New England Patriots
The Jets will dial up plenty of blitzes on Sunday in hopes of speeding up Drake Maye or forcing him into poor decisions.
Drake Maye might face a potent pass rush on Sunday against the Jets. (AP Photo/Greg M. Cooper)
October 16, 2026 | 7:55 AM
4 minutes to read
Yes, it’s the Jets.
But a Patriots team seemingly hitting its stride after back-to-back wins against the Bills and Raiders shouldn’t view this rebuilding New York team as just another tomato can in the AFC East.
With an impressive crop of rookies, a strong free agent class, and a no-frills, mistake-free offense, the Jets could quickly turn Sunday’s matchup at Gillette Stadium into a potential trap game for Mike Vrabel’s crew.
The Patriots may not need A.J. Brown to land punches against New York.
But Drake Maye and the rest of New England’s offensive operation will need to be sharp in order to avoid turning the game into a rock fight.
Here are three keys for New England if it wants to push its win streak to three games:
Protect Drake Maye
The easiest way for New York to derail Sunday’s game in Foxborough? Make life miserable for Drake Maye.
Maye has seemingly quieted those early-season concerns about his play, accounting for eight total touchdowns in his last two games against Buffalo and Las Vegas.
But the Jets — led by rookie edge rusher David Bailey — could put Maye under duress early and often on Sunday, especially if New England trots out a shorthanded offensive line that could have rookie Caleb Lomu starting at left tackle.
The Jets doled out plenty of damage against the Browns in Week 5, sacking Cleveland QB Deshaun Watson eight times in a 17-12 win.
Bailey — the second-overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft — was the key driver behind New York’s stifling play last weekend, earning AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors after recording three sacks, three tackles for loss, and four QB hits in the win over Cleveland.
Bailey has opened his rookie campaign in the NFL with five sacks, seven QB hits, and one forced fumble over five games.
“Fast, explosive, instinctive,” Vrabel said of Bailey on Wednesday. “He can bend, got a really good get off and is able to win at the top and corner. He uses his get off, so just like every week, we’ll have to be very conscious of the front.”
Expect Aaron Glenn and the Jets’ coaches to dial up blitzes early and often against Maye in order to speed up the QB and either force him into ill-timed throws or outright implode drives with momentum-shifting sacks.
New York currently ranks second behind only the Vikings in blitz rate (52.4 percent) so far this season, while also ranking 10th overall in man coverage rate at 36.4 percent.
That seems like an effective scheme, especially given the personnel New York has to ramp pressure against opposing quarterbacks.
But Maye has more than held his own against the blitz in his young career, especially when it comes to picking up opposing defenses in man coverage.
It remains to be seen if A.J. Brown will play on Sunday. But New England has enough adept wideouts who can capitalize against man-on-man coverage like Efton Chism, Kyle Williams, and DeMario Douglas — with that trio more than capable of generating chunk yardage downfield, so long as Maye gets enough time to throw.
Even if Maye has held up against blitz-heavy teams in the past, New England’s offensive line will still have to hold off Bailey and the Jets long enough to give their QB the limited time he needs to exploit that man coverage.
Limit risk
It may be asking a lot for the Patriots to win the turnover battle outright on Sunday, given that Geno Smith has largely been risk-averse this season while running New York’s offense.
The 36-year-old veteran quarterback has been solid so far in 2026, completing 69.4 percent of his passes for 1,084 yards and six touchdowns. But most importantly, he’s yet to record a single interception this season.
The return of a healthy Christian Gonzalez might shift those odds of a turnover-free afternoon from Smith, but the Jets QB has had a pretty strong track record against New England over the last few seasons.
In Smith’s last two games against the Patriots in 2024 (with Seattle) and 2025 (with the Raiders), he completed 57-of-78 passes (73 percent completion percentage) with 689 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception en route to two wins.
“He’s playing like a top-10 quarterback right now, for sure,” Patriots defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr said of Smith Thursday.
With New England’s defense not exactly primed to pounce against a reckless QB on Sunday, Maye and the Patriots can’t gift the Jets a turnover or two.
It certainly helps that this isn’t the same elite Jets secondary of yesteryear — once anchored by the likes of Darrelle Revis.
In fact, the Jets went a whopping 21 games without an interception — yes, a stretch that included the entire 2025 season — before safety Minkah Fitzpatrick picked off Chicago’s Tyson Bagent in Week 4.
But New York can still wreak havoc with that pass rush, with the Jets tied for second in the NFL with five fumble recoveries this season.
Both Maye and running back Rhamondre Stevenson have had issues with ball security — with a costly fumble or two turning what should be a favorable matchup for New England into a high-pressure, scrappy bout.
Run the ball
Even if Maye can land some punches against New York’s man coverage, the Jets have been stingy against the pass — limiting teams to just 175 passing yards per game to open the season.
That’s the fourth-lowest mark in the NFL, trailing only the Seahawks, Rams, and Vikings.
The Patriots may not want Maye to air it out against the Jets, especially given their focus on both limiting turnovers and avoiding putting even more pressure on a banged-up offensive line to withstand blitz after blitz from Bailey and Co.
Maye has the means to land a few haymakers against man coverage, but expect a heavy dose of snaps for Rhamondre Stevenson to balance New England’s offensive approach and also limit third-and-long situations that could cause trouble for Maye once the Jets dial up the blitz.
As strong as the Jets defense is against the pass, they’ve shown a few cracks in the ground game — ranking 26th in rushing DVOA so far this season. A strong showing from Stevenson could create a positive ripple effect when it comes to making life a bit easier for the Patriots’ offensive line, especially in pass-blocking situations.
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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