The Patriots will welcome their division rivals to Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
The New England Patriots were beaten soundly by the New York Jets in Week 3. Five weeks later, they now have an opportunity to get revenge versus their division rivals: with the Jets visiting Gillette Stadium on Sunday, the Patriots will try to decisively turn the page from their 24-3 loss in September.
In order to do that, they will need improved performance across the board. The spotlight will be on a few areas and people in particular, though.
Welcome to this week’s Patriots X-factors.
X-factor: OC Alex Van Pelt
The Patriots offense has shown improvement ever since Drake Maye was inserted as starting quarterback over veteran Jacoby Brissett in Week 6. However, the team still scored just 21 and 16 points, respectively, in losses to the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Not all of the blame for that falls on offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. That said, he did acknowledge earlier this week that his performance also needs to improve for the Patriots to finally get off the schneid on that side of the ball.
In order to do so against the Jets, Van Pelt will need to apply the lessons he learned in Week 3. He is well aware of that, too.
“Without getting into scheme, there are some things that I would have definitely done differently,” he said when discussing that game during a press conference on Thursday.
“Put Jacoby in a couple of bad spots on the opening play of the game, and then the second quarter put him in some tough spots on the edge on some of the calls. Definitely learned from that lesson. We have to have some other answers for their pressure packages, those are just some of the things to take away from that game.”
One of the issues the Patriots faced against New York in the first go-around was Van Pelt’s insistence to stick to the opening script and throw the football early on. Despite New England’s inability to consistently move the ball through the air the first two weeks of the season, Brissett dropped back seven times over the first nine offensive snaps. The result was two punts, and the team quickly falling behind 14-0.
The Patriots riding the hot hand — which appeared to have been the running game entering Week 3 — also was a problem last week versus Jacksonville. The team moved the ball well through the air, with Maye displaying a nice rhythm en route to a 10-0 lead.
However, once the opening script ran out, Van Pelt seemingly to too conservative and started calling an increased number of drive-starting runs. Those failed to produce the desired result, allowing the Jaguars to come back and eventually run away with the game.
Despite being a veteran coach, Van Pelt is still relatively inexperienced as an offensive play caller. The hope for Sunday, and beyond, is that he will develop a better feel for what works both against a particular opponent and relative to the talent he has available.
Other X-factors this week
The offensive line: Who will start along the offensive line this week remains to be seen; nominal starting left tackle Vederian Lowe remains limited in practice because of an ankle injury, and his ability to suit up on Sunday will have a trickle-down effect on the entire group. Regardless of who ends up playing, however, they need to do a better job versus the Jets’ pass rush after giving up seven sacks in Week 3. In addition, New England’s inability to run the football the last two weeks has also been a major issue.
DT Davon Godchaux: For the first six games of the season, Davon Godchaux was one of the few bright spots for the Patriots run defense. Against Jacksonville in Week 7, however, the veteran had a rough go. It goes without saying that a repeat performance against the Jets and their lead back Breece Hall would be quite problematic for New England.
Second-level defenders: There are two reasons why the second-level defenders — off-ball linebackers and box safeties alike — are mentioned here: 1.) They struggled mightily in the running game versus Jacksonville, oftentimes taking bad angles or getting easily moved by misdirection; 2.) They will be tasked with covering the aforementioned Breece Hall out of the backfield. As with Davon Godchaux, a repeat performance against Hall in particular could have drastic consequences. Hall, after all, is averaging just under five catches per game and leads the Jets with 655 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns.
Tackling: Tackling has been a concern for the Patriots for much of the season, but they were particularly atrocious in Week 3. Back then, the team registered a season-high 11 missed tackles — including three by starting linebacker Jahlani Tavai. He and the rest of the defense need to be better, especially considering that the Jets’ ball carriers gained 110 yards after contact the last time these two teams met.
CB Jonathan Jones and CB Marcus Jones: Jonathan Jones’ shoulder injury means that his status for Sunday’s game is unclear. The Patriots better hope he is able to play, though, because they will need all hands on deck now that the Jets have two blue-chip options at wide receiver: they recently acquired Davante Adams via trade to team him up with Garrett Wilson. One of the two will be covered by Christian Gonzalez, but slowing down the other — whoever it might be — is quite the task that will fall on one or both Joneses’ shoulders. Needless to say, though, Adams is a different beast than Mike Williams or Allen Lazard.
Team leadership: With losses mounting, so does the frustration inside the Patriots’ locker room. Obviously, a win over the Jets would help a bit but in order to get there the team will need to continue to function as a collective. Ensuring that is a job that falls on the team’s leadership: head coach Jerod Mayo and the team captains and veteran leaders are under quite a bit of pressure at the moment.