An inside look at Sunday’s Jets-Patriots Week 18 matchup in Foxborough, Mass:
Marquee matchup
Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett vs. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick
OK, so this is a little like Pauly Shore facing Tom Hanks for Best Actor, but there are not many individual matchups that dazzle in this one.
As bad as this season has been for the Patriots, their defense has played well.
They are ranked sixth in total yards against and second in rushing yards against in the NFL. They have held seven of their past eight opponents under 300 yards.
The Jets have the 31st ranked offense in the league in Hackett’s first season with the team.
They have looked a little better recently, going over 300 yards in three of their past four games.
Hackett outsmarting Belichick feels like a long shot.
“We all know he’s a brilliant coach in this league,” Hackett said this week. “One of the best, if not the best, to ever coach. So much respect for him and everything that he’s accomplished. Right now, we’re just getting ready for what he presents for us this week. He presents a lot.
“Like I said, he has done such a great job with doing the same things for the players, but just causing so much confusion with the different personnel groupings. They form things out of and putting different guys in different spots. Sometimes guys are playing DB, sometimes they are playing linebacker, sometimes they’re playing defensive line, so I think it’s just things that we all have to lock in and communicate throughout this whole game.”
Costello’s call
Bill Belichick can’t lose to the Jets in his finale as the Patriots coach. That would not feel right.
This will be a low-scoring, sloppy game on a messy weather day at Gillette Stadium. New England just does enough to win the game and send Belichick off as a winner.
Patriots 13, Jets 10
Four downs
The ‘Maine man: Jermaine Johnson has had a monster second season with the Jets.
He was overshadowed by fellow 2022 top picks Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall as a rookie, but he has joined them as key pieces of the core this year.
Last week against the Browns, Johnson had an interception returned for a touchdown and a fumble recovery.
He is the only player in the NFL this season to have a pick-six and a fumble recovery in the same game.
Johnson is one of four players this season to record at least six sacks, 15 pressures, seven passes defensed, an interception, forced fumble and fumble recovery.
“He is a guy that is just, he is rare,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. “The fact that a lot of times you get an end that has got, great pass rush, he has got great speed and bend and an arsenal of moves and that is his superpower. Or you have got the really tough, roughed run defenders that set violent edges and they are disruptive in the run game. He is a guy that has developed the entire game.”
Zappe days: The Jets will see a new quarterback Sunday with Bailey Zappe under center for the Patriots.
Zappe has started the past five games after replacing Mac Jones, and he has guided the Patriots to two victories.
He threw three interceptions against the Bills last week, so the Jets could have a chance at some takeaways.
“He gets rid of the ball pretty quick,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “You can see him working through progression, does a great job stepping up in the pocket and finding his check downs and outlets, keeping the ball alive in terms of being a passer and not just a runner when he scrambles. But he’s a good young quarterback, he’s definitely a challenge.”
Snow day: A winter storm is hitting the Northeast this weekend, and there is expected to be as much as 8 inches of snow dumped on Gillette Stadium between Saturday and Sunday night.
Depending on the track of the storm, this game could end up being played in a heavy snow or a mix of snow and rain.
This weather likely won’t help the two struggling offenses of these teams and could result in a sloppy season finale.
Return to the scene of the return: The last time the Jets played here, the game had one of the worst endings imaginable. With the game tied at 3-3, Patriots punt returner Marcus Jones returned Braden Mann’s punt 84 yards for a game-winning touchdown with 5 seconds left in the game.
Mann was let go after the season and replaced with Thomas Morstead. For many Jets, the memory of that loss remains painful.
“I was trying to forget about that,” special teams coordinator Brant Boyer said. “I’m just kidding. That’s something that I’ll never forget that game and the way I felt after that game, because I felt like we let the team down, me specifically.”
