The New York Jets enter Week 4 on a sour note. They are coming off an embarrassing loss at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs as they lost 24-3. This game also saw Ryan Fitzpatrick throw for six interceptions. I am not someone to say there would be a “must-win” game, but when you think about it, the Jets can’t afford to go 1-3 and begin to watch the season spiral out of control. Their schedule does not get any easier for them, and if the season does so happen to spiral out of control, they could be easily be 1-6 by their October 30th meeting with the Cleveland Browns. In the coming weeks, they play the Steelers, Ravens, and Cardinals which are three teams that are playing well so far and are not easy wins. However, before they play those teams, they need to get through the Seahawks.
They are coming into this Week 4 matchup coming off a huge win against their NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers. Before I get to my keys for both teams, I would like to present the injury report for both teams as of Thursday night. First, for the New York Jets, it was reported that Eric Decker and Lawrence Thomas would be out for Sunday’s game. Eric Decker is currently dealing with a nagging shoulder injury that is unknown if he will miss any additional time or just Sunday. In the case of defensive lineman Lawrence Thomas, head coach Todd Bowles is saying that he has a torn labrum and will miss a couple of weeks, with the possibility of there being more time that he misses.
On the other side, the Seahawks won’t have quarterback Russell Wilson or DE Cliff Avril as they are the two most notable to be out for Sunday’s game. In the case of Wilson, he has an ankle injury that will keep him out for a few weeks. Cliff Avril is dealing with a hamstring. It is unknown if he will need to miss any more additional time. It was announced that Trevone Boykin, a rookie out of Texas Christian would get the start on Sunday in replace of Russell Willson. He debuted last week in the 2nd half and ending up going 7 for 9 with 65 yards and one touchdown to Doug Baldwin.
With all the injury news out of the way, let me now present my three keys to the game for the New York Jets to win the game over the Seahawks.
Put pressure on Boykin
The Jets caught a huge break when the news broke about Wilson’s injury and had a rookie starting for the Seahawks. The Jets have a similar style defense than the 49ers do. Both teams have a 3-4 defense. However, Boykin only faced the 49ers for a half. That won’t be the case on Sunday when he gets to face the Jets defense for an entire game. If I am that front line of the Jets, I will put pressure on him big time. As far as the linebackers and the secondary goes, don’t make it easy for him. The Jets need to play the type of defense that they are known for and not the crap that was on display last week.
Rush the Ball- Although the Jets got embarrassed by the Chiefs. It should be noted that they did have more rushing yards than the Chiefs did. They had 117, and the Chiefs had only 72. They need to continue to rush the ball. My only suggestion is for them to give Powell more attempts as well. Not saying that Forte isn’t good and has been good for the Jets this season, all I am saying is you need to start giving Powell for reps as well if for nothing else to give Forte a rest. Jets fans need to realize something. This game is crucial and if you want to stay in the Wildcard picture or the AFC East picture, your going to need him later on as well.
Do not let Ryan Fitzpatrick make the errors again: It is clear as day that the Jets lost last week could be blamed a lot for the poor performance of Ryan Fitzpatrick. In that game, he went 20 for 44 188 yards and six interceptions. They always say that the QB is the leader of the team, I’m sorry to break the news, but you are not going to win a game in the National Football League with stats like that. Fitzpatrick is not a terrible QB, but he needs a bounce back performance this week so that people won’t start questioning why the Jets re-signed him over the summer.
Prediction: Jets 24 Seahawks 21
I think this will be a tough game for both teams. But hopefully, with a week of practice, the Jets realize what a lot of Jets fans realize and that is that due to how crappy they played last week against the Chiefs, this game against the Seahawks is huge. The Jets play the Seahawks at 1:00 pm at Metlife Stadium.