New England Patriots vs New York Jets: 5 Matchups to Watch
By Hal Bent
New England Interior Offensive Line vs Leonard Williams, Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson
After last season and the complete breakdown of the New England offensive line during the season, the Jets no doubt saw their defensive line as their strongest weapon against Tom Brady and the Patriots. The Jets exploited that weak offensive line last year in their week 16 win over the Patriots playing a key role in forcing New England on the road for the AFC Championship game.
This season the Jets are playing for pride, but outside of outstanding second-year defensive end Leonard Williams, the Jets defensive line seems to be playing out the string. In 2015 the Jets were 9th in the NFL in points allowed, 3rd in turnovers, 13th in passing yards allowed, and 2nd overall in rushing yards allowed. This year they are 26th in points allowed, 17th in yards, 21st in passing yards allowed, and 14th in rushing yards allowed.
A big part of that has been the lack of production from defensive ends Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson. The Jets lost defensive tackle Damon Harrison across town to the New York Giants in free agency where he has been strong against the run and showed untapped potential as an interior pass rusher. To replace “Snacks”, the Jets signed veteran and former Pittsburgh Steelers tackle Steve McLendon to fill his shoes. McLendon is not a run-stuffer but is second on the team in sacks with 3.5 despite missing the last three games with a hamstring injury.
Other than second-year defensive end Leonard Williams (seven sacks), what was the biggest strength of the Jets defense last year has let them down in 2016. Other than McLendon and Williams, no one else on the Jets’ defense has more than 2.5 sacks. The outside pass rush is non-existent and Wilkerson and Richardson have combined for four sacks and been largely lethargic on the field.
One area of improvement for the Patriots in 2016 has been the interior offensive line. Last year the Patriots struggled with the inconsistent duo of left guard Josh Kline and center Bryan Stork next to rookie right guard Shaq Mason. Mason has another year of seasoning and the return of center David Andrews and rookie left guard Joe Thuney has turned a weak spot of 2015 into a strength in 2016.
Richardson and Wilkerson did little against the Patriots’ interior offensive line in week 12 as the Patriots came back from a 10-0 deficit to pull out a 22-17 win. After starting the game with three punts, the Patriots scored on five of seven drives before grinding out the clock to end the game–and one of those non-scoring drives ended in a missed 39-yard field goal.
Of course, Richardson posted an idiotic Snapchat message before last week’s blowout loss to the Dolphins which was inappropriate and seemed to indicate that the former first round draft pick was not motivated to play. In any NFL locker room Richardson would be benched at minimum, so the Jets could (and should)leave him behind on Saturday.