The New York Jets (1-0) are back at home in Week 2 as they face the Green Bay Packers (0-1) at MetLife Stadium.
The Jets were dominant on both sides of the football in their Week 1 victory over the Tennessee Titans. The Packers suffered a tough 39-22 loss to the Minnesota Vikings and are on the road for the second consecutive week.
Both teams enter this game banged up as the Jets will be without safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, OLB Joseph Ossai and WR Omar Cooper Jr. The good news for the Jets is rookie D'Angelo Ponds will make his season debut after missing all of training camp and the preseason with a calf injury.
As for the Packers, DT Javon Hargrave was downgraded to doubtful for Sunday with a concussion and DE Lukas Van Ness is still in the concussion protocol
and his status is uncertain.
Here are Jets Wire's three keys to victory for the Jets against the Packers on Sunday:
Pressure Jordan Love
The Jets defense sacked Titans quarterback Cam Ward three times in last week’s victory, including one from David Bailey and one from Will McDonald. They now face a Packers offensive line that allowed four sacks to the Vikings in their 39-22 loss in Week 1.
Love’s stats may look fine on paper, but both of his touchdowns were in the first half as the Packers could only muster a field goal as their lone points for the remainder of the game. He had some brutal throws in the second half and ultimately only completed 50% of his passes against the Vikings. The Packers are dealing with some injuries on the offensive line as RT Zach Bako-Bewele and LG Aaron Banks are questionable for this game and could be game time decisions.
Expect Aaron Glenn to dial up some heavy blitzes in this game and don't be surprised if you see DT Jowon Briggs get more of a workload on third downs as he's a more effective pass rusher than a run stopper on the defensive line.
Spread The Wealth On Offense
Frank Reich called an excellent game in his debut as Jets offensive coordinator, mixing in some interesting looks to go along with a nice blend of pass plays and utilizing the run. It kept the Titans off guard all afternoon and their head coach, Robert Saleh, had no answers from his band of former Jets players now in Tennessee.
The Jets did an excellent job of getting everyone involved in the offense. Geno Smith completed passes to eight different receivers against Tennessee and Breece Hall had his first 100 yard game on the ground this year. Reich even showed off a formation that only featured tight ends and fullback Andrew Beck lined up outside. The Jets offense works better when the ball is spread around to all of their playmakers and it was refreshing to see some creativity in the offensive game plan. Let's hope Reich has more tricks up his sleeve for Sunday against a good, but not great, Packers defense.
Jets Nation
The optimism is through the roof after the Jets humiliated Robert Saleh in his debut as Titans head coach. It was the first time in a long time that the Jets had a bit of a laugher against another team, even if the score may tell a slightly different story.
The Jets return to MetLife Stadium for their home opener on Sunday. Fans will be pumped up for this game and expect MetLife Stadium to be loud as the Jets look to go 2-0 for the first time since the 2015 season. While last week's win was impressive, it's important the team doesn't get complacent on Sunday. Rest assured, there will be plenty of Packers fans in attendance for this game. Jets nation need to be loud from start to finish and try and make it uncomfortable as possible for the Packers. We’ll know more about this team after Sunday’s game. But, the fans need to show up and show out from start to finish as they could be the X-Factor for the Jets to get their second win in a row.
This article originally appeared on Jets Wire: 3 keys to a Jets win vs. the Packers in Week 2
