New York Jets vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Preview

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Today on In The Trenches with Gang Green Bubbs previews the Jets vs Buccaneers Week 3 matchup. 

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Put your seat belts on and get ready for the ride. [Music] [Applause] [Music] We’re the freaking New York Jets, so we’re built for this Hello and welcome to another episode of In the Trenches with Gang Green. I’m your host, Bubs. Today is Saturday, September 20th. Hopefully everybody’s having a good day so far today. This is episode 629 of the In the Trenches with Gang Green podcast. I thank you as always for joining me. For those tuning in on YouTube, make sure to please like and subscribe. Of course, appreciate all of those tuning in on all the different audio podcast platforms. And today we are previewing all angles of the New York Jets week three matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As we always do, I will be giving you the New York Jets road mapap to victory. What do the New York Jets need to do in this game to pick up their first win of the 2025 season? Aaron Glenn, what does he need to do to pick up his first win as the New York Jets head coach? We’ll take a look at the offense and defensive keys, X factors on the offense and defensive side of the football, and of course, matchups to watch both offensively and defensively. And as we always do, I will give you my prediction for this one at the end. Before we get into all that and dive into the injury report, as we always do here, just some general information, overall thoughts heading into this one. the first road game here for the New York Jet of the 2025 season. The first of two Florida road trips backto back Tampa tomorrow afternoon and then Monday night next week against the now 0 and3 Miami Dolphins. And for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after two road wins, uh they come home for the first time this season in their home opener. 0 and2 Jets, 2 and 0 Buccaneers, 100 p.m. Eastern on Fox. The Jets are 6 and 12 point road underdogs. So the Buccaneers are the home favorites. Overunder for this one set at 43 and a half. When you look at ESPN analytics matchup predictor, they’re giving the Buccaneers a 69.2% chance of winning while the New York Jets are being given a 30.5% chance of winning. Raymond James Stadium will be the host and the Jets look to pick up their first win of the 2025 season uh tomorrow afternoon in Tampa Bay. And this is an interesting one from a lot of angles. It’s the Tyrod Taylor against Baker Mayfield showdown. You fast forward or or move backwards, I should say, back to 2018. We all remember that Thursday night game where Tyrod got uh taken out, got a concussion, taken out of the game. Baker Mayfield came in. Uh the New York Jets ended up losing that game. That was the Isaiah Crowell game. Todd BS was the coach for the Jets. Fast forward now many years later. Baker Mayfield, Tyrod Taylor. Mayfield with Bulls, Taylor with Aaron Glenn. So, a couple connections there. Couple reversals in the roles there uh that we’ll see tomorrow. So certainly connections between those two quarterbacks and an interesting matchup to watch with Justin Fields out in this one with a concussion and just in general when you look at the Jets side of things, this is a big game on multiple levels. Uh really the biggest factor is how this team looks and how they come out, right? This was a team that goes out there in week number one, looks good, loses, but competitive loss. Uh they played well. You saw a lot of positives and you were hoping that would carry into week number two against the division rival Buffalo Bills and that was far from the case. They go out, they don’t show up. It looked like they quit. They weren’t ready to play. From the jump that game was over and they get dominated 30-10 and now for the first time it feels like the Aaron Glenn honeymoon per se is over. Uh it’s been a really rough week for Aaron Glenn. couple comments that he’s made at the podium going back to Sunday’s postgame to his press conferences on Monday, Wednesday, and and Friday. It’s been a rough week. There’s been a lot of heat towards this coaching staff. There’s been a lot of pressure now put on this coaching staff after what took place last week and how that loss has been so similar to the losses that we’ve seen in previous years. And the attention now goes to Aaron Glenn and this coaching staff. They preach accountability, preach changing the culture, all of these different things. How do you come out, face adversity? How does this team look coming out in this one? Massive pressure. If they come out and look flat and aren’t ready to play and lose this game 31-10, 3113, and get blown out against a Buccaneers team that’s banged up. Really, really bad for Aaron Glenn. and it’ll really be the first time where I I guess you can kind of label sky falling a bit uh from the Aaron Glenn perspective. So, this is a big one even though it’s only game number three and nobody’s saying fire Glenn or it’s not going to work out. Nobody’s saying that. But the way they look last week, it’s going to tell you a lot about where this coaching staff and where this culture and where this locker room is at with the way they come out in this one led by Tyrod Taylor. And from the Buccaneers perspective, you look at this one, they’re banged up all over the place. They’re missing three offensive linemen. Tristan Worf’s out again. Cody Malc and Luke Geti, your your right side of the offensive line. They are both out. So, you’re going to have three starters for the Buccaneers out in this one. Uh, which is a big blow. And that’s an opportunity for this New York Jets defense that will be without Germaine Johnson. So, you’re going to see more Michael Clemens. We’ll get more into some strategy on what the Jets could do from a defensive line perspective to kind of take away from Michael Clemens playing so much. Uh, which will be something to keep an eye on. Uh, but this is a Buccaneers team that’s had two wins where they were come from be two kind of, you know, late wins. Falcons missed field goal last week to come from behind late drive against the Houston Texans. Haven’t played their best football, but they’re 2 and 0. Short week though, banged up. Jets, Tyrod, more of a passing element. How does that play into things? Lot to look for in this matchup. So, those are the overall just initial thoughts on this one and initial things to take into account. When you look at the injury report for both these teams, I just mentioned the three injuries with the Buccaneers. We’ll get to some of their other injuries here in a second. As for the Jets, we all know Justin Fields out in this one with a concussion. Germaine Johnson out with an ankle. Kane Nangu and Josh Reynolds miss their second games in a row. Both dealing with hamstring injuries. And J2 Fell will also miss his second game in a row here dealing with an illness that kept him sidelineed last week against the Buffalo Bills. As for some of the players that are questionable for tomorrow afternoon showdown, Tony Adams dealing with a hit, Michael Carter with a shoulder, and Marcelino McCra ball with a hamstring. Obviously, if Tony Adams can’t go, Malachi Moore, the rookie, will get the start. Michael Carter does feel like he is in line to play. Fully participated yesterday at practice. So, finish the week from that standpoint on the healthier side. So, I would look for him to be out there tomorrow afternoon. And from the Bucks perspective, we already talked about the Tristan Warf injury, the Luke Eteki, and the Cody Malc injuries. Chris Godwin will also miss this one again as he continues to work his way back dealing with an ankle and a Mecha Ibuka. Something to keep an eye on. Was limited on Friday. Missed a couple practices early in the week dealing with a hip injury, a groin injury. Something to keep an eye on. That would be a big blow uh for this Bucks offense. I do think he will play. Just my gut, no sources, just my gut. I do think he’ll play. Is it limited fashion? We’ll see. But that is certainly something to keep in mind as we get closer to tomorrow. At the time of this recording, uh just a little over 24 hours from now, kickoff will take place. Just some other notes before we get into all the rest of this. Uh, the Buccaneers are looking to become 3- 0 for the first time since 2005, which is notable because if history tells us correctly, this is a game where the Jets win because the Buccaneers, they have been 2-0 for the fifth straight year. Now, going back to 2021 through now, they’ve started 2 and 0 every single season, but they’ve yet to make it 3-0. Haven’t been 3 and 0 in a season since 2005. So that’s something to keep an eye on if that’s a streak that ends tomorrow. Hopefully a streak that continues tomorrow if the Jets can come out on top. Tyrod and a very small sample size or as Baker Mayfield calls him Trod, however you want to label it. Uh 2 and 0 in his career against the Bucks. Jets all time against the Bucks are 10 and three. So history have had some success there. However, the Bucks have won the last two matchups. Jets haven’t beat the Buccaneers since week one of 2013. 1817 win. Nick Folk game-winning field goal. Maybe we see that tomorrow. That would be awesome. Uh, and the last time the Jets beat the Bucks on the road, because that week one game in 2013 was at home. Last time they beat him on the road, go back to 2009, week 14, 263 win. So, just some other notes I wanted to throw out there. Always interesting when two AFC NFTs NFC teams meet, don’t see each other often to like take a look at kind of how history has played out over the years. All right, let’s dive into this one. We’ll take a look here as always first with the offensive keys to the game for the New York Jets. And we’ll start with establishing the passing game and kind of tying it into starting fast on offense just in general. You look at Tyrod Taylor, he’ll get the start in this one. Uh you look at his career as a starter, 58 games started, 2828 and one uh career record, 61.7% completion percentage in his career, 11,243 yards, 197.2 yards per game, 7.02 yards per attempt, uh 60 touchdowns, 25 picks, and a career 88.8 passer rating. Uh when you look at his time with the Jets, three games in mop-up duty, twice last year, once this year, uh last week of course against the Bills, 24 of 33, 72.7%, 175 yards, four touchdowns, no picks, a 124.4 passer rating. This is a Jets offense that tomorrow should have a lot more of a passing element to it. should have a lot more passing success to it because the one thing we know with Tyrod Taylor and the one knock I think you can also kind of label it as with Justin Fields, Tyrod from a thrower of the football perspective through the air better than Justin Fields. Better at processing, more accurate, not afraid to stretch the field deep ball. All of those things we know with Tyrod Taylor, we’ll get more into those in a second. That’s what he’s got over Justin Fields. However, Justin Fields, what makes him more appealing over Tyrod is the mobility, the athleticism. Tyrod can move around a bit, but he’s not what he used to be. He is, of course, older, 36 years old, and and just in general, even when he was at his peak in his prime, he was never as mobile as Justin Fields. Justin Fields is a top three quarterback when it comes to running the football. Uh getting into space with the ball in his hand. Uh but from a passing perspective, Tyrod provides more and I think it’s important tomorrow to establish the pass game. We’ve talked a lot about running the football and that’s going to be important. But the Jets got very predictable last week and I don’t think it was a coincidence that they had one week of film on them against Pittsburgh and teams saw what they did on the ground and the Bills, Shawn McDermott, that defense was fully ready to go. The Jets couldn’t get anything going on the ground last week, especially the way they started the game with the two back-to-back run plays early on. So predictable, completely shut down, sets up a third and long. Not the way you want to play. Not the position the Jets offense can put themselves in enough. They’re not a third and long built offense. So tomorrow, I think it’s important early on, get the pass game going, switch things up a bit, pass to in a way to open up the run. you run early in this game and you run these similar concepts to what you’ve had in the first two weeks, you’re going to get beat by a Todd Bulls defense that’s not afraid of blitz, not afraid to send pressure your way, not afraid to just clog the interior, does a good job, I should say, of clogging the interior, stacking the box, and stopping the run. So, from more of a passing threat with Tyrod, I think you’ve got to utilize that. And just some numbers to back things up, the Jets have a 35% early down pass rate, which is passes on first and second down. That’s last in the NFL. So, they have thrown the least amount of passes on first and second down and at the lowest rate through two games. And that shouldn’t be much of a surprise, but it’s alarming because they’re the only team under 40%. At some point, you’ve got to pass the football. At some point, you’ve got to have success passing the football on early downs to set up drives. They haven’t done enough of that. They did not do any of that last week. Put themselves in a lot of bad third down situations. We’ll get to that here more in a second. And they couldn’t go anywhere with the football. So, establish the pass game tomorrow. And in the lines of that, it’s also starting fast on the road. Don’t go out there, go three and out. Go down, put up points on the road. take advantage of a banged up Bucks team coming on a short week. Go out there, score early, have some success through the air early. When you look at this Bucks passing defense, they’ve had some struggles so far this season. They are 24th in passing defense. Uh this is a team that from a secondary perspective have let up yards. They they’ve let up some big plays. They haven’t been perfect. They’re in the bottom well in the bottom half of the league, more the bottom quarter of the league from a pass defense perspective. So, there is that area there to have some success. And I I’ll also add on to this as well. Take chances, throw the ball deep, take risks, not to be the whole, well, you’re playing, you know, you’re 0 and2 and all that stuff and you got nothing to lose, but kind of in the lines of that, you got to take some risk. You got to take some chances tomorrow. open things up a bit with Tyrod Taylor. Tyrod does a good job of that. You go back to 2023, the last time he started uh in his five games with the New York Giants, uh he was 21st in big time uh throw big time throws uh with 17 and an 8.9% big- time throw percentage, which was first in the NFL. Uh he also had the third highest percentage of deep throws, which are throws of 20 or more yards. So that not only shows you his ability to stretch the field, get the ball deep, but also have success. He’s accurate, good touch on his deep ball, third highest percentage of deep throws, and his big time throw percentage, those tight window throws, oftentimes the deep balls. He has success there. So established passion game in the lines of starting fast early in this game and then also taking some chances all under that same umbrella. Moving on now to the second key here for the New York Jets. It’s converting on third down because last week was abysmal. Unacceptable. It was terrible. Uh no other way to put it. The New York Jets last week on third down were 0 for1. 0 for 11 against the Buffalo Bills in that offense. And the way this defense is playing, the last thing you want to do is three and out, three and out, three and out. Continue to throw the defense out there. Tired defense, worn down defense. This defense hasn’t been any good, period. Let alone where they’re out there getting dominated in the time of possession, which the Jets got last week. They were out of out time of possession 38 minutes to 21 minutes against the Buffalo Bills. 17-minute difference. Terrible. And a big part of that was their inability to convert on third downs. Last week the Jets went 0 of 11. The week before they had some success. They were 50% seven of 14. But you tally that out here two weeks in the Jets are at a 28% third down clip conversion clip right now. That’s 30th in the NFL. That’s way too low. Unacceptably low for an offense that has had struggles on third downs now for years. Tanner Astramm, this staff, Tyrod tomorrow, the rest of this offense. They’ve got to be better in these third down situations. And they’re facing a Bucks defense that has been pretty stout on third downs this season. First game against Atlanta, six of 15, 40% allowed. Last week though, were excellent against Houston. Two of nine allowed. That’s just 28.2%. So, in two games here, the Bucks are allowing just 33.3% first downs, which is tied for seventh in the NFL. Still early. They haven’t been elite by any means, but they’ve been solid. Now, the counter to that would be Texans are last right now in third down conversion rate, 22.2%. And the Falcons are tied 19. So, still bottom half of the league at 40%. But the point being, Bucks face two teams that struggled on third down. Part of that is facing that defense, but they had success against them, right? Texans went two and nine in week one. Last week they went two of nine. Falcons tied 19. So still bottom half of the league. This is a Jets def. This Jets offense comes into this one third in the NFL in third down rate conversion rate. And they’re coming off of a week where they were uh 0 of 11. Oh, unacceptable. So that’s got to change tomorrow. You’ve got to be able to convert in these third down situations, third and short situations. I talked about it going into last week’s game, less of the shotgun runs, more of the under center, just even quarterback sneaks, things like that, like third and short, those type of things. Don’t have to get fancy. Uh, and I think also you look at just from the third down conversion rate, and this is just in general from a pass game perspective, and if you actually want to look at last week’s game in a positive viewpoint, it’s that there were guys that were open. Fields just wasn’t hitting them. I mean, you could go back and find five to six just blatantly mis misfires from Fields. One of them was on the first drive on third down. There was a couple big misfires uh to Garrett Wilson. So, you hope tomorrow if you are put in those third and long situations, Tyrod can step up. But overall, Jets got to be more in the third and shore, third and five and less category. That’s where you see this offense in good positions, not a third and long type of offense. And my final offensive key here, kind of a a little bit of a mix of a couple different players, but it’s getting others involved. And it’s more so with the way the Jets just passing offense in general is structured. Uh receiving game I should say is structured. Without Josh Reynolds, you expect Alan Lazard to be out there again. I personally disagree and maybe I will be right. Uh or or maybe I will be I guess gifted with this. I would rather see a Brandon Smith out there tomorrow afternoon. I would rather see a Stone Smart, a Galani Woods, guys like that be played as bigger slots in the way. uh play those guys in the slot and get involved more. Uh I want to see Mason Taylor get involved tomorrow. He’s had two catches for 25 yards so far. And this is a just speaking of the tight ends with the Bucks. This is a Bucks team that’s struggled a bit against tight ends. They’ve allowed 88 yards in two games to Kyle Pitts and Daltton Schultz. Uh so on average about 44 yards per game. That’s not terrible, but it’s a high volume of receptions, 10 and two games. Uh, and specifically Pitts made some plays against him. Was open, had a lot of receptions, not a ton of yards, but was open, made plays, uh, executed when the ball was thrown his way. So, to me, tomorrow I You got to spread the ball around. Garrett, Bree, those guys, those are going to be your leading two. But Mason Taylor’s supposed to be this team’s, we all kind of went into this year as third biggest receiver threat behind Garrett, behind Bree. Even Breeze, too. Can he go out there tomorrow and have a big game where he’s got six receptions for, you know, 70 yards or something like that? He has a big game from a 50 to 60 to 70 yard standpoint. You know, Garrett’s got to have a better week than he had last week. And that’s not Garrett’s fault. A lot of them were bad throws in his direction. Hit Garrett with accurate throws, but more so, can we see Galani Woods? Can you see a Stone Smart? Either of those guys a bigger slot. Maybe a Brandon Smith instead of Allen Lazard who does nothing for this team. And I want to throw another guy out here as well. And I’ll talk more about him too as we get to the Xfactors. I think this is a huge piece. That’s Aren Smith. Tomorrow is the perfect opportunity for Aren Smith to go out there and make a big play. Tomorrow is the perfect opportunity for Aren Smith’s speed to be utilized really for the first time. You know, last week he had the endound for a loss of 10, which I hated that play call. The Jets were starting to move the football. They lose 10 yards. And then he had the one catch for eight yards. He had the other catch, but who ended up getting called back at the offensive pass interference. So, tomorrow I look at Arian Smith and say through three games, tomorrow should be his biggest game of his NFL career. And the biggest part of that is Tyrod’s ability to not just throw the ball deep, but have success throwing the ball deep. Like I said earlier on, Aren Smith tomorrow, vertical threat. Send him downfield. Send him vertically. Take the top off this defense. Open things up. Have that big 40 to 50 to 60 yard bomb. That big play. Do it early in the game. First play of the game. Throw it deep. Take a chance. Take a risk. Catch this Bucks defense off guard. Keep them guessing a bit. Open things up. Tyrod can do that. Aren Smith is your burner that can get downfield, beat the defense, and vertically have success. So, he’s another one tomorrow uh in that same boat of getting others involved and not just having Alen Lazar take up snaps where he does nothing, provides nothing from the receiving side of things. And is Brandon Smith, Stone Smart, Galani Woods, if any of those guys even play tomorrow, is, you know, is Nathan Taylor like, are they going to go out there and have dominant games? Is Brandon Smith any good? We don’t really know, but you feel like they can’t be any worse. It can’t get any worse right now. There’s nobody behind Garrett Wilson. So, get others involved. Aaron Smith, the big one tomorrow. Um, those are my three offensive keys. Establish the passing game, take chances, start fast early, all in that same window. convert on third down and in getting others involved. Uh moving on now to the defensive side of the football. Number one, it starts up front. It starts with getting pressure on Baker Mayfield. And I will also kind of tie two into this one because the pressure directly correlates to this next one. But getting pressure on Baker Mayfield and also forcing turnovers is another big one. But we’ll start with the pressure first. Uh Baker Mayfield 42 of 70 so far this year. That’s a 60% completion percentage, 382 yards, 5.5 yards per attempt, five touchdowns, no picks, tied for third in the NFL with touchdown passes, a 98.6 passer rating, and a 75.7 QBR. So ninth in QBR and 11th in passer rating. It hasn’t been a dominant start by any means by Baker Mayfield and he’s taken some big hits, but it’s been a very solid start and they’re two and 0 and he led a game-winning drive last week and he’s done it with a lot of different pieces up front mixing and mashing and now this week multiple different pieces missing this week and obviously two road games. Um, all in all, you look at what Baker’s done with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s been, you know, the bigger, the biggest career revival right now in the NFL. 21 of 15 record in his 36 starts, 8,926 yards, 67.4% completion percentage, 74 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions. quickly on the interception front. He had the 41 touchdowns last year and lit things up through the air and the weapons around him, the pieces, which we’ll get into that more here in a second, they’re elite. They’re some of the better ones, some of the more underrated pieces around him in the NFL. But one thing Baker Mayfield now so far this se hasn’t happened, but the interceptions. Last season he had the 41 touchdowns, but he also threw 16 interceptions which was tied for the most in football with Kurt Cousins who got benched late in the season. So Mayfield does have a tendency of turning the ball over a little bit. 26 interceptions in the last two seasons. Uh that’s a lot. So you talk about this Jets defense forcing turnovers. It’s got to be paramount. And it’s just on the same lines of like this defense has been so bad. In order for them to kind of cover some of those things up, you’ve got to be able to force turnovers. You’ve got to be able to catch the football when it hits your hands in the secondary. The Brandon Stevens drop, the Michael Carter drop, terrible. God forbid this team ever falls on a fumble. They never do. It’s terrible. You’ve got to be able to take the ball away. And I think some of that has got to come from getting pressure on Baker Mayfield. Like I said earlier, everybody knows this. One of the biggest stories going into this game. Not only is it a short week, but the Bucks up front are missing three offensive linemen. Both of their tackles and their starting right guard and Cody Mal. You know, they picked up Dan Feny, Jets legend, former Jet. Revenge game for Danfeny. They’re mixing and mashing in the interior without both their tackles. Tristan Worse obviously has been out now for two weeks and you kind of had that feeling he would also miss this one. Same with Chris Godwin as they work their way back. But it was brutal last week. I mean Baker Mayfield took tons of hits and is beat up. Five sacks in two games uh including four against Houston. And right now, Mayfield’s on pace to get sacked 42 times this year, which is the second highest amount of sacks he’s ever taken in a single season. His highest, you’d have to go back to his days with the Browns where he took 43 sacks in 2021. And that was, however, just in 14 games. So, if he plays all 17 and only takes 42, you know, stretch it off. 2021 obviously much worse. But he has he’s on pace right now to be sacked more times in a season than he has in his previous two years with Tampa. And that could obviously change as things get healthy with Tampa, but they’re not healthy for this week. And this is a Jets defense that did a good job getting home to Aaron Rogers in week one, but didn’t do a good job getting home to Josh Allen in week two. Uh he he obviously scrambled, picked up some yards with his legs. We all know that. Jets struggle with that. Linebackers wise, they were not good stopping that. So tomorrow, you haven’t already beat up Baker Mayfield. You have an offensive line missing three of five starters. Get pressure. Quinnon Williams, Will McDonald, two big pieces tomorrow with Germaine Johnson out. And I lead this into my next point. I’m interested to see how the Jets play out the other edge position opposite of Will McDonald with Germaine Johnson out in this one. Massive blow. an even bigger blow because of the how banged up Buccaneers offensive line is. You have Germaine out there tomorrow for the Jets. Germaine Will McDonald, Quinnon Williams, you’re talking about a potential five to six sack afternoon. You really are. But without Germaine Johnson, the drop off from him to Michael Clemens is so drastic. And you kind of wonder, and I wanted to get into this a bit here, is, you know, do the Jets go big at edge and instead of throwing Michael Clemens out there, do you slide a Quinn over or a Briggs over and go Will McDonald, Quinn and Harrison Phillips, Briggs or Briggs and Phillips or Quinn over and Briggs and Phillips in the interior? Do you get a little bigger on the edge to limit Will McDonald playing more than 50% of the defensive snaps, which nobody nobody needs to see and nobody should see because he shouldn’t be on the team, but he is and we’ve been down that road before. So, something to look for, but whoever’s out there, they’ve got to get pressure. Will McDonald needs to have a big day. Quinn Williams need to have a big day. Those two guys specifically because Germaine’s out, they need to step up even more. uh there’s no excuse for them not to get pressure even without Germaine uh with the way this offensive line is. So that’s key number one. Moving on to key number two, these two running backs, it’s slowing them down. Bucky Irving Rashad Wright. You look at Bucky Irving so far this season, 31 carries, 108 yards, 3.5 yards per carry. Uh he’s also tallied 10 receptions on 10 targets. So has caught every ball that has been thrown his way. 58 yards, 5.8 8 yards per reception and a touchdown. In total, Bucky Irving this year has had 41 total touches, 166 yards, 4.04 yards per uh touch and a touchdown. Rashad White, not much in the receiving game, just three catches for three yards, but 12 carries, 79 yards, 6.6 yards per carry, and a touchdown. So, in his smaller portion of carries has taken advantage of it. So, combined between these two, 53 total touches, 245 yards, 4.6 yards per touch, and two touchdowns. And again, this is still an offense that hasn’t fully hit their stride. You’ve got to be able to slow these guys down tomorrow. And I think more importantly, it’s just the dynamic of these two running backs. You know, they run a good amount. You could see a lot of two back sets. They do a lot of two back sets where Bucky Irving can be spread out to the slot. Uh, which is another factor in the passing game. And I think what’s really really something to look for is the way that last week in the final drive for the Buccaneers where they went down and won it against Houston Texans is the way they used both these running backs. Bucky Irving was the big receiving threat. Had a couple big catches down the stretch in that game in that final drive. a lot of stuff underneath and then Rashad White at the goal line punched it in. So, they have that dual threat of Rashad White does a lot of good things when he gets the opportunity on the ground. Uh, punching it in last week, solid back, uh, just in terms of yards per carry this year, 6.6 yards per carry, also a guy that can catch the ball out of the back field as well. And then you have Bucky Irving who’s also that do it all guy who’s had a ton of success so far this year with catching the football out of the backfield and is coming off of a season where he had 5.4 yards per carry and 1,122 yards, eight touchdowns last year. This is one of the more under the radar running back tandemss in the NFL. And it’s such a big key tomorrow because this is a Jets defense that has struggled against the run. They did a good job in week number one stopping it against Jaylen Warren. But last week against a better running back room and a better rushing offense headlined by James Cook, they were terrible. The Jets last week allowed James Cook to rush for 132 yards on 21 carries. That was 6.3 yards per carries and two touchdowns. They allowed Josh Allen to have that big 40 yard run. He had 59 yards total. The Jets as a team gave up 5.2 yards per carry and 224 yards. that can’t happen tomorrow. Quinton Williams went to the podium this week and spoke about it, how that won’t happen again. Well, you’ve got to back it up because right now you’re the 24th ranked rushing offense in football facing a top 10 rushing offense in football. Buccaneers are ninth right now. Bucky Irving, Rashad White have had a ton of success. You saw that last week. They had a ton of success last year. And there’s no excuse, again, when you talk about getting pressure on Baker Mayfield, there’s no excuse for this defense to not be able to contain this run game with the way this offensive line is for Tampa. Jawan Briggs, Harrison Phillips, Quinn Williams, all those guys have got to get home. And the secondary guys as well, linebackers. Quincy has been playing a lot more reckless. He kind of looks a little bit more like 2021 Quincy where not taking good angles, missing some tackles. Jamie and Sherwood, both run and pass game has been terrible. We know with this secondary’s been some lot of missed tackles. Uh second level’s got to be a lot better as well. But all in all, you’ve got to be able to slow down Bucky Irving Rashad White. And my final defensive key here for the New York Jets, it’s the receivers. And this is what makes, you know, this Bucks offense so dangerous. Mike Evans and Amecha Ibuka, assuming I plays, I have no faith. I I’m being honest with you. I have no faith in this defense to slow these guys down, but it needs to happen. They need to find a way to contain and slow down Mike Evans and Achabuka. You look at Mike Evans this season, 10 receptions, 107 yards, 10.7 yards per reception. Uh, in his career, we all know what Mike Evans has been able to do. 800 846 uh career receptions, 12,791 yards, 15.1 yards per reception, and5 touchdowns. Looking for his 12th 1,000yard season in as many seasons. Has remained as one of the most underrated, I still think, receivers just from a full career standpoint in his career. It’s not just what he can do one-on-one, jump balls, all of those different things, but as a route runner, getting into space, does a lot of really good things there. Uh he’s excellent. He’s been one of the best receivers in this past decade uh in the NFL, and more importantly, consistency. So, Sauce against Mike Evans, big match up tomorrow. Sauce has got to have success against him. Last week, Sauce was awful. He had a good week against DK Metaf, very good week. was the lone bright spot of that secondary last week was unacceptable. The biggest unacceptable play, not just the two holdings and the missed sack on Josh Allen, but Mitchell Trabiscy coming in on third and long and you let up a big reception. That can’t happen. That’s inexcusable. Tomorrow, Sauce has got to do his job against Mike Evans. Because if not, not only is Evans capable of having a big day, but then you throw a Mecca Bua in the mix who these Ohio State wide receivers, as us Jets fans know, with Gary Wilson, they grow on trees. Eight receptions, 13 targets in two games, 96 yards, 12 yards per reception, and three touchdowns in two games already. If he’s out there tomorrow, Brandon Stevens this secondary, I you got to slow him down. You have to uh and the biggest thing will be up to Sauce Sauceing down Mike Evans. And that’s big because if you don’t slow down Mike Evans and Evans is having a big day in Ibuka, this defense is never going to get off the field. So Evans, Ibuka, you’ve got to be able to slow those guys down. Brandon Stevens, I still think A Thomas should play. I think Malachi Moore should play no matter the health around Tony Adams. I don’t think those two things will happen. and Malachi Moore might play, but if Tony Adams is healthy, he’ll play. But you even throw Kate Aton into the mix as well as another piece for this Jets offense to or Jets defense to keep in uh keep in the mix there. And Steve Wils just in general with the defensive schemes has been very vanilla, very basic. And you see Rogers who has a wealth of experience pick him apart and then Josh Allen who’s an elite player at his position right MVP pick him apart. So Wilks has got a lot of pressure on him too tomorrow just schematically switching things up a bit making things a little bit more complicated keeping the offense guessing a little bit more uh than what we’ve seen which has been a lot of vanilla concepts where both these quarterbacks the Jets have faced. Baker Mayfield will do the same tomorrow. Uh they’ve had success. One more thing with the defense, get off the field on third down. Michael Clemens with the stupid penalty last week. There’s been multiple third and longs converted. They’ve got to get off the field on third and long. And I think it just shows how bad the secondary is because third and long obvious passing situations. They’ve had breakdowns. The defense doesn’t get home. If the defensive line doesn’t get home, there’s guys running wide open. or Brandon Stevens just doesn’t turn around and play the ball because that’s just a Brandon Stevens experience. You never see his head, always his back. So that’s my third defensive key. Get pressure on Baker Mayfield, force turnover, slow down Bucky Irving or Rashad White, and contain Mike Evans and Mecca and get off the field on third and long. Some offensive X factors. Uh I’m going to throw a couple out here. Tanner Angstrand, not a player obviously, but I throw him out there as an X-factor. Really, this entire coaching staff in general and and you might say, oh, the offensive coordinator every week is is an X- factor, a big thing. But this is a big week for Angstrand, right? Different quarterback, different set of attributes for Tyrod Taylor, more of a passing ability for him. Um, very intrigued to see how Angstrand uses that, open up the pass game a little bit more. And just in general, week one was great. Now teams have two weeks of tape on you. This is a Bucks team. Good defense headline, you know, led by Todd BS. They’re going to come after you. Buffalo got after you. They dominated you. How are you going to respond now? How are you going to adjust? Uh really big day for him tomorrow. Aaron Smith, I talked about it earlier. He’s another X-factor in my opinion. He’s a guy tomorrow that I think’s got to have a big day. Even if it’s one or two catches, he’s got to have a big play in my opinion tomorrow if the Jets want to win this game. And uh another piece here, this interior of this Jets offensive line, Kijijah Cany won’t play in this game, which is a big blow. Can the Jets take advantage of that? Because last week they couldn’t take advantage of Ed Oliver. Can they take advantage of no Kalia Cany? We’ll see. Uh but more importantly, Vea, one of the best interior defensive lineman, one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL, the veteran, of course, in his eighth season. He’s an elite player at his position, interior offensive line. Got to be able to slow him down. Uh especially when you talk about a run game standpoint for this New York Jets uh offense, which especially on early downs, right? 65% early down run rate is first in the NFL. That’s the most. Uh they averaged just 2.9 yards per carry and for on 14 carries, non nonquarterback designed run carries last week on first and second down. In total, the Jets first and second down run last week, six of 14 were 43% uh were two yards or fewer. That’s unacceptable. Tomorrow you got to be able to run the ball better. More importantly though, pass more and open up the run from from that side of things. In terms of the defense X factors, this secondary, Will McDonald, not just from a pass rushing standpoint, he’s got one of the lowest run defense rush um uh run defense grades. Uh been terrible against the run through two weeks. Something that needs to improve in his game and tomorrow. That’s a big big deal for him. And I’d also just throw the interior of this defensive line. this defensive line as a whole. There’s no excuse for them not to get pressure and they’ve got to be able to stop the run. So, those are my X factors on defense. Some matchups to watch on offense. The biggest one to me, Armanu against Hanoric. I’ll actually have an article about my article by the time you’re listening to this actually might already be up uh Saturday afternoon this year. Uh but Hassanoric against Armanic looking for the revenge game. Rogers threw four touchdowns. Elijah Moore scored a touchdown last week, was doing back flips. So, they got their revenge. Reic 89% of his snaps this season have came on the left side. So, he’ll see a lot of Meu tomorrow. Five tackles, a sack, 11 pressures, 10 quarterback hers, three run stops so far through two games with Houston or uh Tampa, apologies. Uh last season, we all know what with what happened with Reic, right? Uh the four straight double digit sack seasons. Jets trade for him. Doesn’t show up until the team loses four straight and is two and five. When he shows up, one sack, 52.9, pass rush grade, a career low. Uh miserable season, alltime uh worst trade for this Jets uh organization. And that’s saying something because there’s been a lot of those. For Armanu, stop the revenge game. But more importantly, just from his side of things, he’s got to bounce back. had the great week one. 89 Pro Football focus grade, 90.3 run blocking grade, 26 pass blocking snaps against Pittsburgh. A great Pittsburgh front seven. Put TJ Watt on his butt two times. Uh pancaked him, didn’t allow a single pressure, sack, hurry, or quarterback hit. Was excellent. He had the highest overall grade by a rookie tackle since at least 2006. But he followed that up last week with a 63.4 4 PFF grade, a 65.3 run blocking grade, and a 58.3 pass blocking grade. Uh, so bad week last week, good week in week one. All in all though, still grades out and ranks in a good spot. You know, despite the three pressures, a sack, and quarterback hit allowed last week on 31 pass blocking snaps. Uh, his 81.6 6 overall grade, still leads all rookie offensive tackles, is also fourth among all rookies. His 86.9 run blocking grade and 5.4% pressure rate allowed are also both top five among rookie tackles still. So, still things still grayed out for Meu, but it’s about seeing the rookie adjust after a tough week. Go out there, bounce back, have a good day against Reic. Uh, Tyrod against this Bucks secondary and like I said, interior offensive line against Vea. Defensive matchups to watch. Brandon Stevens against a Mecha Ibuka, Jets Dline versus Bucks banged up offensive line and this Jets defense against Bucky Irving and Rashad White. So, those are the matchups to watch. That’s the preview. Now, my prediction, I hope I’m wrong, and I hate picking against them. Uh, but I don’t think the Jets will win tomorrow. Uh, just haven’t seen enough from this defense and I I have a lot of concerns just in general right now with where this team’s at. And I I think this is a Bucks offense that’s going to have their way still with the secondary. I think the Jets will keep it close early, but I think the Bucks late in this one at home. Um, kind of as the game goes on will adjust, adapt offensive line as the game goes on might start to play a little bit better uh after maybe a rough start. I think the Bucks will win this one 2717. Um, I hope I’m wrong. I just have too many concerns right now where this defense is at. And in a perfect world, Tyrod goes out there, lights it up, and if he does, you start him next week. Um, that should be every Jets fan’s take on that. But let me know what you think in the comments section down below. What are your thoughts? 2717 Buccaneers. I think what will happen? I hope I’m wrong, obviously. Hope the Jets pull out a win. They need a win here. This is a big game. Massive game. Uh, 0 and3. If you go out there and don’t even show up tomorrow, forget even the moral victories. Go out there and win. uh being 0 and3 you’re essent it’s it’s over essentially uh coming back from 0 and3 is really tough the Jets path to get back into this winning tomorrow having a good day facing an 0 and3 Dolphins team winning there getting to two and two get back home to face Dallas and you look at the second part of the schedule things start to soften up so if the Jets can start to pick up some wins here early in the season while the season I should say is still early uh that’s where you could put yourself in the position late in the season to pick up some more wins and put yourself in a much better position. So, that starts tomorrow. Can’t be 0 and3. Can’t go out and no-show uh like you did last week. That’s a must for this coaching staff. Aaron, Glenn, everybody else. Let me know what you think in the comments section down below. What are your keys, X factors, matchups to watch? Let me know your prediction. Any other Jets thoughts you got heading into tomorrow action? Let me know down below. Appreciate the support as always. Until next time. Jets. Jets. Jets. Jets.