What to Watch For: Patriots at Jets
Joe Calabro, GoLocalProv Sports Team
What to Watch For: Patriots at Jets
Despite the Jets record, don't expect them to let the Patriots off the hook. In the last eight games between the two teams, three of them have gone to overtime, including last year's 26-20 Jets win that helped knock the Patriots out of the number one seed in the AFC.
The Patriots are 6-2 against the Jets in those eight games.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"There have been a lot of close games because they're a very tough, hard-nosed team. They always have been. All those games that we've played against them are tight games. They have a lot of good skill players. They've got a real good defense; they've had a good defense for a long time," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in his Friday press conference.
A win on Sunday would give Brady the 200th win of his career, tying him with Peyton Manning for the most all-time.
See What to Watch for in the Slideshow Below
What to Watch For: Patriots at Jets
Rob Gronkowski
Tight end Rob Gronkowski traveled with the team to New Jersey for Sunday's game against the Jets.
Gronkowski has been limited in practice all week with a chest injury that he suffered against Seattle two weeks ago. He even had a red non-contact jersey on in practice as the week went on.
It was reported earlier in the week that Gronkowski was unlikely to play.
Revis
The play of cornerback Darrelle Revis has been under the microscope this season after Bengals star receiver AJ Green caught eight passes for 100 yards against Revis earlier this season.
Revis has been beaten deep on a number of occasions, most notably by Green, Kenny Britt and Marquis Goodwin.
"Our guys have pretty good speed, so if they're trying to sit on things, you've got to throw it by them, and if they're backing off, you've got to throw it underneath them, so that's just the cat and mouse game that you play with a lot of good players," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during his Friday press conference.
Pats Secondary
The Patriots secondary will have matchup problems with Jets receivers Brandon Marshall and Quincy Enunwa due to the size difference.
This could be a game for Eric Rowe, who at 6'2" is the same size as Enunwa. New England will probably show him a number of different corners, not just one guy the entire game.
As for Brandon Marshall, look for the Patriots to give over the top help as much as they can throughout the game.
Marshall as 43 catches for 600 yards and two touchdowns this season, while Enunwa has hauled in 38 catches for 534 yards and three touchdowns.
Jabaal Sheard
It looks like Jabaal Sheard will get a chance to redeem himself this week as he has made the trip to New Jersey. Last week, Sheard was left behind while the Patriots went to San Francisco.
Prior to Sheard being a healthy scratch against San Fran, his snap counts have been very inconsistent: 35 against Pittsburgh, 56 against Buffalo, 16 against Seattle. Trey Flowers has been the man taking his place.
According to ESPN's Mike Reiss, Sheard's lack of play can be summed up in a sequence dating back to the Seattle game. Reiss wrote, "in the second quarter on back-to-back plays, Sheard so badly played his assignment he compromised the integrity of the overall scheme and put his 10 other teammates in a tough spot"
Sheard has 3.5 sacks on the season, second-most behind Flowers.
His performance and participation against the Jets will be something to watch.
Pats O-line
The strength of the Jets defense is still their front line with Sheldon Richardson, Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams and they still bring all types of pressure in every situation.
"Coach Bowles runs a varied scheme where you can get anywhere from a three-man rush to everybody blitzing pretty much on any play from first down, second down, third down, red area, two-minute, all of those situations, so there's a lot to defend, a lot of good players," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
The Jets defense gives up an average of 84 rushing yards per game and has recorded 19 sacks so far this season. With that said, New York has allowed 68, 127 and 135 rushing yards in their last three games so the Patriots will have chances.
