3 Keys to a Patriots Victory in Week 7 vs. Jets
The New England Patriots are back on Monday night as they finish their season series vs. the New York Jets in Week 7 action.
The Jets finally got their first win last week against the Cowboys. Sam Darnold is back after his bout with mono and New York and their fans have got a little pep in their step. The Jets are flying high and feel very confident that they can knock off the Patriots.
How can the Pats hold off the Jets? Let’s break it down into three keys.
1) Get Jakobi Meyers involved
Josh Gordon hurt his ankle against the New York Giants and luckily seems to have avoided major injury. In his absence, Jakobi Meyers stepped up to have his best game of his young career. It is unclear if Gordon and Phillip Dorsett will play on Monday, but it is unlikely they will be 100 percent, so Meyers will have to preform yet again.
Meyers seemed to gain Brady’s trust vs. the Giants. He caught a great back-shoulder throw from Brady down by the goal line. As we all know, it is difficult for any receiver to pick up the offense and be on the same page as Brady. We’ve seen our fair share of wide receivers fall by the waste side because they were not able to gain Brady’s trust. From Taylor Price to Aaron Dobson, the list is long. Brady will have no other choice but to throw to Meyers, but Meyers has great hands and seems to know what he is doing. Monday night could be the night the rookie makes a name for himself.
2) Limit Sam Darnold
The Jets finally got their quarterback back and you can see the difference in the entire team when their franchise QB is running the offense. They felt confident that they could win from the get-go last week against Dallas, which led to a huge upset.
Darnold is another exciting young quarterback in the NFL, but New England's defense is one that he has never seen before.
One thing to keep an eye on is that in Darnold’s first start of the year vs. the Bills, they didn’t score any points in the second half. Last week vs. the Cowboys, they only scored three points in the second half. It could be a fluke, but Darnold has not been the same player after halftime in his two starts in 2019. If New England can capitalize on that and keep New York out of the end zone in the first half, they should be able to handily come out with a win.
3) Give Tom Brady options downfield
Brady is 42 years old, in his 20th NFL season and doesn't seem to like integrating young-guns into the offense. The time it takes is too large when considering how complex New England's offense can be.
Brady needs guys that he can trust. Rob Gronkowski was still a factor last year, even though he was hobbled and broken down, because that trust factor was still there. That’s the same reason why Brady was so excited to have Antonio Brown onboard. That’s why he was upset that Ben Watson was originally released.
For now, however, Brady will have to deal with what he's got. I’m sure Brady is happy that Watson is back, so he doesn’t have to only rely on Julian Edelman, James White, and a couple undrafted rookies running around to catch passes. Even though there is a sense of frustration from him, Brady will be fine no matter what. They figure it out. They always do.
