The Jets are notorious for stringing together losses. After falling to the Patriots this past week, they will try not to lose two consecutive games in a row for the first time since Week 2 of 2016 when they face the 3-3 Jacksonville Jaguars.
While the Jaguars head into Week 8 only 3-3, they’ve been a formidable matchup for opponents thanks to the magic of rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew and the running of Leonard Fournette. Jacksonville’s defense isn’t what it used to be – especially after the season-ending injury to Marcell Dareus and the trade of cornerback Jalen Ramsey – but the Jags still rank 21st in points allowed and forced four turnovers last week.
Sam Darnold and company will need to quickly forget the mistakes of their Week 7 loss as they push forward into the softest portion of their 2019 schedule.
Here are four things to know for the Jets’ Week 8 match.
Fournette is a dual-threat back
The Jets won’t just need to worry about Leonard Fournette on the ground. Quietly, the Jaguars running back is also one of the better pass-catching backs in the league. He leads the NFL in rushing attempts but is also targeted 5.4 times per game in the passing game (eighth-most) and averages 7.3 yards per reception.
Fournette’s power-run style makes him hard to take down in the open field and the Jets linebackers will need to account for the running back in their coverage. Gardner Minshew is actually 10th in yards per completion this season with 12.2, so the presence of Fournette in the passing game adds another threat to the Jaguars offense.
Losses come in threes for Darnold
History hasn’t been kind to Darnold after losses. He’s 5-11 as a starter through his first season-and-a-half in the league and sadly all of Darnold’s losses are bunched together in packs of three. Not counting Week 1 of this season (where Darnold lost but missed the next three games with mono), Darnold has lost three consecutive games three different times since entering the league in 2018.
That doesn’t bode well for the Jets coming off a devastating loss to the Patriots in Week 6, especially after Darnold turned the ball over five times just six days ago. Jacksonville is a much easier opponent than New England but there’s no telling how low the morale of the team is after failing to score a single point six days ago.
No Mosley again
The Jets defense just hasn’t been the same since C.J. Mosley injured his groin in Week 1. Even when he returned for the Patriots game Monday night, Mosley failed to make an impact and didn’t look comfortable playing. Now he’ll miss his fifth game of the season and the Jets will be forced to lean on Blake Cashman in the middle of the defense again.
Mosley was supposed to be the centerpiece of the defense and without him, the Jets have struggled mightily. How the Jets respond without Mosley in the lineup again against the NFL’s second-highest rusher in Fournette will be crucial to the outcome of this game.
Jaguars are bad in the red zone
Yards aren’t always an indicator of a good offense, especially if they can’t score touchdowns. The Jaguars have been the epitome of this throughout the season considering they’re seventh in yards but only 20th in points per game. A lot of that can be attributed to their league-low 33.3 percent red zone scoring percentage. Though the Jaguars have reached the red zone 24 times (12th in the league), they’ve only scored eight touchdowns and typically settle for Josh Lambo field goals.
Even if the Jets’ malleable defense gives up lots of yards, they should be able to keep the game close as long as they hold the Jaguars to field goals instead of touchdowns.
