Official Game Thread MNF: New England Patriots @ New York Jets

[gmf1369]

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They are coming off a Super Bowl victory and haven’t lost a game since last December.

Tom Brady is putting up numbers befitting his status as the most successful quarterback in NFL history.

And Bill Belichick is doing one of his best coaching jobs with the defense. That’s saying something, considering the man has presided over six Super Bowl championships as a head coach and another two as the Giants’ defensive coordinator.

But as daunting as the challenge of facing the 6-0 Patriots would appear, the Jets actually might be catching a break by facing New England at this point of the season.

Sounds crazy to say about a 1-4 team facing the greatest dynasty in NFL history, but this could be about as good a chance as any of sneaking in an upset.
That doesn’t mean it will happen, and the Patriots certainly deserve to be strong favorites coming into the Monday Night Football matchup at MetLife Stadium. But the Patriots have at least a few cracks in the foundation worth noting.

Their reconstituted offensive line, wracked by injuries and the free-agent defection of left tackle Trent Brown to the Raiders, has been a source of concern through much of the early going, even if the win-loss record might not show it.

The New York Jets suddenly have momentum, but a tall task awaits.

The Jets picked up their first win of the season Sunday afternoon with an encouraging all-around performance against the Dallas Cowboys. New York appeared energized by the return of Sam Darnold, who completed 23 of 32 pass attempts for 338 yards with two touchdowns at MetLife Stadium.

Gang Green will be hard-pressed to notch back-to-back victories, however, as the undefeated Patriots are next on the docket for Adam Gase’s club. New England has a way of bringing teams back down to Earth, but Darnold is embracing the divisional matchup. “Perfect,” the second-year quarterback said when asked about following up the win over Dallas with a showdown against New England, per NBC Sports’ Peter King. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. I want to play the best. It’s great.” Be careful what you wish for. The Patriots will be eyeing a regular-season sweep of the Jets when they invade The Meadowlands next Monday night. The reigning Super Bowl champs secured a 30-14 win over the Jets back in Week 3, but New York was forced to play without Darnold at Gillette Stadium as the 22-year-old dealt with mononucleosis. Darnold might make the teams’ Week 7 showdown a bit tighter, but the Jets likely will need a heroic performance from their franchise QB in order to hand the Pats their first loss of the season.

 

[gmf1369]

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[Gramoah]

​

They are coming off a Super Bowl victory and haven’t lost a game since last December.

Tom Brady is putting up numbers befitting his status as the most successful quarterback in NFL history.

And Bill Belichick is doing one of his best coaching jobs with the defense. That’s saying something, considering the man has presided over six Super Bowl championships as a head coach and another two as the Giants’ defensive coordinator.

But as daunting as the challenge of facing the 6-0 Patriots would appear, the Jets actually might be catching a break by facing New England at this point of the season.

Sounds crazy to say about a 1-4 team facing the greatest dynasty in NFL history, but this could be about as good a chance as any of sneaking in an upset.
That doesn’t mean it will happen, and the Patriots certainly deserve to be strong favorites coming into the Monday Night Football matchup at MetLife Stadium. But the Patriots have at least a few cracks in the foundation worth noting.

Their reconstituted offensive line, wracked by injuries and the free-agent defection of left tackle Trent Brown to the Raiders, has been a source of concern through much of the early going, even if the win-loss record might not show it.

The New York Jets suddenly have momentum, but a tall task awaits.

The Jets picked up their first win of the season Sunday afternoon with an encouraging all-around performance against the Dallas Cowboys. New York appeared energized by the return of Sam Darnold, who completed 23 of 32 pass attempts for 338 yards with two touchdowns at MetLife Stadium.

Gang Green will be hard-pressed to notch back-to-back victories, however, as the undefeated Patriots are next on the docket for Adam Gase’s club. New England has a way of bringing teams back down to Earth, but Darnold is embracing the divisional matchup. “Perfect,” the second-year quarterback said when asked about following up the win over Dallas with a showdown against New England, per NBC Sports’ Peter King. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. I want to play the best. It’s great.” Be careful what you wish for. The Patriots will be eyeing a regular-season sweep of the Jets when they invade The Meadowlands next Monday night. The reigning Super Bowl champs secured a 30-14 win over the Jets back in Week 3, but New York was forced to play without Darnold at Gillette Stadium as the 22-year-old dealt with mononucleosis. Darnold might make the teams’ Week 7 showdown a bit tighter, but the Jets likely will need a heroic performance from their franchise QB in order to hand the Pats their first loss of the season.

Actually, G, They'll need that from the whole team, but I'll be rooting for them.

 

[Bigmoe]

LetsGo!!!!!!

 

[cheaterhater]

Shoot me now!

 

[gmf1369]

Shoot me now!

 

[jets82]

Scary game!!! Jets might actually win this game. Then again they could get blown out on spot light national TV. Then again they could make it a very competitive lose. Don’t know which one will happen but I’ll be glued to the television nonetheless. I’m figuring with the return of Darnold, Herndon and hopefully Mosely, the Jets will make it competitive at the least. If not actually win this one.

 

[joeuser]

As usual, well written & enjoyable 2 read!

 

[JetsInTyme]

Ehhh...afraid the NY in NYJ still stands for Not Yet

 

[AZSOJ]

If we get herndon and Mosley then we have a shot.... the problem I see is if we start to hit pretty boy the way we hit DQB, will the refs stop it....

 

[Europe_for_JETS]

We definitely need both CJ and Herndon in this one. I would also like to see Gase make some in-game adjustments against the Cheats' quick defense. Hopefully, the OL will give Sam reasonable time to make his reads and throw the ball. If that happens, I expect good things...

 

[JetsInTyme]

Sorry for the negativity but after last week's game and what happened in GB, it's just too easy to envision this game being decided by a Bullshit PI or (more likely) Roughing the Passer call.

 

[gmf1369]

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[gmf1369]

Key Matchups to Watch
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1. Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore vs. Jets WR Robby Anderson
If Gilmore is not the best corner in football, he has to be at the forefront of the conversation. He is having another great season, yielding a 48.3 passer rating and allowing a first down just 28.5 percent of the time on throws in his direction.

Gilmore has had Robby Anderson’s number. The two have battled four times since 2017, and Gilmore has dominated the match-up each time.

Over his four games against Gilmore, Anderson has hauled in 9/21 targets for 59 yards (a horrifyingly bad rate of 2.81 yards per target), no touchdowns, and two first downs. That’s an average of just 14.8 yards per game, as Anderson picked up no more than 25 yards in any one game against Gilmore.

Against the Cowboys, Anderson continued building upon the rapport he began to cultivate with Sam Darnold at the end of 2018. Over his last six games with Darnold, Anderson has caught 31 passes for 484 yards and four touchdowns. Those totals would put him on pace for 83 catches, 1,291 yards, and 11 touchdowns over 16 games.

New England’s secondary has been dominant. They have allowed a passer rating of 42.6 this season, nearly 20 points better than the second-ranked 49ers. It’s the best mark through six games since the Super Bowl-winning 1996 Packers.

Gilmore is at the core of that dominance. If Anderson can get the best of him for the first time, it would be a tremendous boost to the Jets’ chances of victory.

The Jets don’t even need Anderson to consistently dominate Gilmore ⁠— just one big play over the top could change the tide of the game. Against a Patriots defense that has allowed one touchdown pass all year, the Jets will take anything they can get.

Perhaps the budding Darnold-to-Anderson connection will be the first weapon to deal some serious damage upon the 2019 New England defense.

2. Patriots rushing attack vs. Jets run defense
Even without C.J. Mosley, the Jets have again (for seemingly the 80th year in a row) found a way to field a strong run defense. They have allowed the fifth-fewest yards per rush attempt (3.5), while ranking sixth in rush defense EPA (estimated points added) and ninth in rush defense DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average). With Mosley returning on Monday night, the Jets can climb even higher in those rankings so long as he stays healthy.

The run game has been one of New England’s few weaknesses. They are ranked 18th in rush offense DVOA, 28th in yards per rush attempt, and 31st in rush offense EPA.

A lack of elusiveness from Sony Michel has limited the explosiveness of New England’s ground game. Among the top 32 backs in rush attempts, Michel ranks last in yards after contact per rush (2.0). He also ranks third-worst in rush attempts per avoided tackle (12.5).

One thing the Jets have done consistently well this year is finish tackles with consistency. According to Pro Football Reference, they average the fourth-fewest missed tackles per game (4.6).

This match-up looks like the only one across the board that the Jets have a realistic chance to dominate. Getting some first and second down run stuffs, especially early in the game, can give the shaky corner group more room to work with on third down against Tom Brady and his strong receiving group.

3. Patriots edge Kyle Van Noy vs. Jets RT Chuma Edoga
Chuma Edoga has showed a lot of potential over his first two NFL starts at right tackle, building off of his impressive preseason.

Edoga lost slightly more often than you would like a starting tackle to, and that Sam Darnold did a good job mitigating the pressure. He also struggled a bit in the run game. But after thinking it through some more, I believe Edoga had enough high quality reps against DeMarcus Lawrence to make up for those losses.

Edoga’s tally of losses (four pressures allowed each of last two weeks) should not take away from the potential that he has shown, and the fact that he held up decently well against two elite fronts in his first two career starts (not to mention after being thrown in mid-season). Against the Eagles, it was tough to evaluate any of the offensive lineman with the way Luke Falk was managing the offense. Against the Cowboys, Edoga did a solid job pushing rushers up the arc (behind the pocket), doing the best he could to minimize the impact of his losses.

The Jets just might have turned Teddy Bridgewater into puzzle piece No. 1 of the five they will be looking to put together on the offensive front over the next few years.

After taking on the Eagles and Cowboys, Edoga will get another test against Kyle Van Noy and the Patriots defense.

New England leads the league in sack rate (10.6%), and Van Noy has been one of the driving forces behind that production. He is tied for sixth in the league with 23 pressures rushing from the left side ⁠— where he will see Edoga on a regular basis come Monday night.

 

[butterscotch]

If, If, If, If you look at this season behind the Wins & loses......Williams may be starting to put together a very good D against the run game. At this point he does not have the horses at DB to finish the job. If like Arizona the OL is starting to come together maybe this will give the D man & Bell a chance to shine with just one avg to good WR. If we saw the real HC last week not the other weeks maybe we can score some points. If we saw the real D man last week then things are looking much better...…...If the bubble does not burst this week...maybe we win...

 

[Gramoah]

If, If, If, If you look at this season behind the Wins & loses......Williams may be starting to put together a very good D against the run game. At this point he does not have the horses at DB to finish the job. If like Arizona the OL is starting to come together maybe this will give the D man & Bell a chance to shine with just one avg to good WR. If we saw the real HC last week not the other weeks maybe we can score some points. If we saw the real D man last week then things are looking much better...…...If the bubble does not burst this week...maybe we win...

I've always maintained that IF is too big a word to be spelled with just two letters, especially in regards to football, but you might just be on to something here butterscotch.

 

[munchmemory]

How we win on MNF: Play 100% perfect football in all three phases, including knocking Tommy down a few times. NE has a bad/fair game on O & D.

How we lose on MNF: Play less than 100% perfect in all three phases, allow Tommy to spread the ball around, NE has a good/great game on O & D.

 

[gmf1369]

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[gmf1369]

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[Gramoah]

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Looks like we have a ways to go before we can call the team healthy it seems. It will be interesting to see who starts Monday.