The Athenaeum Forum

week of the regular season with a postseason-like focus.No Blessuan Austin NFL Draft , really. A first-round bye through the AFC playoffs is on the line Sunday, so they insist they’re not taking their game against the lowly New York Jets lightly.“It’s a one-game season,” running back James White said. “We’ve got to play our best football this week.”The Patriots have not played during wild-card weekend since the 2009 season, when they were blown out 33-14 by Baltimore. They also failed to make it to the Super Bowl the other two times under coach Bill Belichick (2005 and ’06) that they played during the opening weekend of playoffs.So, New England wants a win, which would clinch the franchise’s 13th first-round bye in AFC playoffs since 2001, the most in the NFL during that span. The Patriots (10-5) would also earn a bye with losses by Baltimore, Houston and Tennessee on Sunday.But they’d prefer to take care of business themselves against the Jets (4-11).“I mean, for us, this is a playoff game, so we just worry about what we can control,” safety Patrick Chung said.There’s also an outside shot New England could clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win — which would be its 500th in the regular season — combined with losses by Kansas City and Los Angeles Chargers.Speaking of Gillette Stadium, Tom Brady and the Patriots are the only team in the NFL without a loss at home (7-0). They could complete an undefeated home regular season for the seventh time since 2002 with a sixth straight victory in the series with the Jets.“It’s always tough when we play these guys, home or away,” White said. “They’re going to come in ready to play no matter what their record is. We’ve just got to play our best football — which we haven’t done yet and which I’ve said a lot this year. I think we all know that we can play better in general and maybe that’s enough motivation for us to go out there and play our best.”The Jets’ playoff hopes vanished months ago and this is expected to be Todd Bowles’ final game as coach. New York failed to reach the postseason in any of Bowles’ four seasons and needs a victory to just match the team’s 5-11 records of the last two seasons.Bowles’ bunch could have some extra motivation: spoil the Patriots’ plans.“It would be awesome,” left tackle Kelvin Beachum said. “But that’s not what it’s about. It’s about pride and about finding a way to get a win.”Here are some other things to know when the Jets and Patriots face off in Foxborough:BRADY’S BUMMERBrady is coming off his worst performance of the season with his 48.3 passer rating in a 24-12 win over Buffalo his lowest since throwing four interceptions against Indianapolis in 2006.He has 25 touchdown passes, his fewest since also tossing 25 during the 2013 season. But the 41-year-old Brady has no plans to step away from the game anytime soon. In his weekly radio spot with Westwood One Sports Radio on Monday, he said he fully intends to play beyond the end of his contract in 2019.“I absolutely believe I will,” Brady said. “I know I’ve talked about it a long time. I have goals to play not only next year, but beyond that.”THE END?All indications are that Bowles will be fired by the Jets sometime after the clock hits zero on the scoreboard Sunday.Bowles has mostly declined to discuss his job status or his future Blessuan Austin Buffalo Bills Jersey , despite the speculation swirling for weeks, and his family has inevitably been exposed to.“My private life will remain private,” Bowles said. “I don’t insulate them from anything. My kids go to school and they’re tough minded, they can take care of themselves and the Mrs. can take care of herself. We understand where we are and I’ve got no problems with my family.”SOARING SAMJets quarterback Sam Darnold is playing the best ball of his young career to cap his rookie season.He was 24 of 35 for a career-high 341 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions last Sunday in New York’s overtime loss to Green Bay. In the three games since returning from a foot injury, Darnold is 64 of 97 (66 percent) for 764 yards and six TDs with just one INT.“You just want your quarterback to be the most consistent player on the field,” Darnold said, “and that’s what I try to strive to be every single week.”DOUBLE TROUBLERookie Sony Michel and James White have been dynamic presences in Brady’s backfield.Michel needs 119 yards rushing to become just the sixth Patriots running back to reach 1,000 under Belichick, and fourth rookie to do so — joining John Stephens (1988), Curtis Martin (1995) and Robert Edwards (1998).White needs seven catches to become the 10th running back in NFL history with 90 or more in a season.MANY HAPPY RETURNSJets return specialist Andre Roberts , selected last week for his first Pro Bowl, had a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Packers.He’s the first player in franchise history — and 16th in the NFL since the merger — with TDs on a catch, kick return and punt return in the same season. He also joined Leon Johnson (1997) as the only players in team history to return a kick and a punt for a score in the same season. Jamal Adams and the Jets are well aware of the struggles going on in Cleveland.They know the Browns are still looking for their first win since 2016, and New York isn’t taking them lightly. If anything, the Jets consider their opponents Thursday night a dangerous, if not desperate, bunch.“They’re definitely out there to get their first win,” Adams said Tuesday, “so we’ve got to come out with our ‘A’ game.”The Jets are 1-1 after a convincing victory in their opener last Monday night in Detroit was followed by a mistake-filled performance Sunday in a loss to Miami .This will be the third game in 11 days for New York, and a big-time test for rookie quarterback Sam Darnold. The No. 3 overall pick was solid in his regular-season debut Youth Keyshawn Johnson Jerseys , but was up-and-down in the home opener. He’ll face a Gregg Williams-led defense that will throw lots of looks and pressure Darnold’s way.“I think every team in the NFL is dangerous,” Darnold said. “Every team on every given week has a chance to win, that’s how I’m looking at it. I’m really looking at it as just the next opponent. What does that defense do that poses a problem for us? Or, what can we do to pose a problem for them, is kind of how I look at it just scheme-wise.”The Browns are 0-1-1 after a tie with Pittsburgh in their opener and a three-point loss to New Orleans on Sunday . They could easily be 2-0 but instead remain winless since Dec. 24, 2016, against the Chargers.A lot of faces have changed on the roster since then, with quarterback Tyrod Taylor, wide receiver Jarvis Landry and running back Carlos Hyde among them on offense.“We know they have a good team,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “It’s the NFL. We don’t look at anybody’s record. We just play week by week. We’re expecting a tough game and I know that we’re going to get one.”All the Jets need to do is look at last season, when the Browns led their Week 5 matchup 7-3 in the third quarter before New York took a late lead and held on for a 17-14 win.“I mean, even when we played them last year, it was a dogfight,” defensive end Leonard Williams said. “Coach just reiterated that. We know they have an explosive offense and they have some pieces on defense as well.”There are definite challenges the short work week poses for teams, including breaking the routine and having to cram a game plan into a few days rather than having the usual several days.“It’s about just getting your bodies right, getting mentally sharp and just getting prepared for that game,” Adams said. “It’s a big game, Thursday night, everybody’s watching, so when the lights come on Keyshawn Johnson Jerseys Stitched , you’ve definitely got to shine.”The coaches and players have to work around those limitations and time constraints, along with having to travel.Williams also stressed that the players’ “professionalism” needs to kick in during these few days leading up to the game.“What I mean by that is we need to do more than just what we do here on a short week,” he said. “We have to be able to go home and study film at home and be able to stay after with certain guys and work on stuff on our own, and not just rely on the time scheduled that we have here.”The Jets have of course been focusing on Taylor. Many Jets defenders have played against him several times and can lean on their experiences against him when he was in Buffalo.But that doesn’t make things any easier to prepare for the way he can routinely make plays with arm and his legs.“Honestly, containing him, that’s the difficult thing,” Adams said. “Other than that, man, he has a hell of an arm that people don’t give him enough credit for. He’s an outstanding player, very smart, he’s a vet. He’ll be a tough challenge for us.”Williams added that the key for the defensive line and the linebackers is to collapse the pocket around Taylor and consistently put pressure on him.“Try your hardest to make him one-dimensional,” he said, “just a passing quarterback instead of trying to beat you with both.”Taylor has helped the Browns’ running game look impressive early, ranking fourth in the NFL while averaging 135 yards per game. Hyde has 105 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries, while Taylor has rushed for 103 yards and a score on just 12 attempts. Nick Chubb (five carries, 35 yards) and Duke Johnson (eight carries, 20 yards) give Cleveland several options in the backfield.“The run is going to be something that we’re going to have to stop early on so that the play-action pass and things like that aren’t in play,” Williams said. “Guys up front, we’re going to put it on our backs to try to stop the run as soon as possible.”___