Can Jets Knock Patriots Out Of First Place? Biased Bloggers Discuss

The 4-1 New York Jets are headed to the middle of nowhere Massachusetts to play the 5-0 (look how angry they are!) New England Patriots for first place in the AFC East. Instead of our usual Jets Twitter mailbag, I talked with Mike Dussault of Pats Propaganda about the match-up. Now all you friendly Patriots fans in the comment section with the clever TurnOnTheJets puns have a voice on your side, you savages…

TurnOnTheJets – What is the worst part of the Patriots roster that I can use to talk myself into the Jets pulling off this upset?

Pats Propaganda – The most obvious place to start is with the cornerbacks we had this one guy who was really really good last year but let him walk to a monster contract this offseason.  Not only that but we basically let the three corners behind him go too. Now Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler is easily our best corner and he’s been extremely competitive this year and has a ton of potential. But after him it’s Logan Ryan, who has been up and down, then rookie Justin Coleman. So what scares me is the size of Marshall and Decker against these guys, none of whom are over six feet. If Fitzpatrick is in sync with those guys the Jets should move the ball.

We saw quite a few times Fitzpatrick threw for a bunch of yards on us with Buffalo, but it was always the turnovers that eventually killed their chances to win. Does he have a mistake-free game in him for this one? Because I think that might be the biggest key of the game.

TurnOnTheJets – I certainly hope so because the Jets aren’t going to win if Fitzpatrick can’t protect the football. The bearded wonder has been competent through five games but does have at least one turnover each week, which is problematic. The Jets can maybe live with one turnover if Fitzpatrick can generate enough big plays to Marshall and Decker against the Patriots undersized corners but the margin of error is so small against New England that they can’t afford to give them extra possessions. I don’t doubt Belichick wants this game in Fitzpatrick’s hands as much as possible, so can he rise to the challenge?

Am I wrong in saying the Patriots may have some offensive line issues on Sunday or do Patriots fans not worry about it since Tom Brady usually gets rid of the ball annoyingly quick?

PatsPropaganda – Generally if the Patriots are able to play offense the way they want to play offense, the line isn’t much of an issue. However I think the Jets have all the right pieces to take them out of their comfort zone. What we saw with the Cowboys and a bit with the Colts, (and really what we originally saw with Rex with the Jets in 2010), was press coverage, dropping defensive linemen into the hot route zones and trying to get home with just a few rushers. Initially that gave the Patriots problems — forced Brady to hold it longer than he wanted and allowed quality rushers to expose the weaknesses of the Patriots OL, but they adjusted and he started exploiting the right matchups. I go back to Eric Mangini’s advice that you need a different second half gameplan vs. Brady to keep him guessing before going back to what works by crowding the short throws. But yes, if I was building a defense to stop Brady, the Jets’ personnel would be exactly what I wanted (plus maybe a great coverage linebacker?).

One of the new dynamic Patriots threats is Dion Lewis who’s looked sensational before falling back to earth a bit against the Colts, possibly due to an abdominal injury suffered in practice. You guys know about Edelman and Gronk, so how do you think you’ll matchup with not only them, but this new elusive back who is almost impossible to tackle in open space?

TurnOnTheJets – The best way to beat the Jets defense is to get their linebackers in space with your backs, so I expect Todd Bowles to minimize the roles of the Jets linebackers as much as possible. New England’s new version of the triplets is likely going to lead to some unique, defensive back heavy personnel looks from the Jets. The potential absence of slot corner Buster Skrine is going to hurt but as a work around, I expect a mix of Darrelle Revis on Rob Gronkowski (primarily on early downs) and Julian Edelman (primarily on third downs). For the most part, Gronk will probably be bracketed, even if Revis is on him. Marcus Gilchrist has been surprisingly good this season and should be a large part of the Jets package to slow him down.

As for Lewis, he can carve up David Harris or Demario Davis in space. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Calvin Pryor tracking him frequently and spend most of this game basically playing linebacker. The Jets could put a third safety on the field with Dion Bailey or an extra corner with Marcus Williams or Dexter McDougle. Antonio Cromartie is likely to spend most of the game on Brandon LaFell or Keshawn Martin.

Final prediction time: What is the score and who is the guy on each side of the ball who has “big” day? If the Jets win, I’m booking my flight to San Francisco. If they lose, this is just another regular season game so whatever.

PatsPropaganda – Well I really have no choice but to pick the Patriots do I? But let’s face it, they’re near-impenetrable at home and generally, aside from a few outliers (cough Buttfumble), just about every recent Pats-Jets game goes down to the very end, if not overtime. Last time the Pats lost a meaningful AFC East regular season game in Foxborough was September 2008, though the Jets did of course pull of a fantastic (not for me) upset in the 2010 AFC Divisional round. So I see no reason to think this won’t be a great back-and-forth game that comes down to the late fourth quarter. Defensively I think it has to be Jamie Collins, especially if Dont’a Hightower is out. He’ll have to be all over the place as he has been from Week 2 on this year. Offensively I’ll take the obvious choice in Gronk. He’s just too good to completely shut down for an entire game and I think even if he’s slowed down early, he’ll come through late. Pats 23, Jets 17.

TurnOnTheJets – I agree with you that this will be a close game, as many of the recent ones have been. The 9 point spread feels too high and it may come down a bit. It is difficult to play 16 straight games of winning football so despite thinking the Patriots are a better team and still the favorite in the AFC East, I think the Jets steal one 23-20. RAISE THOSE HANDS, TODD!