RADIO
The New England Patriots will try to improve their record to 6-0 when they face the New York Jets this afternoon in Foxborough. Tom Brady has been on fire since the season opener, and now Brandon LaFell comes back after injury held him out the first 5 games of the year. LaFell finished second in touchdown receptions for New England last year, while averaging 7 targets per game. The return hurts Danny Amendola’s value in a big way if LaFell can remain healthy this year.
Dion Lewis is likely out this week, but he would have had his hands full against a Jets defense that has allowed a single rushing touchdown and limited opposing teams to 82.6 yards per game, good for second in the NFL. LeGarrette Blount should see his fair share of second-half work in what I expect to be a close one throughout, but don't expect too much from him. I’m sure Jets head coach Todd Bowles would love to win his first matchup against the division rival Patriots, and should expect some stacked boxes early and often. That, along with two starting o-linemen out for the Patriots makes for a troublesome matchup.
That’s not to say Brady cant handle pressure. During his week 2 game against the Buffalo Bills, Tom averaged a snap-to-attempt time of 1.99 seconds with 59 pass attempts, completely neutralizing Rex Ryan’s blitzes. While Brady could handle the Bills scheme, the Jets have a better overall defense in what should be the Pats biggest challenge yet as far as opposing defenses go.
Rob Gronkowski has a tough matchup on paper too, but the best tight end in the league will find ways to get open today. He’s a constant mismatch for defenses because of his size and speed, and Brady is excellent at taking advantage of those errors by the defense.
The forecast calls for some showers before the game, but bad weather has been no problem for the Brady Bunch in the past, and I doubt we see that change today. It’ll be important to establish the run game it what should be a close game.
