Patriots-Jets What To Watch For: Can Pats take away Wilson and make Rodgers uncomfortable?

FOXBORO — The Patriots are looking to bounce back after their first loss of the season, and will have to do so on a short week. New England will make its only 2024 appearance in primetime on Thursday night when the team takes on Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets in New Jersey. 

Both the Patriots and the Jets head into their Week 3 matchup at 1-1 on the season. While the Patriots lost a winnable game to the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday, the Jets are coming off a road win in Tennessee. And with Thursday night being New York’s home opener — and Rodgers’ first game in front of New York fans since Week 1 of last season — there should be plenty of juice throughout the AFC East showdown.

Strange things tend to happen on Thursday Night Football. Teams aren’t at their best when they’ve had just three days to recover, so it’s not always the best display of football on the field. Can the Patriots take advantage of that with their strong ground attack, or will an injured (and ineffective) offensive line be their downfall again?

Here’s what we’ll be watching for when the division rivals kick off Thursday night.

The Patriots are onto their third left tackle 

Seriously, is there anyone out there capable of playing left tackle for the New England Patriots? And someone who can stay healthy? 

Vederian Lowe was seen as some kind of savior when he took over for Chuks Okorafor early in Week 1, but he wasn’t playing all that well before going down with an injury in Week 2. (Lowe started the season hurt, which is why Okorafor started in Week 1.) With Lowe ruled out for Thursday night and Okorafor mulling whether retirement is better than playing for the Pats, New England will be on its third different starting left tackle to start the season. 

The honor of protecting (or trying to protect) Jacoby Brissett’s blindside will now go to rookie Cedean Wallace. It will represent a move across the field for Wallace, who played right tackle in college at Penn State.

The Pats tried to move him to the left side in camp, but landed on Lowe as their starter entering the season. Now Wallace is moving back to left tackle in primetime against the New York Jets. It’s not ideal that he’s being thrust into the spot, especially on a short week and especially against this Jets defense. New York leads the NFL in pressure rate through two weeks at 45.6 percent, and owns a 42.6 percent pressure rate when rushing only four or fewer players. The Patriots have allowed a 44.3 percent pressure rate, which is the second-highest in the NFL this season.

So good luck to the rookie Wallace. But if he can turn into an upgrade over Lowe, it would go a long way in helping stabilize an extremely shaky New England offensive line. 

Will the Patriots keep pounding the ground?

Patriots receivers have voiced their frustration over being open but not seeing the ball. Brissett hears them, and he really wants to get DeMario Douglas and Ja’Lynn Polk the ball. But he hasn’t had enough time to operate, and he also doesn’t have the arm to go deep.

None of that will be solved on a short week behind a banged-up offensive line. So once again, the majority of the New England offense will rest on the legs of Rhamondre Stevenson.

At least Stevenson is cooking this year with 201 yards on his 46 carries, and Antonio Gibson started to heat up against the Seahawks with 96 yards — including a 45-yard run late in the game. And the Jets have been pretty beatable on the ground so far this season.

In Week 1, the Jets gave up 180 rushing yards to the San Francisco 49ers, who were without Christian McCaffrey. The undrafted Jordan Mason torched New York for 147 yards on his 28 carries. The Titans had a little less success on the ground last Sunday, but still had 130 rushing yards.

Establishing the run early could potentially open the door for some looks for New England receivers, but the Pats have yet to get the play-action functioning this season. Quick passes and bubble screens, and maybe even an end-around handoff, could potentially get the receivers involved without having Brissett drop back. But chances are Brissett will be under a lot of duress again, and Hunter Henry will see a lot of desperation passes go his way.

The bread and butter of the New England offense will once again be to give the ball to Rhamondre and let him run at — and through — the New York defense. 

Can the Patriots make Aaron Rodgers uncomfortable?

The Patriots’ defense is going to have a heck of a chess match Thursday night against Rodgers. He is playing behind a steady offensive line that is giving him time to work, though Rodgers hasn’t really needed time to do his thing. On average, he’s getting the ball out of his hands in 2.26 seconds on passing plays, which is second-fastest in the NFL. 

Keion White is going to look to throw that all out of whack on Thursday night, and he’s certainly capable of doing just that. Rodgers’ quick release — not to mention having Breece Hall as a safety valve — will make that difficult. But all it will take is one hit from White to have Rodgers thinking about New England’s big defensive end for the rest of the night. 

Christian Gonzalez vs. Garrett Wilson

We got to see this matchup last season, and Gonzalez took Round 1. But that was when he had Zach Wilson throwing him the football, so this time will be a lot different with Rodgers back there.

But when he was on Wilson last season, Gonzalez limited him to three catches for 18 yards on five targets in their Week 3 matchup. Wilson had just five catches for 48 yards overall in the New York loss. Having Gonzalez take him out of the equation would go a long way in making Rodgers feel uncomfortable against the New England defense.

The second-year corner has had a knack for winning his matchups with stud receivers, including last week against DK Metcalf (Kyle Dugger took the blame for that blown coverage on Metcalf’s 50-yard touchdown) and Week 1 against Ja’Marr Chase. 

Wilson hasn’t really got going yet this season, with just 10 receptions on 17 targets for 117 yards and no touchdowns. We’ll see who wins Thursday’s Gonzo-Wilson battle, which we’ll see again in Week 8 when the Jets come to New England. 

We’ll get you ready for Thursday night’s Patriots-Jets game starting at 7 p.m. with Patriots GameDay on TV38 and streaming on CBS News Boston! After the game, tune in to Patriots 5th Quarter on WBZ-TV/TV38 for full reaction and analysis.