The Bills won the first match-up between these two teams 16-13 in OT in New Jersey.  For the Jets to get a win to even the series then Mark Sanchez must protect the football as he threw 5 pickoffs in the first game against the Bills.  The Bills are allowing 165.1 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry so look for the Jets to come out running against them.  After all, they did rush for 318 yards in the first game against the Bills this year.  Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene should have good games tomorrow against the Bills running the ball.  With ballhawking safeties like the Bills have look for Mark Sanchez to be careful when throwing the ball to TE Dustin Keller.  The Bills will likely double cover Jerricho Cotchery and make Braylon Edwards beat them in the passing game.

The Bills will likely try to mix things up on offense this week.  The Jets have a really good secondary especially CB Darrelle Revis who will likely be following the suddenly hot Terrell Owens all over the field.  That means that Lee Evans has to step up this week or Ryan Fitzpatrick could have trouble throwing the football.  The X-factor in this game is RB Fred Jackson who had a solid game last week as the main man in the running game.  He will challenge the linebackers of the Jets both running and catching the ball out of the backfield.

PREDICTION:  JETS 16, BILLS 14

The Panthers have been up and down alternating wins and loss the last six weeks.  If that trend holds then they are due to win this week.  The Jets have been awful the last three weeks losing all three games by a combined score of 85-61.  The Panthers are going to come out running the ball so the Jets better tighten their chin straps.  DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart will be in a battle the whole game with the front seven of the Jets and ILBs David Harris and Bart Scott in particular.  The Jets are allowing 111.5 yards rushing per game (4.0 ypc) so far this season and the Panthers are averaging 159.1 yards rushing and 4.7 ypc this season so the Panthers should have some success on the ground on Sunday.  The Panthers probably will have QB Jake Delhomme in game manager mode on Sunday but they will likely still go up top a couple of times to Steve Smith who will probably be covered most of the game by Jets’ lock-down corner Darrelle Revis. 

QB Mark Sanchez has looked like a deer in headlights at times this season so the Jets will try to put him in conditions that he might succeed in this week.  That could mean a few more throws on first down than usual with Jerricho Cotchery being the most likely target.  Dustin Keller will be the guy that Sanchez looks for if he’s under duress from DE Julius Peppers and the rest of the Panthers’ D.  But the Jets have averaged 163.5 yards rushing per game (4.7 ypc) so they will take aim at a Panthers’ D that is allowing 130.7 yards rushing per game and 4.7 ypc.  That means that Thomas Jones will be the workhorse for the Jets on Sunday and that’s a good thing for the Jets’ O.

PREDICTION:  PANTHERS 17, JETS 13

The New York Jets (4-5) are heading to Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots (6-3).  It is a different Patriots team than the one they beat 16-9 in week two, as Tom Brady has gotten back into his groove and the Patriots have been putting up a lot more points lately.  The Jets are coming off a disappointing loss to the Jaguars and with the way they have been playing lately I don’t think they have a chance this week against the Patriots.  The Patriots have been averaging nearly 39 points per game in their last four and the Jets have not faced an offense like the Patriots since they lost to the Saints 24-10 in week 4.

Mark Sanchez and the Jets offense are going to need to put some points up if they want to keep up with Brady and the Pats.  Sanchez cannot throw the ball away like he did last week, when the Jags picked him twice.  If he turns the ball over against the Pats, they will definitely take advantage and the Jets will be stacking the odds against themselves.  I expect them to try and run the ball a ton against this Pats team that gives up 110 rushing yards per game.  If they can get a huge day on the ground and keep the time of possession in their favor, they will give themselves a real chance of winning.  Thomas Jones will need to have a big day.  I think the Patriots have too much for the Jets to handle though and I’m picking the Patriots in this one.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  New England Patriots 31, New York Jets 20

The Jaguars have been outscored 71-13 in their last two road games so Coach Del Rio hopefully did something different with the team this week to prepare for the game in New Jersey against the Jets.  The Jaguars will probably tighten up the chinstraps and come out trying to run the ball against the Jets who are allowing 108.1 yards rushing and 4.0 yards per carry this season.  LBs Bart Scott and David Harris will be tough for Drew to get yards on inside so look for the Jags to run a lot of sweeps on Sunday.  The Jaguars will probably try to throw the side opposite of Darrelle Revis which means that Torry Holt or rookie Mike Thomas could have a big game against the Jets with Mike Sims-Walker likely having a tough afternoon dealing with Revis.

The Jets will likely come out running the ball with Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene against a Jags’ D that is allowing 119.8 yards rushing per game and 4.3 yards per carry.  The Jets hope that they get their running game going which is averaging 177.6 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry so that they can protect Mark Sanchez.  Jerricho Cotchery, Braylon Edwards and Dustin Keller could make some big catches against a Jags’ D that is allowing 242.3 yards passing per game and QBs have a 100.2 rating against them.  Still, CB Rashean Mathis is a pickoff artist so Sanchez will have to be careful when throwing in his direction.

PREDICTION:  JETS 27, JAGUARS 10

This game pits the New York Jets (3-3) against the Oakland Raiders (2-4) who are trying to build a winning streak after beating the Eagles 13-9 at the Black Hole.  The Jets will no doubt come out running the football against a Raiders’ D that is allowing 145.3 yards rushing per game and 4.3 yards per carry.  Thomas Jones and Leon Washington will likely have field days against the Raiders.  But they did last week against the Bills and Mark Sanchez threw the game away throwing 5 pickoffs.  The Raiders do give up 220.2 yards passing per game so maybe Sanchez can turn things around this week. 

The Raiders will also come out running the ball with Justin Fargas likely being the workhorse.  The Jets are allowing 115.7 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per carry so Huggy Bear Jr. (Fargas) could have a good game on Sunday.  The Raiders had better be able to run the ball or JaMarcus Russell could be in deep trouble.  The Jets only have 5 sacks this season so Russell will likely have time to throw the ball.  It’s too bad that only TE Zach Miller can catch the football.

PREDICTION:  JETS 13, RAIDERS 10