Intro
Drake Maye and the New England Patriots are the hottest team in the NFL boasting a league best 7 game win streak and a 2 game lead over the Bills in the AFC East. They took down Baker Mayfield and the Bucs 28-23 last Sunday in a performance that solidified their legitimacy among the NFL’s elite. Meanwhile, the Jets started the season 0-7, but have won 2 games in a row following their 27-20 defeat of the Browns. New York returned a kick and a punt for a TD in the 1st quarter against Cleveland the first time in franchise history that the combo occurred in the same game.
Injuries
As always with the Thursday night matchup, injuries will play a major role due to the short turnaround. The Patriots’ biggest injury concerns are in their backfield as starter Rhamondre Stevenson will miss his 3rd straight game with a toe injury. However, rookie TreVeyon Henderson ran all over a strong Bucs’ run defense to the tune of 147 yards and 2 TD’s on 14 carries. The Jets will be without top WR Garrett Wilson for 3-4 weeks due to a knee sprain. DL Will McDonald who had 4 sacks in their win last week has been a limited participant in practice all week and will be a game time decision.
Statistical Analysis
This is a rivalry that the Pats have dominated recently winning 15 in a row against the Jets from 2016-23, but the Jets have split the series in each of the past 2 seasons. QB Justin fields will once again start at QB this week despite passing for just 54 yards on 11 attempts last week. The Jets offense will look to rely on RB Breece Hall who is 10th in the NFL this season with 664 rushing yards and ran for 133 yards and 2 TD’s against the Bengals in their first win of the year. New England will roll out the NFL’s best run defense is holding opponents to 79.2 rush ypg and only 3.8 ypc (4th). They have also been holding opponents to 19.2 ppg on defense while Maye and co. average 26.5 ppg on offense. Speaking of Drake Maye, he is 2nd in the NFL with 71.5% completion, 11.7 ypc, and 8.4 ypa.
Picks
With Drake Maye and the Patriots rolling on both sides of the ball and the Jets still struggling on offense, especially with no Garrett Wilson I like New England to cover the spread. Unless the Jets return a punt and kick for a TD in this game as well this will not be close. I also like the 1st half to go under 21.5 points in an ugly start. New York traded 2 of their best defensive players at the deadline and now basically just have Breece Hall on offense and Will McDonald on defense who is questionable to play.
The Bookie of Eli 
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