Patriots-Jets Week 7 Predictions
BOSTON (CBS) - The Patriots are heavy favorites as they get set to host the Jets at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, and our experts tend to agree.
Here are what the 98.5 The Sports Hub, WBZ-TV Sports and WBZ NewsRadio 1030 experts thing will go down this Sunday at Gillette:
Scott Zolak, 98.5 The Sports Hub
There is no way the Jets come in here and try to pretend to be something they're not. For them to be effective, they have to run the football. If they can't run, I don't know how their play action is going to work.
I would anticipate linebacker Dont'a Hightower to be back this week, which would be huge for the Patriots defense - which is already pretty damn good against the run.
If they shut down the run, force the Jets into play action and keep them in third and long, the Patriots should roll to a big division win.
Patriots 35, Jets 16
Andy Gresh, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Obviously the Patriots' backs are against the wall, but they are playing a Jets team that is inept offensively New York will probably score two touchdowns, and through a few other ways like special teams, set themselves up for a field goal or two.
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But, the Patriots will make a statement in this game. Brady is pissed off; the team is pissed off. They know they need to do their thing.
Patriots 41, Jets 17
Dan Roche, WBZ-TV
The Patriots should be pretty fired up for this one after hearing all week how bad they are....especially the secondary.
We have seen the Jets have success in the past against the Pats defense, so look for them to continue to try to run the ball with Shonne Greene. Greene, available in many fantasy football leagues because of how horrible he had been, tore up the Colts for 161 yards and three touchdowns last week. The Jets will also mix in Mark Sanchez throwing to Dustin Keller and Jeremy Kerley, but with the injury to Santonio Holmes it is not a very strong group. If the Pats secondary struggles with them it will be a very long rest of the season.
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The Jets defense is still solid, even with Darelle Revis on the shelf. Look for the Pats to try to get back to running the ball with Stevan Ridley and Danny Woodhead. Tom Brady will also keep it up-tempo so look for him to use all of his weapons too.
This looks like a Pats win all the way. If it's not, they are in trouble.
Patriots 31, Jets 17
Levan Reid, WBZ-TV Sports
Okay, let's try this again. The Pats are walking into this game against the Jets and they need this victory. They actually need a blowout. I was extremely confident that the Patriots would beat the Seattle Seahawks and when that didn't happen, I saw the glaring holes in their game.
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Time management was a problem and Tom Brady's decision making was surely questioned. Add to that, the defense could not stop the Seahawks long ball. All of the wrongs that happened in the great northwest, should not be a problem when they lace it up against the Jets on Sunday. The Pats, once again are a better team. If they lose this game, they are actually not as good as people thought they were and they may have serious problems.
Patriots 28, Jets 15
Walt Perkins, WBZ NewsRadio 1030
Sure, the Patriots let a nine-point, fourth quarter lead slip away in Seattle. But let's look at the bigger picture; Tom Brady and the offense embarrassed the NFL's #1 defense. Six times they marched into the Seahawks' red zone. The fly in the ointment was having to settle for '3' and not '7'.
If they had managed the clock a tad better at the end of the first half, they would have added '3' then and would be sitting at 4-2 heading into Sunday's game.
The Jets seem to be getting their act together. Vince Wilfork says they are playing with more confidence the past two weeks. Time to burst their bubble.
Patriots 42, Jets 24
Tune in to Patriots-Jets on Sunday at 4:25pm on WBZ-TV and 98.5 The Sports Hub. Coverage begins at 11:30am with Patriots GameDay on WBZ-TV, with Patriots Preview beginning at 1pm on 98.5. Following the game, stayed tuned for three hours of post game coverage on The Sports Hub, and Patriots 5th Quarter over on MyTV38!
