![]() ![]() He should be able to build on last Sunday’s strong performance against a Jets run defense that allows 123.4 yards per game, 21st in the league. Harris finished with decent numbers in the Week 2 meeting with the Jets (16 carries, 62 yards, 1 touchdown), but 26 of his yards came on one carry. Those carries included a 4-yard TD on a direct snap in the first quarter, and a couple of explosive, tough runs late in the game, including a 21-yard burst with 10 minutes left in regulation in which he made Diggs look like he was riding a mechanical bull. But the best overall performance might have come last Sunday.ĭespite dealing with a rib injury during the week, Harris ran for 101 yards - the third-most of his career - on just 18 carries. Remember James White’s nifty 28-yard catch-and-run off a screen pass in Week 2 against the Jets, after Jones set it up by faking in the opposite direction? That is exactly the kind of call Josh McDaniels should be making to put Smith’s open-field skills to use.ĭamien Harris: The most productive performance of Harris’s three-year career occurred in Week 10 last season, when he ran for 121 yards in a 23-17 win over the Ravens. It’s selfless of Smith to accept the blocking role, but he’s not here to be the second coming of Daniel Graham. (The Titans did something similar last year after tackle Tyler Lewan got hurt Smith’s production dipped after he scored five touchdowns in the first five games). What has happened to one of the league’s most versatile weapons at the position, a master of gaining yards after the catch? Part of it is that the Patriots, with their offensive line in disarray, have kept him in as a blocker well over half the time in recent games. ![]() In the three games since, he has just six catches for 50 yards. In the Week 3 loss to the Saints, he had perhaps the worst game a Patriots receiver has ever had, dropping at least three passes, including one that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Through six games, he has accounted for just 16 catches, 124 yards, and a touchdown. Jonnu Smith: It’s not entirely his fault, but the super-athletic tight end, who was signed away from the Titans on a four-year, $50 million deal in free agency, probably has been the Patriots’ biggest disappointment. Kick it off, Bailey, and let’s get this one started … Three players I’ll be watching other than the QBs To be fair, Wilson also has a far less-established support system, with coach Robert Saleh in his first season just imagine how he’d be struggling if Adam Gase were still the Jets coach. 2, has a bigger arm than his draft compadre but far less grasp on the calculus of playing quarterback in the NFL. Wilson, taken 13 picks before Jones at No. Jones leads rookie quarterbacks in passing yards (1,472), completion percentage (71.1), and rating (89.6), and is tied with the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence in touchdown passes (7). Jones also continued to demonstrate admirable toughness, enduring a vicious hit from Randy Gregory that may or may not have temporarily inverted his torso. In the loss to the Cowboys, he completed 15 of 21 passes (71.4 percent) for 229 yards and a pair of touchdowns, with an interception (returned for a TD by ballhawk Trevon Diggs), and he had a season-best 118.9 passer rating. The Patriots’ Mac Jones, taken 15th overall, is coming off arguably the best individual performance of his encouraging debut season. The angle is especially irresistible when a game involves a pair of rookies taken in the first round of the draft. The conversation before any NFL game usually focuses on the quarterbacks, understandable given that the position is the most glamorous and probably the important in major professional sports. (Given the Jets’ recent haplessness, “rival” seems too strong a word.) They have beaten the Jets in their last 11 meetings, and a win Sunday would complete their sixth straight season sweep of their fellow AFC East participant. The Patriots beat the Jets in Week 2, 25-6, intercepting overwhelmed rookie quarterback Zach Wilson four times. On paper, this looks like a case of facing the right opponent at the right time. And that needs to begin Sunday against the Jets. But they need to start stringing together some wins - real wins, not the inconsequential moral kind. They remain capable of making a run toward the postseason, especially if they improve the way Belichick’s teams typically do. The Patriots, 0-4 at home for the first time since Drew Bledsoe’s rookie season in 1993, are in major need of one of those real victories this week.
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