An inside take a look at Sunday’s Jets-Payments Week 18 matchup in Buffalo.
Marquee matchup
Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur vs. Payments defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier
The Jets’ offense has proven some indicators of life down the stretch. Now, it is going to get a significant check. The Payments have the No. 1 protection within the NFL when it comes to yards and factors allowed. They've good gamers at each degree of their protection and can give the Jets matches.
LaFleur has proven loads of progress in his first 12 months because the workforce’s offensive coordinator. He has gotten extra comfy calling performs and has proven loads of creativity previously two months. He’ll have a significant problem on his arms on this one although, with the Payments enjoying for a division title, and he is aware of it.
“In my view, and that is no disrespect to anybody else, however I feel they’re the most effective guys to educate protection in soccer proper now,” LaFleur mentioned of the Payments’ employees. “Not solely is it the identical coaches, saying the identical message annually, it’s loads of the identical gamers which have simply been gelling. I talked about it seven weeks in the past, they don’t must even sign something to one another, they simply know. They know the place they’re going to be and it's a downside and it’s powerful.”
Costello’s name
The Jets performed a spirited recreation final week towards the Buccaneers, however I'm wondering if they've something left. The Payments are enjoying to win the division title. They've each purpose to be motivated on this one whereas the Jets could also be dreaming of trip.
Payments 35, Jets 13
4 downs
Playoff occasion: Jets head coach Robert Saleh has been speaking about having his workforce study what late-season soccer is about for the previous month. Saleh hopes his workforce can get a really feel for what it's wish to make a playoff push though they are going to be going house after this one.
The Payments will win the AFC East with a victory, and Highmark Stadium will likely be rocking. It can even be chilly and moist and have the texture of a giant recreation, one thing Saleh hopes will assist his younger workforce.
“That is the primary stadium we’re really going into, we’ve been speaking about December soccer and all that, that is the primary one which’s going to really feel that method,” Saleh mentioned. “Buffalo is enjoying for a division, it’s going to be offered out, it’s going to be loud, it’s going to be chilly, it’s going to be every little thing you dream of as a child when it comes to going right into a stadium and it simply being as reside and as juiced up because it’s going to be, and we’re going to get their best possible shot.”
Buffalo backers: The Payments have a great quantity of star energy on their workforce, however two gamers who don’t get sufficient consideration are linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano. The duo are tackling machines and at all times appear to make performs towards the Jets. Edmunds leads the workforce with 103 tackles. Milano has 83 tackles, a whopping 14 for loss. Saleh praised each.
“He’s like a unicorn within the linebacker world,” Saleh mentioned of Edmunds. “The man’s 6-foot-5. He’s bought ridiculous size, pace, vary, knock again. He’s bought all of it. There isn’t something he doesn’t have. He's particular in each sense of the creativeness.”
Milano was a bit extra under-the-radar out of faculty, Saleh mentioned.
“He’s actually confirmed to be a heck of a soccer participant,” Saleh mentioned. “He’s good. He’s instinctive. He’s really lots more durable than individuals gave him credit score for popping out of faculty. He's precisely what you’d need out of a linebacker when it comes to intuition, pace, really feel, doesn’t miss many tackles if any in any respect. He’s at all times the place he’s alleged to be. He’s a playmaker.”
Line it up: The Jets’ offensive line has undergone loads of adjustments previously few weeks, however it hasn’t damage them. They've had seven totally different beginning offensive linemen previously two video games, and just one began and completed each video games. Nonetheless, they rushed for 150 yards or extra and allowed only one sack within the two video games, the primary time they've achieved that in consecutive video games since 2015. Final week, Jets backs averaged 6.2 yards per carry towards the Buccaneers, the No. 3 dashing protection within the league getting into the sport. The Jets will likely be enjoying their third-string left deal with, Conor McDermott, on this recreation.
Diggs city: Payments vast receiver Stefon Diggs destroyed the Jets of their first assembly in November. He had eight catches for 162 yards and a landing because the Jets failed to regulate on protection to double-team him. Diggs has been large for the Payments the previous two years. He wants three receptions on this recreation to have essentially the most by a participant in his first two seasons with a workforce in NFL historical past. He would go Wes Welker, who had 223 with the Patriots in 2007-08.
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