We are kicking off Week 3 with an AFC East division Thursday Night Football showdown between the New York Jets and New England Patriots. On Thursday’s edition of GoJo & Golic, Mike Golic Jr. and Mike Golic Sr. discuss the Jets’ current state and what each team needs to do to be successful in this matchup.
GoJo kicks off the Thursday Night Football preview by highlighting that even though this is the Jets’ home opener, this will be their third game in 1 1 days. Additionally, it should be noted that both teams are struggling with a case of the injury bug going into this one, with the Patriots especially facing a laundry list of the walking wounded on their injury report. The Jets go into this matchup as a 6-point favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook.
In addition to the mental preparation that goes into preparing for a Thursday night game in a short week, the fact that the Jets are just the third team in 80 years to play three games in 11 days, ultimately creates something of a survive-and-advance type feel to this matchup. This AFC East clash is not short of exciting subplots, including that this will be the first time since 1996 that Bill Belichick will not be on the Jets or Patriots sideline for a matchup of these two teams. Additionally, the Patriots have won eight straight on the road vs. the Jets and will be looking to make it nine.
Regarding the keys to victory for both teams, the Patriots may have to nuance their offensive approach tonight, with center David Andrews being questionable and critical members of the offensive line out for tonight’s game. GoJo adds that the Patriots have used six-down offensive linemen, essentially jumbo personnel, 26 times this season, the fifth-highest rate since 2015. They have rushed 25 out of 26 times for 4.6 yards, emphasizing how this is essentially the Patriots’ bread and butter. Senior adds that though it has only been two weeks, New England has not turned the football over and has played clean football this season.
Meanwhile for the Jets, all eyes will be on Aaron Rodgers, and GoJo asked Senior what type of Rodgers we will get tonight — the one who can leverage the offense’s explosiveness and take advantage of the Patriots being banged up or the quarterback who has looked to throw check-downs frequently this season. Senior added that Rodgers checks down 18% of the time, which is the second-most in the league, in an attempt not to be careless with the football. He said we have not seen the mobile Rodgers that made him great early in his career and that age had potentially caught up to him.
GoJo believes that for the Jets to be successful tonight, they will have to lean into their continuity as an offense. Building on the time he been able to get under his belt with his offense, GoJo hopes that Rodgers will have a bounce-back game similar to Kirk Cousins, who some criticized for not looking like himself in the first week of the season. For Senior, he is genuinely interested to see if Rodgers can get his mobility back and start moving and creating on the run.
Ironically, even though Rodgers and the Jets offense gets a lot of attention, the Patriots enter this game with more offensive yards than the Jets, though those yards have mainly come on the ground. The Patriots had 290 yards in their opener and 310 yards in their overtime loss to the Seahawks in Week 2. Senior jokingly describes the Patriots offensive game plan as we will line up and run the ball, and you have to stop us, making tonight’s matchup a big test for the defense of the New York Jets.
Watch or listen to the full show below and tune into GoJo and Golic weekday mornings from 8-10 a.m. ET on DraftKings Network! See more about how to watch DraftKings Network here.
SHOW BREAKDOWN
Hour 1: Aaron Rodgers’ Jets on Thursday Night Football, Woj’s Retirement Bomb and the PGA, LIV Golf Money War Continues
Hour 2: Eli Manning HoF Debate + Terrika Foster-Brasby on A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark in the Playoffs + Buster Olney on Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani & the Phillies
VIDEO
Watch GoJo and Golic every weekday on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Xumo Play, Google TV and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. The show is also available via audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Mike Golic Sr. on X at @golic and Mike Golic Jr. on X at @mikegolicjr.
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