Jets vs Bills: Biggest x-factor of Week 2 for Gang Green
In the Jets vs Bills Week 2 matchup, Gang Green haven’t played well against them as of late. If they want to flip the script, they’re going to need to rely on their big x-factor.
While last week for the New York Jets, the biggest x-factor was their receiving corps. This week we need to go to the other side of the football.
The Jets lost their season opener because of a lot of reasons, but specifically, their defensive secondary let them down. They allowed too many chunk plays in the passing game and that destroyed the momentum created by their front-seven.
Quarterback Andy Dalton finished the game 22 of 30 for 366 yards with one touchdown and one interception. His top two targets, A.J. Green and Brandon LaFell had 16 catches for 271 yards and a touchdown.
Here’s the thing though for the Jets, it was supposed to be a “team effort” to stop Green and it was anything but. Cornerback Darrelle Revis lined up over Green on 52 of 54 snaps, including several plays in the slot.
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When head coach Todd Bowles was asked about Revis’ performance he pulled a Bill Belichick and said the team was “on to Buffalo”. The biggest x-factor for the Jets isn’t just Revis, the onus has to go on the entire secondary as a whole.
The biggest x-factor for the Jets isn’t just Revis, the onus has to go on the entire secondary as a whole.
Defensive back Marcus Williams too often let his man get behind him, resulting in several chunk plays. While cornerback
While cornerback Buster Skrine had his ups and downs.
Although the Bills are coming into the game with a few concerns, reports have surfaced that Sammy Watkins‘ foot injury could be a problem throughout the season.
According to sources confirmed to NFL.com, Watkins injured foot could hamper his ability to get off the line of scrimmage, create separation, and beat defenders down the field. The Jets could use all the help they can get with this brutal schedule ahead of them.
Despite that, Bowles insisted that they have to worry about themselves. He shared his comments to the media following practice this week, courtesy of the Media Relations Department of the Jets:
On if it changes his approach toward Watkins if he isn’t fully healthy…
No, we have to take care of ourselves. We have our own things to correct and go play football. Whoever plays, plays, that’s up to them, we can’t be concerned about that.
Because in the last game, Green wasn’t the only receiver to do damage. LaFell as the second option really hurt the Jets too.
While the Bills had one of their worst offensive outputs in their season opener, they’re still a potent offense. The Jets also have to watch out for tight end Charles Clay.
They’ve had problems against team’s tight ends and that continued last week despite the fact, tight end Tyler Eifert, was out of commission. The key for the Jets’ secondary is to keep everything in front of them.
But as we saw last week, just because you are protecting the deep ball doesn’t mean you can give up the bubble screens. While the Jets are capable of doing it, the execution will be key on Thursday Night Football.