Jets pass defense: When the Jets moved on from Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner ahead of the NFL trade deadline last week, they also parted ways with their most disruptive pass rusher and their No. 1 cornerback. There is no way to sugarcoat it either: the drop-off from them to the next men on the depth chart is immense. Needless to say, so will be the unit’s challenge against a Patriots passing game that is ranked third in the NFL in EPA per dropback (0.277) and is led by current MVP frontrunner Drake Maye. While the unit will be without wide receiver Kayshon Boutte and tight end Austin Hooper, it has shown the ability to spread the ball around regardless of personnel. | Edge: Patriots
Patriots pass defense vs. Jets pass offense: If you’re looking for the Jets passing offense on that EPA list mentioned above, you have to scroll down all the way to No. 27 (-0.051). And that ranking seems generous when looking at the team’s passing output recently: starting quarterback Justin Fields has done a decent job limiting turnovers, but he has thrown for only 389 yards over his last four games combined while attempting only 72 throws over that span. It seems clear that the team is not fully trusting him, and that could prove problematic against a Patriots pass defense that has started to hit its stride recently. Add the fact that No. 1 wide receiver Garrett Wilson is out with a knee injury and that matchup is not looking rosy for a Jets that might have to rely on its running back and tight end groups to move the ball. | Edge: Patriots
Patriots rushing offense vs. Jets run defense: Speaking of hitting its stride, the Patriots run game has shown some clear improvement over the last few weeks. After ranking 32nd in the NFL in EPA per run over the month of September (-0.313), it ranked 25th in October (-0.177), and sixth since the calendar turned to November (0.128). The Jets’ run defense, meanwhile, has had its issues throughout the season and removing the aforementioned Quinnen Williams from the equation does also not make things any easier...
