New York Jets Need To Get Running Game Going Against New England Patriots

Oct 5, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; New York Jets running back

Chris Ivory

(33) runs during the second quarter against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

When the New York Jets take on the New England Patriots tonight in New England, the Jets will be big underdogs. The Patriots are coming into the game on fire, while the Jets are struggling mightily. If the Jets are to stay in this game and give themselves a chance to win, they will have to go back to what they do best offensively; run the ball.

Last season when the Jets took on the Patriots, they were in both games, even picking up a victory in one of them. The biggest difference in the two games was the rushing attempts; in the first, a loss, the Jets ran the ball 32 times compared to 35 Geno Smith passes. In the second, a victory, they attempted 52 rushes, compared to 33 pass attempts for Smith.

It may not be pretty, but it is what the Jets need to do if they are to challenge the Patriots tonight and pull off the upset. Leaning heavily on Chris Ivory should be the focus of the game plan. Last season in two games against the Patriots, Ivory attempted 12 and 32 rushes. Not coincidentally, the Jets won the game Ivory ran the ball 32 times in. While it is an unrealistic expectation to expect him to tote the ball 32 times again, falling somewhere in the mid-20s would go a long way in improving the Jets chances to win.

Ivory has had a strong season for the Jets thus far, and should expect to be getting the bulk of the carries going forward. He has earned them with his performance, averaging 4.9 yards per rush on 67 attempts.

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Ivory should be the lead back and is looking more and more like the Jets are finally realizing that as well. It looks like the Jets are giving up on the Chris Johnson experiment. Johnson has seen his role diminish each week as the season has gone in, carrying the ball 13, 12, 10, six, seven and three times. A player who could see his role increase is Bilal Powell, who hasn’t had much of a role with the Jets thus far through six games but couldn’t perform any worse than Johnson currently is.

Leaning on the running game early and often will also keep Tom Brady and the suddenly explosive Patriots offense off the field more. Going back to the games last season again, time of possession was a telling stat. While the Jets had the ball more in both games, the differential in the second game was massive, as they held the ball for 46:13 compared to 23:40. It was an overtime game, but that is still a huge difference and one that helped get the Jets a victory.

Running the ball is the only way for the Jets to stay in the game tonight. They have to be able to control the tempo and pace of the game, as they do not have the offense to keep up with the Patriots if they fall behind early. The best way to keep the score close is to hold onto the football, and the easiest way to do that is to run the ball and keep doing it. Expect the Jets to do plenty of that tonight, especially on a short week.

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