The common sentiment around the league is that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is licking his chops to game plan against New York Jets QB Zach Wilson, the rookie #2 pick. New England needs a win after suffering a 17-16 home division loss to the Dolphins last week but are still -6 favorites heading to MetLife Stadium.
Rookie QBs Meet Up
Before Belichick zones in on making Wilson’ see ghosts’ in his home debut, the Patriots coach must make sure his own rookie signal-caller is ready for his first NFL road game. #15 pick Mac Jones played well last week, going 29/39 for 281 yards, but he also led the Patriots to just 16 points, 9 of which came on field goals.
The Patriots couldn’t win in week 1 despite having a 65,000+ capacity crowd for the first time since 2019, not throwing an interception, and having a 100-yard rusher as Damien Harris hit the century club on 23 carries.
New England did lose 2 of their four fumbles, though, but that didn’t necessarily put the Patriots defense in harm’s way. Miami’s two TD drives were 80-yards in the first quarter and covered 75-yards in the 3rd. Overall the Pats’ defense was pretty solid, though, holding Miami to 74 yards on the ground and 185 through the air.
Jets Got a Game Under Their Belt
Week 1 didn’t quite provide the showing that the new head coach and defensive guru Robert Saleh would’ve liked. The Panthers pulled off a 19-14 win, which looking back, isn’t that many points considering Christian McCaffrey ran up and down the field with 98 yards rushing and 89 receiving.
The Panthers have a lot of weapons (many would say more than the Patriots), and the Jets still only lost by 5 points on the road in what was also Saleh’s debut as an NFL head coach. Sure, Sam Darnold was playing his first game with Carolina, but Jones is playing just his 2nd NFL game ever on Sunday – and first on the road.
Ultimately this game comes down to what Wilson can produce against Belichick’s defense. The Jets rookie Zach Wilson. Wilson did have 258 yards passing and 2 TD in his debut, but also had a pick and showed confusion in getting sacked six times. New England was able to get to Tua Tagovailoa twice last week but will dial things up even more here, one would think.
Patriots at Jets Pick
This feels like it should be a field goal spread, as Saleh’s defense was very bend-but-don’t-break last week against Carolina and held the Panthers to just three second-half points, which shows an early ability for this Jets staff to make adjustments. Sure, New York’s Wilson might get rattled by the Patriots’ defensive scheme, but do you really trust Mac Jones to carve up this Jets squad in his first NFL road game?
Jets 17- Patriots 13
Jets +6
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