Aiming for Consistency in the Run Game
Before the first meeting between the two teams, the Patriots were allowing the fewest rushing yards in the league (79.2 per game). The Jets rushed for 140 yards in the contest, the most against the Patriots’ defense up to that point.
Beginning with that Week 11 game, New England’s run defense has been more generous to opponents. The unit still ranks among the league’s best in rushing yards allowed (100.1 per game, the sixth fewest), but in their last four contests, the Patriots have allowed an average of 142.5 yards on the ground.
“I’m expecting them to try to hone in our run game,” HC Aaron Glenn said. “They tried to do that the first game.”
Despite the productive outing in Week 11, the Jets have struggled to run the ball effectively in recent weeks. In the five games since the first matchup, the offense has been held under 100 yards on the ground three times. Even with the decrease in production, though, the team’s 124.2 rushing yards per game rank No. 9 in the NFL.
“When you have a rookie quarterback [Brady Cook] that’s in there, [they’re] going to do everything [they] can to try to stop the run and force him to try and throw it,” HC Aaron Glenn said. “There’s been a number of teams who stacked the box on us, and we’ve been pretty successful running the ball. So, when we just stay patient and take those dirty runs like we usually do, at some point those runs are going to pop and we look forward to seeing that.”
RB Breece Hall — who became just the second player this season to surpass 50 rushing yards against the Patriots in Week 11 — is closing in on the first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career. Hall needs just 46 more.
“For him to be able to reach that milestone, I think he would tell you it’s more important for us to get wins — I know he will,” Glenn said. “But for him to be able to reach that, it’s good. But I know he wants more.”