An inside look at the Jets-Jaguars Week 15 matchup in Jacksonville, Fla.:
Marquee matchup
Jaguars edge rushers Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen vs. Jets tackles Olu Fashanu and Morgan Moses
The Jets’ offensive line protected Aaron Rodgers pretty well last week until they gave up a few sacks late in the game. The challenge will be greater this week.
Walker, who was the No. 1-overall pick in 2022, has 8.5 sacks entering this game and Hines-Allen has seven sacks.
Fashanu, the team’s first-round pick this year, has played well since stepping in for an injured Tyron Smith.
He allowed four pressures on 43 pass-blocking snaps against the Dolphins last week.
Moses has been one of the Jets’ team leaders and is playing through a left wrist injury that is going to require him to wear a cast.
Rodgers played his best game of the season last week and has shown what he can do if given some time to operate.
The mission this week will be to slow down Walker and Hines-Allen.
“They are, if not the best edge tandem, they are up there, they are both just so similar in that way,” interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said. “They are both long and fast physical and relentless and yeah, it is going to be a great challenge. We are going to have to account for those guys every single snap and the second you don’t, that is when they can absolutely reck a game, so it is going to be a great challenge for our tackles.”
Costello’s call
The Jets have made an art out of blowing games, but I think they pull this one out.
The Jaguars stink.
You can argue that the Jets do, too, but I think they snap their losing streak and win one in the fourth quarter.
Anders Carlson boots a game-winning field goal in the final seconds.
Jets 24, Jaguars 23
4 Downs
Offensive encore: The Jets’ offense finally showed some life last week against the Dolphins. Can they get a repeat against the Jaguars?
They had a season-high 402 total yards and quarterback Aaron Rodgers snapped a streak of 34 games without a 300-yard passing game when he threw for 339 yards.
The Jaguars are dead last in yards allowed this season and 31st in passing yards allowed.
The Jets have not scored more than 27 points in a game this year. Could this be the week?
“Situational football hasn’t been great for us and that is why we haven’t got to 30 [points],” Rodgers said. “Situational football is a lot about details, and that has kind of been our Achilles’ heel. I think a lot has been little minute details within the details within the plays.”
Mac attack: The Jaguars lost quarterback Trevor Lawrence for the season, which means the Jets will see Mac Jones this week.
The Jets are familiar with Jones from his time with the Patriots. In fact, Jones is 5-0 against the Jets in his career.
Jones helped the Jaguars to a 10-6 victory over the Titans last week, but he is 1-4 in his past five starts with no touchdowns and eight interceptions.
“Over my career so far, they’re the best defense I’ve gone against each year,” Jones said. “Obviously, they’re familiar with me and I have some former teammates over there and guys I’ve played against five, six times.
“Definitely looking forward to it. I know their record is the same, but really their defense is one of a kind.”
Feeling the pressure: The Jets had no sacks or quarterback hits on Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa last week despite him throwing 47 passes.
The Jets brushed that off this week, pointing to how quickly Tagovailoa got rid of the ball.
The question this week is whether they can affect the quarterback more than they did against the Dolphins.
Will McDonald has been the only consistent pass rusher for the Jets this season with 10 sacks. Quinnen Williams has six sacks and then it drops off from there.
The team has really missed Jermaine Johnson, who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2. Haason Reddick has had little impact since joining the team in October with just a half-sack.
Breece is back: The Jets expect to have running back Breece Hall back this week after he missed the Dolphins game because of a knee injury.
Hall has 692 rushing yards, so he has a shot at getting to 1,000 yards with a big finish to the season. Hall has 46 receptions, which is second on the team behind Garrett Wilson, so he will help the passing game, too.
The Jets could have a nice three-headed rushing attack with Hall, Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis, who has come on over the past two games.
