Back in Week 2, the New York Jets played their home opener against the New England Patriots. MetLife Stadium was electric as Ty Johnson started …
Back in Week 2, the New York Jets played their home opener against the New England Patriots. MetLife Stadium was electric as Ty Johnson started the game with an 8-yard run. On the next play, Zach Wilson was intercepted. After a Patriots field goal, Michael Carter ran for 13 yards. Then Wilson was intercepted a second time. It went on like that, with the Jets picking up chunks of yardage only to be short-circuited by two more Wilson picks. The result was a 25-6 Patriots victory, though the Jets had more rushing yards (152-101), passing yards (184-159) and first downs (18-17). They also won time of possession (32:08-27:52). It’s not a stretch to say 52 Jets did OK and one man (Wilson) cost them the game. Normally, this type of scenario would have me looking to grab points in the rematch with the team that won most of the stats. But I don’t think I can get there with the Jets this time. They did have that nice win against the Titans, in which they sacked Ryan Tannehill seven times. But let’s face it, as we saw this past Monday night, if A.J. Brown had played, the Jets would have lost to Tennessee. And then the no-show first half in London against the Falcons was very discouraging. In fact, the Jets’ poor starts in all games have made it very difficult for them to win and even cover spreads. Perhaps Robert Saleh figured out during the bye week how to remedy that, but the Jets will have to show me first before I take them against the Patriots in Foxborough. New England is just 2-4, including an incredible 0-4 at home. This is a must-win game for Bill Belichick if the Patriots intend to get back into the playoff chase. But this is a team that took both the Buccaneers and the Cowboys to the final play and should have won both of those games, and I expect their “A” game here. The pick: Patriots, -7 As a general rule, I try to swim with the sharps as much as possible in these selections.
