3 Stats To Know for Patriots' Week 17 Game vs. Jets
Unfortunately, this will be the first season in a long time that the New England Patriots will not be seeing any postseason action. The team faced an uphill battle after Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski worked their way down to Tampa, while also having the most players of any NFL team opt out of the season due to COVID-19 concerns.
Despite adding former MVP quarterback Cam Newton to the roster, this season has been anything but smooth sailing for the Patriots. Monday night's game against the Bills was one of the more frustrating on the season. Newton's rushing touchdown in the second quarter in Foxboro was the first touchdown for the Patriots since their 45-0 victory against the Chargers on Dec. 6.
The Patriots will face the New York Jets on Sunday in the final matchup of the season. The Jets are no longer winless this season and in fact have won their last two games against the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns. The Rams presented quite the challenge for New England a few weeks ago and held the team without a touchdown.
Here are the top three stats to know for the final game of the 2020-2021 season via ESPN.
132.8 Yards
The Patriots have allowed on average 132.8 rushing yards per game. The Jets are averaging almost 105 rushing yards per game and that is mostly due to the lack of experience and accuracy of young quarterback Sam Darnold. That being said, the two teams are very close in average throwing yards per game: 190.9 yards per game for New England and 189.9 yards per game for New York.
Veteran running back Frank Gore has been listed as out for this weekend, and the Jets do not have a lot of depth in the backfield. This hopefully means Darnold will be throwing the ball more, which is better news for the Patriots, who can take advantage of the young quarterback.
8 Interceptions
J.C. Jackson still holds the number two spot in the NFL for interceptions this season with eight. He has helped the defense this season with DPOY Stephon Gilmore playing inconsistently through injury.
Jackson might be able to add tallies to his interception stats this weekend. Darnold has thrown nine on the season, something Jackson and the entire Patriots defense could capitalize on.
While Jackson did struggle last week as New England's No. 1 cornerback, ending the season on a high note is surely something he has on his radar.
44 Yards
Jarrett Stidham actually led the Patriots in passing yards Monday night, going 4-for-11 for 44 yards. Newton posted only 34 passing yards before being taken out of the game in the third quarter.
There has been chatter that the Patriots should start Stidham on Sunday against the Jets to see what he can really do. Stidham hasn't seen much action since entering the league in 2019. With nothing left to lose this season, except maybe some dignity, Stidham might be a good option to get a better idea of what the team wants to do this offseason.
It's difficult to glean any information from Bill Belichick on what the team is going to do moving forward in regards to the quarterback situation. However, it might be interesting to see what Stidham can do with 60 minutes and a week of preparation as the starting quarterback.
