Three key matchups for the Patriots as they take on the Jets

The Patriots travel to Metlife Stadium this week to take on the surging New York Jets as they look to forget a rough loss to the Chicago Bears on Monday night. The Jets have won four in a row to take a 5-2 record into this matchup but will be without three key players. Rookie running back Breece Hall tore his ACL and starting guard Alijah Vera-Tucker tore his triceps in last week’s victory in Denver while leading receiver Corey Davis was ruled out today with a knee injury. The Jets have taken advantage of injury problems with other teams during their four-game winning streak but now will have to deal with the injuries themselves.

The Patriots, meanwhile, are dealing with injury problems of their own. In today’s injury report, it was declared that defensive lineman Christian Barmore would miss his second straight game with a knee injury while center David Andrews would miss the game after suffering a concussion during Monday’s loss. It’s the loss of Andrews that leads us to the first key matchup of the game.

Key matchups for the Patriots in week eight

James Ferentz/Cole Strange/Mike Onwenu vs. Quinnen Williams

This would’ve been a tough matchup for the Patriots interior offensive line even if Andrews was healthy. In his fourth season, Williams is on pace to have the best year of his career as he’s already racked up five sacks, four tackles for loss and 13 quarterback hits. He’s come a long way since his post-draft interview.

On the Patriots side, Ferentz will fill in for Andrews and should see a lot of different looks from the Jets front. While Ferentz has only played 16 snaps all season, this will be his seventh start as a Patriot over the past four seasons. Williams will also be a big test for rookie Cole Strange, who is coming off of his worst game of the year and Mike Onwenu as they were consistently beaten at the line of scrimmage on Monday. They’ll have to be able to communicate and contain Williams to give Mac Jones a clean pocket.

Key matchups for the Patriots in week eight

Patriots tight ends vs. Jets linebackers/safeties

The Jets secondary is off to a great start in 2022 and rookie corner Sauce Gardner, in particular, has been quite impressive. He leads the league in passes defended with 12 while adding one interception. With Mac Jones still coming back from injury, I’m not sure if the Patriots will ask him to win the game by attacking the boundaries.

So where does Jones turn? How about the tight ends, Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith. It looked like both of them were starting to find their stride with Bailey Zappe during week six in Cleveland but they were unable to get off the ground on Monday. The Jets have given up the fifth-most receptions (42) to tight ends this season and teams have had success in recent weeks. Denver tight ends caught eight passes for 73 yards, Green Bay tight ends caught 11 balls for 99 yards and Pittsburgh had eight receptions for 87 yards. This would be a good week for Jones to get going with his two highly-paid tight ends.

Key matchups for the Patriots in week eight

Patriots front seven vs. the run

Woof. It looked like the Patriots had fixed their issues with stopping the run but then the Chicago Bears come in and run for an easy 243 yards in their blowout win. You’d have thought that maybe they’d make an adjustment or two after seeing designed quarterback runs but that never seemed to be the case for Steve Belichick and his defensive unit. Of course, it did not help losing Kyle Dugger to an injury, but they were getting run over even with him in there. This matchup with the Jets would have been tough with Hall in there as he has 285 yards and three touchdowns in his last three games while averaging almost seven yards per rush.

The Jets don’t have the running threat at quarterback like the Bears but they do have Michael Carter and now James Robinson to run the ball. Carter is a tough back to bring down, leading the Jets with five broken tackles on his 66 rushes, and is a threat down by the goal line. It remains to be seen how much Robinson will play but he proved to be a threat as both a runner and a receiver during his time in Jacksonville. The Patriots need to be able to stop the run and force the Jets to beat them in the air without their leading receiver.