Patriot Players To Watch

The Jets are on the road to take on the New England Patriots.  All eyes will be on Tom Brady and Geno Smith during this primetime Thursday night matchup.  Here are some other New England Patriot players to watch.

1)      Julian Edelman, wide receiver: With Danny Amendola, Aaron Dobson, Zach Sudfeld, and Rob Gronkowski all out, Julian Edelman will be Tom Brady’s favorite target. Edelman had a big game against Buffalo catching seven passes, two of which went for touchdowns. Edelman is a tough matchup because of how quick he is and his versatility to work out of the slot or on the outside. Brady will look his way early and often.

2)      Rob Ninkovich, defensive end: Jets right tackle Austin Howard had an incredible week one but will have his hands full again with Ninkovich lining up over him. Ninkovich has a knack for being around the ball, something Geno Smith mentioned earlier in the week. Handling him in the pass rush and running more towards Chandler Jones might be wise for the Jets.

3)      Jerod Mayo, linebacker: The sixth year linebacker is a tackling machine, recording 15 in week one and has only one season with under 100 tackles. However, Mayo received a negative grade on the analytical site ProFootballFocus.com citing the amount of times Mayo made tackles down field rather than at or near the line of scrimmage. It’ll be interesting to see if the Jets try and target Mayo in the running game.