It’s an AFC East matchup as the 2-5 New England Patriots are in the Meadowlands for a battle with the winless New York Jets inside MetLife Stadium on Monday night to close out the NFL’s Week 9 slate. This is the first of two meetings between the divisional foes as they will also close out the regular season on January 3 in Week 17. The Patriots have won eight straight in the series, dating back to 2016, with the Jets' last win over New England coming in Week 16 of the 2015 season in overtime.
Uncharted Territory
Last Sunday’s loss to the Bills was the Patriots’ fourth consecutive defeat, the first time the franchise has dropped four in a row in 18 years. Before falling to Buffalo, San Francisco, Denver, and Kansas City, all came out victorious over Bill Belichick and company in successive weeks. The Jets might just be what the doctor ordered for this ailing Patriot team, but there’s no question their 11-year streak of making the playoffs is in jeopardy.
The team hopes to get reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore back for Monday night, but they’ll likely be without their top two receivers again. Julian Edelman continues to recover from knee surgery, and N’Keal Harry hasn’t practiced all week dealing with a concussion. Look for Cam Newton and company to rely heavily on the run game against New York.
Jet-lagged
At 0-8, the Jets remain the NFL’s only winless team. They’re clearly looking to the future, but it remains to be seen if the current regime is around to see the turnaround, whenever that may come. The offense has struggled all season, but especially as of late, failing to score more than 10 points in any of their last four games.
Quarterback Sam Darnold will miss his third game of the season as he still deals with a shoulder injury, meaning the Jets will again turn to veteran Joe Flacco under center. Since he entered the league in 2018, the Jets record without Darnold at QB matches their current record in 2020.
This week, Flacco has said he’s felt more comfortable than in previous weeks, saying, “It's a lot easier going into the game knowing that I'm playing now instead of coming off the bench at some point in the game."
Betting Line and Pick
The Patriots are heavy road favorites in this one, laying 9.5 points to the home Jets, with an over/under of 41.5. The game opened with New England as a 7.5-point favorite but moved two full points with the Jets moving to Flacco at the quarterback spot. Both teams are in bad shape, though Belichick is 6-1 ATS with the Patriots against teams that are 0-3 SU or worse. We’ll lean to the total for our selection since neither team has thrown a touchdown pass in their last three games.
Pick: UNDER 41.5
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