The New England Patriots and New York Jets are both fighting to get their season back on track and both appear to be making progress.
The Patriots lost two of their first three games and appeared to be in serious trouble when they got blown out 35-6 by the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 3. Instead of playing like a potential MVP, quarterback Drake Maye had grown skittish and was making mistakes. In addition to throwing interceptions — he has already thrown 7 this season — he appeared to be losing his grip for a team with very high expectations.
However, those writing off the Patriots or questioning their quarterback were premature. Maye has bounced back with two excellent games in key victories over the Bills and Raiders. While there are no guarantees in the NFL, the Patriots appear to be back on track and Maye appears to be regaining the momentum he had a year ago when the Pats host the Jets in Week 6.
Aaron Glenn had a very rough season in his first year as Jets head coach, but the defense appears to be very competitive in Year 2. The Jets have an alert and aggressive defense and that is enough to keep them competitive in most situations. The presence of Geno Smith under center represents an improvement over the situation a year ago when the Jets had inconsistent Justin Fields as their quarterback.
Getting the best of the Patriots on their homefield would appear to be a major reach for the Jets. However, they were able to close out the Browns under difficult circumstances in Week 5, so they should go into the game with some confidence.
Maye will go after the Jets secondary and throw for 250 yards and 2 TDs
Maye turned his season around by leading the Patriots to a 29-26 upset in Week 4 against the explosive Bills. The quarterback completed 22 of 37 passes for 269 yards with 3 TDs and 1 interception and also ran for 54 yards. He followed up on that performance with an MVP-level game against the Raiders. Maye threw for 374 yards with 4 TDs and no interception and he also ran for a TD in a 45-17 blowout.
There is little doubt that Maye is a better and more confident QB1 than he was after the loss to the Jaguars.
However, the one thing that Maye knows is that head coach Mike Vrabel is not satisfied. “Today’s not going to matter here in about 10 minutes,” he said, per The Athletic. “We still have a lot to improve and to clean up. I’m happy but there’s just a lot of things that we have to do to improve.”
The Jets have the fourth-ranked defense in the NFL, as they are giving up 293.0 yards per game. Glenn has an athletic, hard-hitting unit that will press the Patriots offense hard, and Maye will have to be aware of David Bailey. The rookie edge rusher from Texas Tech has 25 tackles, 5.0 sacks, 6 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble and 1 pass defensed. He is a game-changing player and the Patriots will have to make sure he can't get too close to Maye.
Geno Smith can pierce the Patriots defense with 250 yards and 2 TDs
The Jets know that Smith is an accurate passer. As they head into this Week 6 matchup, Smith has completed 102 of 147 passes for 1,084 yards with 6 touchdowns and he has not thrown an interception. He has a solid go-to receiver in Garrett Wilson, and it will be a challenge for the Patriots to keep him in check. Wilson has caught 31 passes for 374 yards and has been on the receiving end of 3 of Smith's TD passes.
The Patriots have one of the best cover men in the NFL in CB Christian Gonzalez. He will attempt to stop Wilson — or at least prevent him from making any big plays that change the momentum in the game.
Article Continues BelowThe key for the Jets in this game may be their ability to maintain possession and not give Maye the opportunity to torch them with big plays. They need running back Braelon Allen to have a big game. He scored the game-winning TD against the Brown with a 22-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter. If he can run for 65-70 yards in this game, it could take a lot of the pressure off of Smith and help him lead the offense to a competitive effort in this game.
Jets will hang close in this game, but Pats emerge with tight victory
The Jets are a better team than they were last year when they finished the season with a 3-14 record and were a last-place team in the AFC East. They will come into this game with confidence and they should be able to battle the Patriots closely for nearly 60 minutes.
However, the Patriots have figured out how to win after their slow start, and Maye will come through in the late stages of the game to get the win in front of the home crowd. The Jets should not be discouraged because they have winnable games coming up against the struggling Dolphins and the Raiders. If they can win both of those games, the Jets will be a .500 team as they head into November.
That's significant progress over last year's team and something for Glenn and Smith to build on.