New York Jets vs New England Patriots Week 12 Preview: Gang Green takes on LeGarrette Blount
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In a “nail biter”, the New York Jets lost to the Los Angeles Rams 9-6 in Week 11. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady come into MetLife Stadium to face Gang Green. What is the #1 matchup to watch between these 2 AFC East rivals?
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Patriots Doctors Reportedly ‘Optimistic’ Gronkowski Could Play Versus Jets « CBS Boston The Patriots take on the New York Jets on Sunday, but it isn’t clear yet if tight end Rob Gronkowski will be on the field. |
| Source: boston.cbslocal.com/2016/11/26/rob-gronkowski-new-england-patriots-injury-tom-brady-je | |
Tom Brady.
Julian Edelman.
Rob Gronkowski.
All these Patriots weapons are dangerous. But there is a bigger threat that faces the Jets defense. An underrated player that flies under the radar.
The running back that goes by the name LeGarrette Blount.
All the attention is on David Johnson of the Arizona Cardinals (863 total rushing yards, 10 touchdowns) and the rookie from the Dallas Cowboys Ezekiel Elliot (1,199 total rushing yards, 11 touchdowns) and justifiably so, but very quietly, Blount is having a tremendous season for New England. Entering Week 12, he has rushed for 802 yards and 12 touchdowns during the season. Recently, he had 3 TDs against the Seattle Seahawks and ran for 124 yards versus the San Francisco 49ers.
Darrelle Revis and the cornerbacks will be covering Julian Edelman while David Harris and the linebackers will be defending the tight end. As Brady spreads out the defense with the wide receiver sets, the linebackers will drop back into coverage, leaving open lanes for LeGarrette to run through as Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson & Leonard Williams get blocked by the offensive line. Todd Bowles has no choice but to let the Patriots RB pick up yards because the Jets head coach does not want Brady to beat the defense deep with his arm. Sammie Coates (139 yards, 2 TDs) of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Marquise Goodwin (112 yards, 1 TD) of the Buffalo Bills have gone long behind the Jets secondary.
Give up 5+ rushing yards for the RB or 20+ yards to a WR?
The choice is clear: Go with the lesser of 2 evils.
Even if Bowles game planned for LeGarrette, it is not as if Gang Green would be able to stop the RB. When the Arizona Cardinals faced New York on Monday Night Football, RB David Johnson made a spectacular run of 58 yards for the touchdown in the 1st quarter. From then on, Bruce Arians kept on feeding the ball to Johnson during the game. With QB Carson Palmer struggling passing the ball, David was the only weapon on their offense. The Jets knew that the RB was getting the ball but the defense was always giving up 4 yards or more on the ground on each play. All these positive yards led to Johnson to finish with 22 carries for 111 yards and 3 TDs (2 of the TDs were from the Jets 2 yard line. New York knew the run was coming and yet David still scored easily.)
If the Jets could not stop the one dimensional offense of Arizona, how will they succeed against a running back with Tom Brady as the QB?
What makes Blount even more dangerous is not his carries but the threat that he will run the ball. As the defense pulls up and falls for the play action, Tom will make a play downfield behind the coverage. With New York giving up 261 passing yards per game (19th worst in the NFL), there will be chunk of yards deep.
LeGarrette poses as a lot of threats for the defense, both in the run game and passing game. For this reason, Blount is the most dangerous Patriots player going up against Todd Bowles defense.
