With first place of the AFC East on the line, Todd Bowles and his New York Jets invade Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots.
New York Jets (4-1)
New England Patriots (5-0)
NFL, Week 7
Sunday, 1:00 PM ET on CBS
Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
By Robby Sabo
Week 7 of the 2015 NFL season – this Sunday at 1 PM ET – will hold just a bit more importance than the last few seasons.
There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name his Todd Bowles. If he can somehow come away with a shocking victory over the undefeated, defending Super Bowl Champions, he’d immediately put the rest of the league on notice about the Jets entering “real contender” status.
The rest of the league already knows about the defense. It’s hard to miss them when they’re staring down at the rest of the league. Bowles’s defense is currently ranked No. 1 in the NFL, yielding just 269.2 yards per game. Second is the very tough Denver Broncos unit at 281.3.
Not only does No. 1 sound beautiful, but the idea the Jets are No. 2 in both rushing (82.6) and passing (186.6) yards allowed is really something substantial.
Still though, the schedule they’ve faced up to this point is mere child’s play compared to what’s coming at them Sunday. Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman are primed to make the Jets miserable all afternoon.
Only trailing the San Diego Chargers by 11 yards a game, the Pats currently boast the best offense in the league. No, they don’t have that primetime outside receiving threat who’ll fly down the field and go up and get it. No, they sure don’t have that beastly back who’ll run through and around defenders like a certain someone in Seattle.
What they do have though, is No. 12 – a future Hall of Fame quarterback who ranks among the greatest to ever lace them up. Brady’s sheer will to win and stuff between the ears are what legends are made of.
Considering that, and just that alone (which is scary enough), the Jets will have their hands full. Even still, it’s most definitely possible for the Jets to knock them down a peg or two.
Here are the top five keys to a New York Jets victory over the New England Patriots in Week 7.
5. The Fine Details
A fan of a team who’s continuously played second fiddle to the New England Patriots certainly knows the deal: These guys are extremely locked into the fine details of the game.
Whether it’s spectacular game-planning from Bill Belichick; Tom Brady quick-snapping at every turn; QB sneaking when the situation presents itself; or the sidelines always owning the game management aspect; this organization gets it right. They rarely fail to let an opportunity fall by the wayside.
This is why their opponents must be fully locked in. Only the smartest and most prepared teams can compete with the defending champs.
RELATED: How Todd Bowles & The New York Jets Can Beat Belichick
Where Rex Ryan failed, Todd Bowles has a chance to succeed. Through five games, Bowles has already shown how improved the Jets are in many aspects of organization.
First and foremost, they never suffer any substitution issues. Far too often over the last six seasons, the both the offense and the defense were forced to burn a timeout due to sloppy sideline work. Furthermore, challenging calls on the field and managing the clock has been greatly improved.
Bowles and company need to be locked in come Sunday afternoon.
4. Tackling After Catch
Think about the Patriots offense for a moment. Of course Tom Brady is the engine who runs everything. Then, that fun-loving party animal Rob Gronkowski is next up. Finally, that pesky, trash-talking Julian Edelman is the final major threat.
While they’re all dominant offensive studs in the NFL, they all have one thing in common. None of these guys go deep.
Everything New England does is run-after-catch. Brady – for how deadly he still is at age 38 – doesn’t even look past 20 yards these days. Actually, most of his stuff is 10-yards and under. What he does is survey the field and the opposition’s defense more brilliantly than anybody ever has, all while taking advantage of the top matchup and burning that poor defender who can’t keep up.
It’s just the way the NFL is these days. The rules against the defender make it impossible to cover. If deadly accurate and smart, a QB can get away with dinking and dunking all game.
Of Edelman’s 449 total receiving yards on the season, 244 of them have come after the catch. That’s more than half and ranks as No. 5 in the NFL. Gronkowski is 22nd in the league in YAC with 192 yards of a total 425.
What these guys do is rub, pick and completely out-think you at the line of scrimmage. If the Jets defense can stick these weapons immediately after the catch, they’ll have a great shot at winning.
It’s not important to break up the pass against Brady. What matters is making the sure tackle after the completion.
3. Linebacker Discipline
Hitchhiking off of the Pats strategy offensively, what Brady loves to do against defenses (and the Jets in particular) is to target the inside linebacker.
Think about how their offensive personnel is constructed. There is no Calvin Johnson or A.J. Green. New England is loaded up the middle of the field with weapons. It’s the big, burly Gronkowski, the fearless Edelman in the slot, and whichever third down back is currently fashionable.
That third down back this season is Dion Lewis, and he’s a quite the shifty fellow.
Brady loves targeting Jets inside linebacker David Harris. For all of his solid attributes – phenomenal run-stuffer and leader – Harris struggles mightily in the passing game. He oftentimes gets lost in a zone against tight ends and very rarely does a great job in man defense.
[mc4wp_form id=”11263″]Add Demario Davis’s recent struggles in the passing game, and it becomes quite evident where Tom Terrific will look on Sunday. Against the Eagles a few weeks ago, Davis was burned a couple of times by Darren Sproles and the dreaded wheel route.
New York must contain Lewis and Gronkowski in the passing game. Calvin Pryor will have a big say in that.
2. Controlling The Line On Offense
It’s often proclaimed that the best defense is a great offense. This couldn’t be more spot-on than in the NFL.
Time of possession is the king’s ultimate stat. Usually, the team who hangs onto the ball more in the game will turn out the winner.
Against a guy like Brady, this is a must.
What Belichick will try to do this Sunday is take away the Jets top weapon on offense. He’s famous for this strategy going back to his defensive coordinator days with the New York Giants. While it’s debatable who there top weapon is, most have a hunch that he’ll target Chris Ivory.
This will put pressure on New York to use Ryan Fitzpatrick more than wanted. And while he’s been efficient this season (1,177 passing yards, 9 TD, 7 INT), he’s still Ryan Fitzpatrick. This means he’ll be forced to open up the run game with the pass. Brandon Marshall will be huge this Sunday. An early barrage to Marshal and Eric Decker will force Belihick’s hand and have him walk the safety out and start to mix in seven-man boxes.
Then, and only then, will Ivory start to run wild and the offensive line start to control the game. Chan Gailey must take what the Pats defense gives him. They cannot force the issue as that’ll fall right into Belichick’s hands.
Under Rex Ryan this simplistic concept would often fall through. He preached ground-and-pound so much that his philosophy actually provided an offensive give-up. Very few offensive lines can run against a loaded box.
Bowles has already proved he’s willing to run a balanced offense (whether he has a franchise quarterback at the helm or not).
1. Inside Pressure On Brady
Tom Brady is 4-2 in six career Super Bowls. Why did the man lose two Super Bowls? Well, simply put, he faced the New York Giants and their relentless pass rush.
Michael Strahan, Jason Pierre-Paul and especially Justin Tuck (inside pressure during 2007) wrecked havoc against Brady. They were so good that the coverage behind them could still drop seven while not allowing Brady to ever get comfortable.
Furthermore, there’s nothing Brady hates more than inside pressure. Sure, edge pressure is the gold standard in the league these days. It’s a lovely thing to possess.
However, Brady and his well-trained bookend tackles deal with edge pressure quite well. He actually gains purposeful passing windows by funneling the edge guys down the field. Brady’s weakness is pressure coming right at him – up the middle and at his legs.
He absolutely despises this type of pressure because he can’t step into his throws like he loves to do. The guy isn’t a mobile QB by any means, but he does tend to climb the pocket and step forward with most passes.
Because he also gets rid of the ball in record time, it’s a tough chore to send six or seven guys at him and come away with consistent positive results. It’ll be up to Sheldon Richardson, Leonard Williams, Damon Harrison, and Muhammad Wilkerson to create a substantial amount of pressure on their own so Bowles can keep seven in coverage and have them tackle stoutly after the catch.
If this gameplan falls through, so will the Jets chance of winning.