The New England Patriots will be traveling to MetLife Stadium to take on the New York Jets in a critical AFC East showdown. The winner could be sitting on top of the AFC East alone, while the loser will be a game back and will suffer a devastating divisional loss. Win-loss record in the division is a tie-breaker for playoff seeding. To make things even more interesting, the game will be played in front of a national audience on Sunday night.
Here's some highlights from their first matchup of the year in NFL Week 5:
For New England, they have to get their game back on track. Tom Brady played well against the Giants, but that defense allowed Giants QB Eli Manning to drive down the field in under two minutes to lead his team to a game winning touchdown. That lead to the Patriots second straight loss, and is the first losing streak since 2009. Clearly, the Patriots want to end that streak this week.
The Jets proved last week why they are still one of the top teams in the division. New York's defense stifled Ryan Fitzpatrick and held the Bills to 11 points last week, a season low. Not only that, but they were dominant in stuffing the run while cornerback Darelle Revis held Allpro caliber receiver Steve Johnson to three catches last week. The Jets are hoping that he can stay with Wes Welker this week and shut down the top passing threat for the Patriots. Wes Welker finished second for NFL most receiving yards last week.
On offense, the Jets resurgence can be tied almost directly to the return to the run game. Shonn Greene has gotten more than 20 carries in a game in 3 of his last 4 games, and LaDainian Tomlinson is proving to still be quite capable. Mark Sanchez is also making good use of Plaxico Burress in the passing game. Tight end Dustin Keller will also be a prime target, but it will be interesting to see how healthy he is following his head injury suffered in Buffalo.
The Patriots are going to look to get the ball into the hands of Wes Welker. He is almost at 1,000 yards catching on the season with 960 in only 8 games. That puts him on pace for almost 2000 yards this season. Brady also likes throwing to his tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. They have combined for 11 touchdown catches this season.
As with anyone who has played the Patriots this year, the key is to force Brady into mistakes. He already has 3 games this season with 2 or more interceptions. If the Pats line cannot protect Brady, he will be prone to making mistakes and that can add up to a long day for the Patriots. Unfortunately for Brady, Jets coach Rex Ryan has made his living confusing Brady and making him pay for those mistakes.
Winning this game is going to be very important for both teams. If the Patriots win, they will be 6-3 in the division and will have a tiebreaker over the Jets due to 2 head to head wins, plus a better divisional record. If the Jets win, it can put them firmly in first place for the time being even if Buffalo beats Dallas.
Look for both teams to be playing hard and for the rivalry to be fierce. New England still hasn't forgotten how the Jets ousted New England from the playoffs last year. Expect the chants of J-E-T-S to be loud and shouted often during the game. What do the bettors think about the game this week? According to the Vegas line, the Jets are favored by a point to win the game on Sunday night.
| NFL OFFENSIVE RANKINGS | TOTAL | Passing | Rushing | |||
| RANK | YPG | RANK | YPG | RANK | YPG | |
| NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS | 2 | 437.2 | 1 | 325.6 | 17 | 111.6 |
| NEW YORK JETS | 29 | 306.1 | 22 | 209.5 | 25 | 96.6 |
| NFL DEFENSIVE RANKINGS | TOTAL | Passing | Rushing | |||
| RANK | YPG | RANK | YPG | RANK | YPG | |
| NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS | 32 | 416.2 | 32 | 314.0 | 9 | 102.2 |
| NEW YORK JETS | 8 | 319.0 | 7 | 196.0 | 22 | 123.0 |
