The New York Jets know exactly where the edge has to come from if they’re going to steal a win from the New England Patriots in Week 6: turnovers.
At 2-3 and sitting third in the AFC East, the Jets are trying to claw their way out of a division that’s been controlled by the Buffalo Bills and the Patriots. That makes this matchup more than just another game on the schedule. For Aaron Glenn and a team trying to climb back into the league’s winning tier, beating New England would send a real message.
ESPN’s Week 6 preview pointed to the same pressure point. Rich Cimini wrote that the Jets need “takeaways” if they want to come out on top, even after a strong pass-rushing performance last week.
"After sacking the Browns ' Deshaun Watson eight times last week, what can the Jets do for an encore?" he asks in the piece, adding that coordinator Brian Duker joked about upping that to nine against the Patriots.
But Cimini’s bigger point was clear: sacks alone won’t be enough.
"To pull the upset, the Jets need takeaways, not sacks. The Jets have only one interception," Cimini states in the feature. "Their goal is to pressure QB Drake Maye into bad decisions, getting him to revert to his early-season funk -- when he threw six interceptions in the first three games."
That’s the formula for New York. Make Maye uncomfortable, force the throw, cash in on mistakes. If the Jets want to spring the upset, they need the Patriots’ quarterback to hand them the kind of costly errors that can flip a game fast.
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Elijah Ponder Is Changing The Patriots Pass Rush Conversation
When the Patriots rebuilt their edge-rush picture this offseason, the attention mostly went to the bigger moves, including the addition of DreMont Jones and the expectation that rookies Gabe Jacas and Elijah Ponder would have to grow up quickly at outside linebacker. With Harold Landry sidelined, the early concern was obvious enough: whether New England had enough depth to keep the pass rush from sputtering. Ponder has helped answer that in a hurry, turning what looked like a vulnerable spot into one of the more encouraging parts of the defense.
The most recent sign came against the Raiders, where Ponders disruption stood out enough to draw league-wide notice from Pro Football Focus. He has been showing up with sacks, tackles for loss and a forced fumble, all while making the Patriots look a lot more comfortable about their edge rotation than they did in the spring. For a team still sorting out its post-rebuild identity, that kind of emergence matters, even if the larger question around how far this pass rush can go is still hanging out there. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots May Have Already Won Big With This Criticized Signing
When the Patriots brought in Alijah Vera-Tucker in free agency after spending their first-round pick on Caleb Lomu, the move came with a fair amount of skepticism. Vera-Tuckers injury history made him an easy target for second-guessing, but through the early stretch of his Patriots tenure, he has looked like one of the most reliable pieces on the offensive line and has helped steady a group that needed it.
The workload is about to get a little heavier, too, with Will Campbell sidelined by a knee injury. Vera-Tucker will be asked to handle more responsibility in the days ahead, and his next assignment will be a tough one, with a matchup looming against Jets rookie edge rusher David Bailey. For a signing that was criticized at the start, the Patriots may already be seeing why it made so much sense. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Face A Familiar Cornerback Question They Can't Ignore
The Patriots were already thin at cornerback when injuries stacked up against the Raiders, leaving the group scrambling with multiple starters and backups unavailable. New England responded by elevating safety Elliott Davison for depth and bringing rookie Al'zillion Hamilton onto the practice squad, but he was not yet active, which only underlined how quickly the room can get stretched when the injuries start piling up.
One familiar name has also re-entered the conversation after a recent roster move in Dallas, and it is the kind of transaction the Patriots tend to monitor closely when a position gets this shaky. With the secondary banged up and the depth chart under pressure, New England has a choice to make about whether to look outside the building for another answer or trust the patchwork approach a little longer. [Read more 🡒]