An inside have a look at Thursday’s Jets-Jaguars Week 16 matchup at MetLife Stadium.
Marquee matchup
Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence vs. Jets QB Zach Wilson
OK, so technically these two received’t be matched up, however that is the matchup everybody can be dissecting on Friday morning. Lawrence and Wilson went 1-2 within the 2021 draft. Lawrence appears to be hitting his stride in his second season. Wilson is combating for his job. It's a compelling comparability.
Lawrence seems to be just like the participant recently everybody hyped him to be popping out of Clemson. In his previous six video games, Lawrence has accomplished 70.4 p.c of his passes for 1,680 yards, 14 touchdowns and one interception. He has additionally run for 140 yards and a landing. For all the season, Lawrence has 24 landing passes and 7 interceptions.
Wilson had some good moments in his return to the beginning lineup towards the Lions on Sunday, hitting some deep throws, however he continues to overlook open receivers and look gradual processing.
Wilson mentioned he and Lawrence acquired to know one another throughout the predraft course of.
“He’s actually, really a fantastic dude, I like the way in which he carries himself, the way in which he handles himself,” Wilson mentioned. “I haven’t adopted him a ton, I feel it looks like he’s been having an excellent yr. He’s a kind of dudes that’s by no means going to give up, and he’s all the time going to sort of do what’s essential to verify he’s enhancing and getting higher. So, I’ve acquired quite a lot of respect for him, so I’m certain I’ll in all probability see him on the sphere and say what’s up.”
Costello’s name
The Jets are a workforce descending in December whereas the Jaguars are a workforce that's ascending. This can be an unsightly, wet night time at MetLife Stadium that received’t function quite a lot of offense. Trevor Lawrence does simply sufficient to edge out Zach Wilson, and the Jets’ playoff hopes take one other blow.
Jaguars 17, Jets 13
4 downs
Whoa line: The Jets’ offensive line has develop into a problem. The Jets had a season-low 50 dashing yards final week towards the Lions and didn't have a run longer than 6 yards. The 2 tackles — Duane Brown and George Fant — seem like they're hurting, as each are enjoying by way of accidents. The Jaguars have accidents on their line of defense and are sixteenth within the league in dashing protection, so the Jets ought to be capable of open up holes towards them.
“Establishing the run sport has been probably the most obvious [problem],” Brown mentioned. “We satisfaction ourselves on that. We’ve had some actually nice performances, however that’s sort of the place it begins for us. Having an excellent run sport units up a lot for the cross sport. Whenever you develop into one dimensional, groups get to pin their ears again and rush the passer. You don’t wish to be in that sort of sport towards the groups we’ve confronted. It’s been a giant level of emphasis this week.”
Take it away: The Jets had at the very least one takeaway in every of their first 9 video games. Since then, they've one of their previous 5 video games, 4 of these video games being losses. The protection wants to assist out Zach Wilson and the offense on Thursday night time, and provides them some quick fields to work with.
“We’ve acquired to catch those which might be thrown to us,” coach Robert Saleh mentioned. “I feel, what was the stat, for the reason that bye week, we’ve had six or eight turnover-worthy passes that have been within the palm of our palms, and we simply haven’t been in a position to carry them down.”
Return coverage: There have been three punt returns for touchdowns within the NFL this season, and the Jets have given up two of them — together with final week’s towards the Lions. The Jets are going to wish their kick protection and return groups to have a powerful sport with the intention to assist out the offense.
They're fourth within the NFL in punt return common at 11.9 yards per return, however they solely have one return of greater than 20 yards. With the problems the Jets are having on offense, a rating or perhaps a huge return may make the distinction within the sport.
Prepared for prime time? The Jets play their first, and solely scheduled, prime-time sport of the season Thursday. There's a likelihood they are going to have their video games in Week 17 or Week 18, towards the Seahawks and Dolphins, moved into prime time, however proper now that is it.
Can the Jets present up with the nation watching? Prime-time video games haven't been variety to the Jets lately. They haven't received a sport in prime time since Week 1 in 2018 when Sam Darnold made his debut towards the Lions on “Monday Evening Soccer.” Since then, they've misplaced seven straight prime-time video games. A few of these losses have been ghastly — like Baker Mayfield’s debut for Cleveland, Darnold seeing ghosts towards the Patriots, the Pats coming again on a winless 2020 workforce, and Mike White injuring his arm after a promising begin in Indianapolis final yr.
The Jets have exorcised a few of their current demons this season. Profitable in prime time could be one other one.
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