Here are ten things worth keeping an eye on in Sunday’s much-anticipated clash between the Patriots and Jets at the new Meadowlands Stadium:
Randy Moss vs. Darrelle Revis. Remember when Brett Favre returned to Lambeau Field with the Vikings, and Fox had a single camera trained on Favre all the time, one you could even watch online? That’s what CBS should do with this matchup. Moss and Revis, all 60 minutes worth.
This promises to be a great battle between two of the more compelling figures in the NFL. Revis was hobbled by a hamstring late this week, and might be less than his best come Sunday. (Asked if Revis would be limited to one side of the field in order to keep him from running too much, Ryan joked: “No, I think the league’s going to make us put him on Moss.”)
But at the same time, with the Jets’ pass rush being one of the best in the league, it appears unlikely that the Patriots will take the time to take a whole lot of shots downfield to Moss. Nevertheless, Moss is clearly anticipating the matchup. He said he spent the whole offseason working on how to beat Revis, and in the wake of a Revis’ comment labeling him as a “slouch,” Moss said, “Tell him The Slouch is coming to Revis Island.”
How quickly Tom Brady can get rid of the ball. The Patriots will take every opportunity to get the ball out as soon as possible to try and avoid the Jets’ pass rush. Look for Brady to spend a lot of time in the shotgun, or utilizing quick three-step drops and focusing on short routes to targets like Welker, Julian Edelman (if either are healthy enough to play), as well as tight ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski. (In that same vein, New York will take every opportunity to hit Brady — the more quarterback hits they put on Brady, the better they’ll feel about their chances.)
Brady said the Patriots didn’t execute as well as they should have the first time the teams met in 2009, but the rematch was another story, a 31-14 win for New England.
“What we showed in the second game was we were better prepared for what they were doing,” Brady said. “[In] the first game we played, we didn’t do a very good job of picking up their pressures. They’re a blitzing team. If you don’t pick up a blitzing team’s blitzes, they’re going to stay at it. They really got after us and forced a lot of drives [where] we ended up killing ourselves.”
Wes Welker. By his own admission, the slot receiver is not 100 percent, but if he’s hobbled, he’s still a mighty weapon against the Jets. He missed the opener last season against New York, but he more than made up for it the second time around, hauling in a career-high 15 catches for 192 yards in the victory over the Jets. Expect New York to be physical with Welker — Ryan said Thursday the Jets are going to “hit him.”
“If he’s going to catch that many passes, we’ve got to hit him. We’ve got to get our hands on him and not give him free releases,” said the Jets coach. “All those kind of things, we’re going to try to do, but he and Brady are a tough combination. He’s going to get his catches, but we’ve just got to limit the run after the catch.”
Kevin Faulk. Faulk is important in this one for two reasons: First, he’s one of the best running backs in the league at blitz pickup, and the Jets are one of the most blitz-happy teams in the league. Second, the presence of Faulk as a pass-catcher out of the backfield (whether it’s on screens or swing passes) will help take some of the pressure off Brady. If the quarterback can find the usually sure-handed Faulk quickly out of the backfield (or even if he’s split wide, as he was several times last week against the Bengals), it would certainly cause the Jets to think twice about adjusting their pressure packages.
Mark Sanchez. The second-year quarterback faced a lot of abuse last week over his stinker in the season-opener against the Ravens, but he boldly predicted a better week for the Jets’ offense against the Patriots. “We’re ready to have a breakout game,” the quarterback told New York reporters this week. “I think [there’s] no better week to do it. We’ll get a win in our new stadium and get things rolling again.” It’s hard to imagine things going much worse than it did in the opener, where he was 10-for-21 for 74 yards. In addition, he completed only three passes for 27 yards to his wide receivers, and his longest completion was for 13 yards.
New England’s front seven. With the poor performance of the New York passing game, look for the Patriots’ front seven to stack the line and dare Sanchez to beat them over the top. In addition, expect New England to rotate a variety of looks and personnel along the defensive front, as it did last week against the Bengals in an attempt to confuse Sanchez.
Fred Taylor. Not like there was much of a doubt before, but with this week’s trade of Laurence Maroney to Denver, the veteran running back is now officially the man in the New England backfield. He ran hard against a solid run defense last week, finishing with 14 carries for 71 yards and a 5.1 yards per carry average against the Bengals. Understand that with the way the Patriots’ offense is presently constituted, Taylor doesn’t have to pile up triple-digit rushing performances. (Although New England wouldn’t turn that down…) Instead, he has to do just enough to keep opposing defenses honest. In a perfect world for the Patriots — if New England is holding a second-half lead, that is — he also needs to be the kind of back who can help the Patriots put together some extended second-half drives.
Kyle Wilson. The rookie corner was identified instantly last week by the Baltimore offense, which went right after him. It was a rough start for the Boise State product, who picked up a holding penalty on a third-and-long situation for the Ravens and kept a drive alive. The No. 3 corner for the Jets, expect Brady and the Patriots’ offense to seek out Wilson to test him early — in much the same way the Bengals went after Devin McCourty right out of the gate — as soon as he gets out on the field.
The Patriots’ special teamers. Last year’s Week 2 loss to the Jets was the low point for an underachieving special teams unit. (Bad punts, poor kick coverage and ill-timed penalties all combined for a miserable afternoon for the special teams crew.) Changes in personnel and schemes have given this unit a spark at the start of the 2010 season, but this is a game that feels like there could be a major special teams event that could decide the outcome.
The flags. The Jets were stunningly undisciplined last week against the Ravens, picking up 14 penalties for 125 yards. In contrast, the Patriots had six penalties for just 30 yards. In the past, New York (and specifically Bart Scott) has been known as a team that can be goaded into bad penalties. A repeat of that would go a long way toward ensuring a New England victory.
CHRISTOPHER PRICE
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