Hoyer: Patriots must establish running game against Jets in Week 8 originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The New England Patriots enter Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season with a 1-6 record at the bottom of the NFL standings.
The Patriots have lost six straight games for the first time since 1993. And if that wasn’t enough, head coach Jerod Mayo called the team “soft” during his press conference after Sunday’s 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
Next on the Patriots’ schedule is a matchup with the rival New York Jets at Gillette Stadium. These teams last met in Week 3 when the Jets won 24-3 at MetLife Stadium. The game was never close. But since then, the Jets have lost four straight games, including an ugly 37-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 7. The Jets’ offense, led by veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers, has not scored more than 20 points in a game since. beat the Patriots.
The Patriots will be underdogs this weekend, but the Jets are by no means unbeatable. What must the Patriots accomplish on Sunday to potentially spring a surprise?
Here are Brian Hoyer’s keys to a Patriots victory in Week 8, as seen on Wednesday’s edition of The game plan.
1. Establish the running game
The Patriots need to run the football much better if they want to succeed offensively, especially against a top-ranked Jets defense. Drake Maye has played well in his first two starts, but forcing a rookie quarterback to shoulder most of the offensive burden because you can’t run the football is not a winning strategy.
“I would say at this point it’s about execution. You have to go out there and execute play after play,” Hoyer said. “I think starting the running game opens up some things, so you don’t put everything on Drake Maye’s right arm. Allow him to get into a rhythm like they did in that first drive (during the week 7).”
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The Patriots ran for 82 yards (3.5 per carry) against the Houston Texans in Week 6. They found no success in the ground game against the Jaguars, totaling just 38 yards (2.5 per carry). race). Maye was the team’s leading rusher (38 yards) against the Texans and tied running back Rhamondre Stevenson for the lead (18 yards) against the Texans.
The Patriots rushing attack performed well against the Jets in Week 3, averaging 5.2 yards per carry (78 total). The problem was they quickly fell behind 14-3 at halftime and couldn’t stick to the ground game. A successful rushing attack early in Sunday’s game could open up some good play-passing opportunities for Maye in the second half.
2. Convert third downs
The Patriots offense doesn’t stay on the field long enough, which puts a lot of pressure on the defense to play a lot of minutes and potentially tire out late in the game.
Converting third downs is a must for the Patriots if they want to have any chance of beating the Jets. The Patriots went 2 of 11 on third down against the Jets in the first meeting of Week 3. It’s hard to find a rhythm when the offense continues to stall after failing third downs.
āConvert some of those third downs and stay on the field,ā Hoyer said. āThis will allow you to have opportunities to score more points.ā
The Patriots are converting 33.6 percent of their third downs this season, which ranks them 26th out of 32 teams.
There has been some improvement on third down recently, however. After experiencing a lackluster 3-of-13 third down performance against the Texans in Week 6, the Patriots performed much better against the Jaguars with a 6-of-12 third-down conversion rate in Week 7. Can will they make even more progress in this area? Sunday corner? The Jets rank 12th in third-down defense, allowing their opponents to succeed in 34.1 percent of those situations.
