New York Jets: Learn from the past when facing the Texans

We look ahead to Saturday’s game for the New York Jets and remember that they must learn from the past so they don’t make the same mistakes.

They say if you don’t learn from history you are going to repeat it. Well when the New York Jets take on the Houston Texans on Saturday afternoon, the Jets have the chance to put that principle into play.

It goes without saying that the Texans are a tough defense. In Football Outsiders DVOA rankings, the Texans are eighth. This will mark the second tough one in a row, with the Jets last opponent from cold Buffalo currently ranked third.

Any team with J.J. Watt is going to be tough, especially so for a rookie quarterback. Watt is having another stellar season with 12.5 sacks to date.

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If you pay too much attention to Watt you have Jadeveon Clowney and his seven sacks. After an injury plagued start to his career he has shown why he was a number one overall pick.

Don’t sleep on Whitney Mercilus and his 3.5 sacks either. Simply put, the Texans have an insanely good pass rush.

Heading into the game, rest assured that Brandon Shell and Kelvin Beachum can’t handle these guys one on one.

How do we know this? This is where the Jets need to learn from history in order to avoid repeating it.

Let’s think back to a few weeks ago when the Jets took on the Dolphins.

Remember the problems that were had with Robert Quinn and Cameron Wake? Sam Darnold was lost due to a foot injury because of the trouble the line had.

The Jets have to learn from this. And there is a simple way to do so.

Big test for the Jets secondary. dark. Next

Jeremy Bates needs to finally figure out that he must not go empty against this team. Five wide receiver sets will be an invitation for disaster.

Shell and Beachum will not be able to handle these guys by themselves. It won’t happen. It’s an invitation to come at Darnold with a fire and fury. It happened in the Dolphins game it will happen here if the Jets try it again.

It may make the overall game plan more conservative, but the Jets have to keep guys in to chip on Watt, Clowney and Mercilus depending upon the play. Bates must understand that a key to this game will be keeping Darnold upright.

They have seen this before, and making the mistake cost the rookie quarterback nearly 1/4 of his season. This team is tougher. If they don’t learn from it, Darnold’s fate has the potential to be a lot worse.

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