The undefeated (6-0) Patriots travel to MetLife Stadium on Monday night to face the 1-4 Jets in what is sure to be an exciting matchup between the AFC East rivals.
The game will begin at 8:15 p.m. EST on ESPN.
The New England Patriots will be facing the New York Jets for the second time this season. While the Patriots easily handled New York 30-14 in their last outing at Gillette Stadium, that was with third-string quarterback Luke Falk running the Jets offense. The game also took place in notoriously tough Foxborough.
However, starting QB Sam Darnold is now back after being out with mono and looked great in his return last week, when the Jets beat the Dallas Cowboys 24-22 for their first win of the season.
While the Patriots are sporting the top defense in the league, they are mangled on the offensive front. Many impactful players are inactive or questionable for the upcoming contest. Players like Julian Edelman, Rex Burkhead, Josh Gordon and Ryan Izzo are all listed as questionable.
New England’s defense leads the NFL in points allowed per game (8.0) and interceptions (14) and are second in sacks (25) this season. They also have the third-best rushing defense, which has allowed 73.7 yards per game.
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All this looks to thwart a Jets team with superstar Le’Veon Bellin the backfield, a sack-prone Darnold and a team that has some of the worst offensive team stats on the year. The team’s defense looks worse than it really is because they’re on the field much more than they want to be, with New York’s offense never really getting much done. Darnold’s return will definitely change these statistics as the Jets are already a much better and more diverse team with him back on the roster.
Even though the contest could go either way — with the newly improved Jets and battered Patriots — the game is still heavily skewed towards New England’s favor in predictions.
The Pats have had 11 days to prepare for this matchup and look ready for the Week seven challenge.
