{"id":3838,"date":"2015-12-24T06:09:33","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T11:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=3838"},"modified":"2015-12-24T06:09:33","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T11:09:33","slug":"patriots-jets-ii-key-matchups-who-has-the-razors-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2015\/12\/24\/patriots-jets-ii-key-matchups-who-has-the-razors-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots \u2013 Jets II, Key Matchups; Who Has the Razor\u2019s Edge?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots<\/strong><\/a> head back out on the road for a key game against the New York Jets. The normal rivalry aside, this one is even bigger in terms of playoff implications for both teams.<\/p>\n

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday and will have Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts on the call. The game can also be heard on the Patriots flagship station of 98.5 FM the Sports Hub with Bob Socci and Scott Zolak on the call.<\/p>\n

The Jets (9-5) are on a four-game winning streak and need to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. They are currently tied with both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs at 9-5 but lose out on the tie breaker and are on the outside looking in. They beat the Dallas Cowboys 19-16 last week as they gutted out a close win in the final moments.<\/p>\n

New England (12-2), beat a bad Tennessee Titans team 33-16 on Sunday to clinch a first round bye in the playoffs. It was the Patriots sixth straight 12-win season becoming only the second team (Indy with seven) to do so. With a win on Sunday the Patriots will clinch the #1 seed in the AFC and ensure home field advantage in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

We here at\u00a0PatsFans.com<\/a>\u00a0are continuing our \u201cRazor\u2019s Edge\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0column in 2015 to give a quick break down on some of the key matchups of the game and what you can look for in how the game plays out.<\/p>\n

Series History: <\/strong>The Patriots and Jets will meet for the 114h<\/sup> time on Sunday including the playoffs. The Patriots hold a 59-53 overall edge against Gang Green but the series has been marked recently by very close games. The Jets maintain a 28-27 lead at home although the Patriots lead 3-2 in games at Met Life Stadium.<\/p>\n

The most recent matchup was another classic Pats-Jets contest; New York led 20-16 in the fourth quarter before Tom Brady led the Patriots on two 10-play scoring drives for touchdowns in the Pats 30-23 win.<\/p>\n

Here is a look at some of the key matchups and who holds the Razor\u2019s Edge.<\/p>\n

First up is the Patriots offense:<\/p>\n

Patriots RBs vs Jets Front Seven – <\/strong>Razor\u2019s Edge New York
\n<\/em>The Jets are outstanding against the run allowing only 82.8 yards per game. Their front seven is very stout at the point of attack and in the first meeting the Patriots only attempted nine runs for 16 yards on the day. Tom Brady was actually the Pats leading rusher in October with 15 yards on four carries.<\/p>\n

With LaGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis on IR, the Patriots running game was carried by Brandon Bolden and James White. Last week the team activated Joey Iosefa from the practice squad and the big FB had 51 yards on 14 carries. Now the team has signed Steven Jackson to help with the stretch run. The Pats are hoping he can contribute just 10-15 carries a game to help ease the burden on Brady and the passing game.<\/p>\n

All eyes will be on Jackson to see what he has left in the tank and one particular area to focus on will be ball security. For a guy who hasn\u2019t played all season, that will bear watching.<\/p>\n

Patriots WRs vs Jets Secondary – <\/strong>Razor\u2019s Edge New England
\n<\/em>Brady has been one of the players talked about as an MVP candidate for a reason this year. He\u2019s been fantastic and he was at his best in the fourth quarter of the October game against the Jets; Brady was 14-17 for 150 yards and two touchdowns in the pivotal 4th<\/sup> quarter to lead the Pats to a comeback victory. Rob Gronkowski had 11 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. But Brady had both Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola for that game.<\/p>\n

The Jets pass defense is very good with Darrelle Revis still locking down one side and Buster Skrine in the slot. Their pass rush has been particularly effective during the 4-game winning streak notching 13 sacks. They get a great push from Muhammad Wilkerson, Damon Harrison and Sheldon Richardson up front. Rookie Leonard Williams has been impressive.<\/p>\n

The key in the first game was hitting the quick passes to Edelman and getting the ball out before the Jets could bring pressure. Expect the Patriots to do that again and get James White involved in the passing game early. Brady got rid of the ball an average of 1.91 seconds in the first game. The Patriots want a repeat; the Jets want to slow that time down. Look for the Patriots to try to work the middle of the field against the linebackers.<\/p>\n

Next up the Jets offense:<\/p>\n

Jets RBs vs NE Front Seven –\u00a0<\/strong>Razor\u2019s Edge New England
\n<\/em>Chris Ivory was having a fantastic season until he started to slow down about a month ago. But he\u2019s showing signs of getting hot again although the Cowboys slowed him down last week in Dallas. Ivory needs only 49 yards to go over 1000 for the season. Bilal Powell is their change of pace back with Tommy Bohanon the FB, leading the way for short-yardage.<\/p>\n

The Patriots have been much better against the run this season and have consistently been in the top-10. The front seven has been very stout at the point of attack with Alan Branch, rookie Malcom Brown and active linebackers led by Dont\u2019a Hightower who may miss this game. In the past the Jets have ran right at DE Chandler Jones and although he\u2019s improved at setting the edge, I expect them to do the same in this one.<\/p>\n

Jets WRs vs NE Secondary- <\/strong>Razor\u2019s Edge New York
\n<\/em>The Jets have been much more reliant on the passing game with Ryan Fitzpatrick who is in the midst of his best season. He has the trust of his coaches and the Jets are using the 3-4 wide receiver spread more than any other team. New York has a pair of big WRs in Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker and it is tall WRs that give the Pats secondary a lot of trouble.<\/p>\n

The Patriots secondary has performed very well this year although the past few weeks has shown a slight trend in giving up big plays in the passing game. We expect a redux of October with Logan Ryan with safety help doubling Marshall and Malcolm Butler on Decker. The key for the Jets will be getting those 3rd<\/sup> and 4th<\/sup> options (Enunwa, Thompkins) involved and getting Powell involved out of the backfield.<\/p>\n

The Patriots front seven didn\u2019t get a ton of pressure on Fitzpatrick in the first game and he\u2019s only been sacked 20 times this season. They\u2019ll have to do a better job at that and be aware of those bootleg plays he runs. The pass rush or lack thereof will go a long way in determining the winner on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Special Teams- <\/strong>Razor\u2019s Edge New England
\n<\/em>The Patriots STs units are always traditionally one of the better units in the league. With Kicker Stephen Gostkowski and punter Ryan Allen, they have a pair of very talented kickers who are among the best in the league. But the team has developed an alarming trend of turning the ball over on STs that will have to be rectified moving forward. Keshawn Martin had a 75-yard kickoff return last week which was the longest in the AFC this season.<\/p>\n

The Jets STs haven\u2019t been up to their usual snuff in 2015 as when Mike Westhoff roamed the sidelines. They brought in kicker Randy Bullock because of injury and also have punter Ryan Quigley. The Jets punt coverage units have struggled this season and have allowed two touchdowns. This would be a great time for the Patriots to take advantage of that and either give the offense a short field or put some points on the board via STs.<\/p>\n

Next up, our prediction on who wins and why\u2026<\/p>\n

Prediction: <\/strong>The Jets games against the Patriots are always close affairs the past few years and this one should be no different. Both teams are jockeying for position in the playoffs and each needs this game; the Jets to get in the playoffs, and the Patriots to win the #1 seed. So this one will have playoff intensity all over it.<\/p>\n

The Jets will look to stay balanced with Ivory running the ball and opening things up in the passing game. Look for them to put Marshall in motion more this time and run him out of the slot where he\u2019s been effective. As much as Fitzpatrick has been better at throwing the ball this season, the Patriots plan is to make him throw it 45+ times because if they can make the Jets a one-dimensional team, they should be better shape to slow down the Jets offense.<\/p>\n

For the Patriots, the absence of Edelman and Amendola will hurt the quick passing offense although Martin has performed well in flashes thus far. Brandon LaFell will be looked to more and should be much more effective than in October where he had six drops in his first action of the season. The Jets will probably put their focus on stopping Rob Gronkowski so the other players will have to step up.<\/p>\n

Brady will look to White early and often in this one; it will be intriguing to see how much the Pats get newcomers Steven Jackson and Leonard Hankerson involved in this one. This will be a defensive struggle and can easily go either way but with Brady at the helm, the Patriots will get just enough offense Sunday to beat a very much improved Jets team. Patriots 23-21<\/strong><\/p>\n

Follow me on Twitter\u00a0<\/em>@SteveB7SFG<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or email me at\u00a0<\/em>stevebpatsfans@gmail.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to our\u00a0<\/em>Patriots 4th<\/sup>\u00a0and 2<\/em><\/a>\u00a0podcast on blog talk radio as the writers Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and I from\u00a0<\/em>PatsFans.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0discuss the latest Patriots news Wednesdays at 12 noon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All eyes will be on Jackson to see what he has left in the tank and one particular area to focus on will be ball security. For a guy who hasn\u2019t played all season, that will bear watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10],"tags":[185,113,34,132,148,52,108,37,112,18,50,204,146,16,78,17,24,699,15,457,44,47,70,8,38,248,117,36,350,456,712,251,13],"class_list":["post-3838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-commentary","category-patriots-news","tag-2015-nfl-season","tag-bilal-powell","tag-bill-belichick","tag-brandon-lafell","tag-brandon-marshall","tag-buster-skrine","tag-calvin-pace","tag-chandler-jones","tag-chris-ivory","tag-danny-amendola","tag-darrelle-revis","tag-dion-lewis","tag-eric-decker","tag-jabaal-sheard","tag-james-white","tag-julian-edelman","tag-lagarrette-blount","tag-leonard-hankerson","tag-malcolm-butler","tag-muhammad-wilkerson","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-york-jets","tag-nfl","tag-patriots","tag-patriots-edge-rushers","tag-predictions","tag-rob-gronkowski","tag-rob-ninkovich","tag-ryan-fitzpatrick","tag-sheldon-richardson","tag-steven-jackson","tag-todd-bowles","tag-tom-brady"],"yoast_head":"\nPatriots \u2013 Jets II, Key Matchups; Who Has the Razor\u2019s Edge?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"All eyes will be on Jackson to see what he has left in the tank and one particular area to focus on will be ball security. 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