On Thursday night, the New York Jets (2-7) will be coming to Gillette Stadium to take on the New England Patriots (8-2). The Patriots are riding on a seven game win streak and have been playing strong football.
New England will be debuting their alternate rivalry uniforms called the Nor’easter. After dismantling their roster, the Jets traded away CB Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts and DE Quinnen Williams to the Dallas Cowboys at the trade deadline. The Jets come to town winners of two straight games, so this is a team the Patriots should not take lightly.
Patriots QB Drake Maye will need to continue his success moving the ball and scoring this week and cannot let the Jets come to town and shock them with a win. Rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson and rookie WR Kyle Williams each had strong games in Week 10, and both could see an even bigger role on this short week. That means, for the Patriots to continue their dominant success running the football, they need to perform as well as they did last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Players to watch for on Thursday night
After scoring two touchdowns in Tampa, Henderson will likely handle a heavy workload with running back Rhamondre Stevenson out for a third straight week.
WR Stefon Diggs
A major factor for the Patriots will be getting Diggs into the end zone. Last week, right before halftime on a fourth and goal, Diggs made a great catch with strong footwork in the corner of the end zone. If the Patriots can get Diggs the ball in open space, that will be important for this matchup.
WR Kyle Williams.
In Week 10, Williams scored his first NFL touchdown on a 72 yard pass from Maye. With Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte out for a second straight week, look for Williams to have more opportunities to get into the red zone.
Final thoughts and predictions for this matchup
The Patriots enter Thursday night with a strong chance to extend their win streak, but they should not overlook the Jets. If New England plays its style of football and avoids mistakes, the momentum they have built should carry into Week 12. The Jets are determined to snap the Patriots seven game streak and create some momentum of their own as the season moves forward.
My name is Kenneth Matias and I am an aspiring sports journalist that has great sports knowledge and follow the New England Patriots and the NFL landscape very closely.
