Thursday, September 12, 2013

Pats V. Jets

After a narrow escape in their game Sunday, the Patriots face the New York Jets tonight, an 8:25

The Patriots took the W and ran after just beating the Bills only four days ago. The 23-21 victory was not what Pats fans were looking for, but the Bills do tend to sneak up on the Pats

The biggest question in tonight's match up with the Jets, is who is Brady going to throw to?
We are not expected to see the Pats free agent pick up Danny Amendola after he re-aggravated a groin injury that had kept him out of a few weeks of training camp. Amendola had 10 catches for 108 yards. He lead the Patriots in receptions.
The Pats will also be without running back Shane Vereen. Vereen played most of Sundays game after Stephen Ridley fumbled the ball. Vereen had 101 rushing yards and caught 7 passes for 58 yards.

Vereen and Amendola accounted for 159 of Brady's 288 passing yards, and some one will need to step in and fill that void.

Brady will most likely look to Julian Edelman. Edelman caught 7 passes Sunday for 79 yards and caught both of Brady's TD passes. Edelman will be Brady's most reliable target in the game tonight although we can expect to see a few catches by the rookies.

Aaron Dobson will be playing in tonight's game, and Kendrell Thompkins will try to shake off his first game jitters and hold on to some of the passes he dropped on Sunday. Zach Sudfeld will also look to redeem himself after fumbling a catch that lead to points for the Bills.

Unfortunately for the Pats they might not be able to compensate for the loss of Amendola and Vereen with the run game. The Jets only gave up 65 rushing yards to Doug Martin of the Tampa Bay Bucs.
The Pats do have a superior offensive line, but the Jets will be able to shut down the run if Brady can't clear the linebackers out of the box with a consistent passing game.

Defensively, the Pats might not want to overlook the performance Geno Smith had in his NFL debut. The rookie threw for 256 yards with one TD and one INT.

The Jets were also in danger of losing their game last week.

The fact is it is only week 2 so it is hard to tell how the season will shape out, but when the Pats and Jets meet it is always going to affect how the AFC East standings sit at the end of the year.

If I can give one piece of advice tonight it will be to start Edelman if you have him on your fantasy team.

Enjoy the game sports fans!