Patriots News 10-30: Players To Watch, AFC East Notes
(PHOTO: David Dermer-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 6 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots Commentary
(PHOTO: David Dermer-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 6 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: David Dermer-USA TODAY Sports) Good morning, and Game Day! The Patriots and Jets will once again renew unpleasantries in New Jersey for the 127th time. The Patriots lead the all-time series 74-54-1.
Did You Know? The only tie in 126 games when playing the Jets was way back in October 1966. The Patriots led 24-7 after three quarters, but in the 4th, Joe Namath threw for two touchdowns, and Jim Turner kicked a field goal to tie the game. Coincidentally, it would open the floodgates for the Jets; they didn’t lose to the Patriots until 1971.
Did You Know? Pt 2: The Jets’ spying allegations against New England in 2007 was not the first time this happened. On October 29,1978, Jets coach Walt Michaels said after a 55-21 thrashing by New England that the Patriots were given the Jets’ coaches signals by another team. Later that year, the Oilers (now Titans) erased a 23-0 deficit beating the Patriots 26-23. It was believed the Jets had given the Oilers the Patriots’ coaches’ signals.
Did You Know? Pt 3: “Monday Night Madness” on another October evening in 1976, so many drunk fans were arrested during the game that police were forced to handcuff them to a chain link fence. The Patriots ran for 330 yards and five TDs, en route to a 41-7 victory.
Later that year, the Patriots intercepted Jets QBs seven times (Namath 6 and Richard Todd1) in a 38-24 win. Mike Haynes had three picks, and Prentice McCray had two (2) pick-sixes.
There is something about playing the Jets during the month of October. Here’s to another memorable game in an all-time series full of them.
The Patriots and Jets meet for the first time this year, with Gang Green red hot, winners of four in a row, although they lost two key starters on offense last week in Denver, tackle Alijah Vera-Tucker, and RB Breece Hall.
So, here are our Patriots players to watch today in New Jersey.
Mac Jones — Today is a big, big game for Jones. He was lifted after just three series on Monday night against the Bears, which had to be a blow to his confidence. He’ll have to shake it off in a short week and get back on track against a very tough defense.
Tyquan Thornton — The rookie WR has been getting more looks in the offense as both Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor have been dinged up. Some have mentioned that because of Thornton’s speed, the Jets will put rookie CB Sauce Gardner on him. I think he’ll be placed on Jakobi Meyers, but it would be an intriguing matchup to watch.
Lawrence Guy — The Patriots were gashed by the Bears for 243 yards on the ground last week. Although the Jets lost talented rookie RB Hall, they still have a good back in Michael Carter as well as picking up James Robinson from the Jaguars. He, Carl Davis, Davon Godchaux, and Deatrich Wise will have to be much better this week.
Matthew Judon — The Patriots’ Edge player, has been fantastic this year. Judon leads the NFL in sacks with 8.5. He also has 15 QB hits, seven TFLs, and a forced fumble. He’s been outstanding at bringing pressure on the QB and disrupting plays. He’ll be asked this week to set the edge a lot and then disrupt things against Zach Wilson.
James Ferentz — The Patriots’ veteran interior OL will be stepping in for David Andrews this week, and he has a very tough task ahead of him. Quinnen Williams has been on a tear this year; he can single-handedly wreck an offense up the middle; look what he did in Green Bay. Ferentz will undoubtedly have help, but this is a tough task.
Bill Belichick: The Patriots’ head coach has another chance to pass George Halas for second all-time in coaching wins with a victory over the Jets today. With a Patriots win, Belichick would now have 325 victories passing Halas and doing it against the Jets, a team that Belichick has no love lost for.
Tom Brady: The Bucs QB announced his divorce from Giselle Bundchen on Friday, and while no one knows the exact reasons why, it is sad to see, especially in the case of the children. Divorces happen all too often in the world today, and it is the children who suffer.
While there may have been other issues involved, perhaps we’ll never know the full extent; one would hope that Brady’s coming back wasn’t the major reason.
Devin McCourty: D-Mac called out Patriots fans as very spoiled after they booed Mac Jones on Monday night. “I’ve been here a long time. I’ve been booed. We’ve been booed. Tom’s (Brady) been booed. As a veteran, I understand we play in an area that I will say is very spoiled in what it expects from the team,” McCourty said.
“When I got here, everything was about, ‘How do you win three Super Bowls?’ When you’re in the NFL for a while, you realize – we got that done – but that’s not a normal task at hand to say, ‘You’ve got to win three Super Bowls to be considered a good football team.’ I think it kind of is what it is, and overall, we’ve been really focused this week on trying to get a win.”
“Patriots 4th & 2 Podcast: If you haven’t checked out our PatsFans.com podcast, “Patriots 4th & 2”, in a bit, please check it out. Russ, Derek, and I looked at the Bears debacle game last week and how the team matches up with the Jets; be sure to check it out.
Russ Francis/Chuck Fairbanks: The former Patriot tight end and head coach both should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame, and the fact that especially Francis isn’t is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed the game with how teams used the tight end position…this will be on our Sunday posts until it happens.
The slate of games for Week 8 and my predictions are straight up for this week.
Kansas City and the LA Chargers are on a bye week this week.
Baltimore over Tampa Bay 1-0
Jacksonville over Denver (London)
Atlanta over Carolina
Dallas over Chicago
Miami over Detroit
Minnesota over Arizona
Las Vegas over New Orleans
NYJets over New England
Philadelphia over Pittsburgh
Tennessee over Houston
Washington over Indianapolis
San Francisco over LARams
Seattle over NY Giants
Sunday Night Football:
Buffalo over Green Bay
Monday Night Football:
Cincinnati over Cleveland
Last Week: 10—4
This Season: 63—44—1
Last Season: 182—88—1
2020 Season: 169—86—1
2019 Season: 162—93—1
The Buffalo Bills officially released the first renderings of the Bills’ future stadium about 7 months after the framework of the deal was agreed on.
The open-air stadium will have a canopy that will protect most of the fans (about 65 percent) from the wind and elements. The architects also have designed perforated multi-dimensional exterior skin of the stadium that creates wind confusion to prevent the normally swirling winds from getting to the field.
The $1.4 billion stadium is slated to open in 2026.
The Dolphins’ talented cornerback is reportedly being sued by a woman claiming that he gave her genital herpes, a lifelong sexually transmitted disease.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Angie DiMichele, wrote that the lawsuit states that Howard neglected to tell the woman know that he had genital herpes.
“The lawsuit, filed in Broward County, seeks damages in excess of $30,000 and a jury trial,” DiMichele wrote. Howard admitted to the woman that he had genital herpes after originally telling her that he had tested clean of STDs and then apologized.
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“I think that’s fair. Again, in a lot of the games, close games, and playing from ahead that always plays favorably into ball security, the decision making and that kind of thing. I think some of the stats last year were a little skewed with the come-from-behind, trying to get back in the game, pressing things, that type of thing. There’s been a lot less of that this year.
“Part of that’s because there’s been less bad plays in the beginning of the game to get behind. But they play good defense. They don’t give up a lot of points. They move the ball offensively, have a lot of good skills players. They’ve played well in the kicking game. They’ve punted well. [Justin] Hardee and [Brandin] Echols are two outstanding gunners.
“They’ve created a lot of strong field position there. In exchange of punts. So [Braxton] Berrios is the top of the league in kickoff returns, and near the top of the league in punt returns. So the overall field position differential in the kicking game has been favorable. So all those things play in to good complementary football, and the quarterback is certainly a part of it. All those things help him. He helps the other areas. Kicking game helps the defense..”
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick asked how Jets QB Zach Wilson is protecting the football this season.
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“So, how was your week?”
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Listen to our Patriots 4th and 2 podcasts on Stitcher and Streamyard as Russ Goldman, Derek Havens, and myself from PatsFans.com discuss the latest Patriots news and game analysis.
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