A strong showing on defense last week kept the New York Jets matchup against the New Orleans Saints close until the end. Unfortunately for Gang Green, their offense, led by Bryce Petty after an injury to starting quarterback Josh McCown, was sluggish and often inaccurate. They couldn’t generate much and left the Superdome without a win. The organization will hope that Petty can continue to grow but each and every snap he takes he looks more like a guy whose ceiling is a career backup. This week the Los Angeles Chargers come to town looking to save their playoff hopes after losing to the Kansas City Chiefs last Saturday. The Jets will have their hands full trying to slow down a team fighting for a playoff berth, but last week proved their defense can be up to the task.
Week 16 New York Jets Keys to Victory
Pass Rush
Each and every week this is one of the keys to victory for the Jets. They must continue to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks to disrupt their timing. Philip Rivers has been known to be erratic when dealing with pressure and that leads to turnovers which the Jets will hopefully be able to capitalize on.
The pass rush will also be essential because the Chargers speedy receivers could have a field day against the Jets depleted secondary. They will need to get pressure with four rushers and get home on their blitz packages in order to create chaos for Rivers and the Chargers offense.
Game Plan
After watching Petty last week, New York’s offensive staff will have to come up with something creative to mask the young quarterback’s struggles. He was often off target and made questionable decisions, yet still had a couple of good throws and showed some promise. The staff can take what they saw from last week’s game and hopefully take the positive and expand on them in this week’s game plan.
The Chargers have a great defense including one of the best pass rushers in the game (Joey Bosa), but they are still beatable. Last week’s game was the first of the 2017 season for Petty in his third year and hopefully he picked up a few things from his starts last season. If nothing else, the Jets will have a final answer on Petty by the end of the season.
Joey Bosa
A defensive player of the year candidate, Bosa is an absolute animal on the defensive line. He is only in his second year but has been dominating offensive tackles left and right, which leads to him taking over games. The Jets will need to double team him in order to slow him down but it will still be a tall task. Besides game planning for Petty and his lack of talent, the offensive staff will be up at nights trying to figure out how to run the ball with Bosa on the defensive line. There is no doubt it will be a nightmare for whichever offensive tackle faces him.
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