If there’s one player who has a great feel for the pulse of the Jets-Patriots rivalry it’s ESPN studio analyst Tedy Bruschi, who played linebacker in New England for 14 years.
Here are his keys to a Jets victory in the Monday night showdown in Foxborough, Mass.:
*Third-down conversions: New England ranks last in the NFL, allowing opposing teams to convert 50.7 percent of their third downs.
“The Jets are not a team that scores quickly or in bunches. They like to establish the run, so those third-and-5 or more conversions are going to be huge,” Bruschi said. “The Patriots have shown defensively that they give up a lot of yards and they’ve failed miserably on third-down conversions.”
*Ball security: “[Mark] Sanchez has to continue taking care of the ball,” Bruschi said. “He threw four interceptions [last year in New England]. He has to turn at least a couple of those interceptions into completions. He’s done a better job of taking care of the ball [eight INTs], but I think he’s still a ball security threat with the way he holds that ball like a loaf of bread.”
*Beware of Patriots’ no-huddle offense: “Looking at the Patriots in past weeks, when they encounter teams with multiple schemes and multiple pressures, they counteract that with hurry-up offense,” Bruschi said. “They did it in Cleveland. The Jets need to be ready for an up-tempo game. Tom Brady gets lot of answers from pre-snap reads when he’s in the hurry-up.”
*Turnovers: “I think the Patriots have to be plus-two in turnovers to win the game,” Bruschi said. “With all the yardage the Patriots give up and statistically being one of the worst defenses in the history of the organization, they’ve stopped the bleeding by forcing turnovers.”
*Slant routes: “What the Patriots’ defense is going to want to take away is one of the Jets’ biggest weapons — those quick slant passes to Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards,” Bruschi said. “The Patriots will stress to their cornerbacks to play with leverage in the middle and they’ll try to force Sanchez to throw outside the numbers.
“I feel Santonio Holmes is one of the most dangerous open-field runners in the NFL with his yards after the catch. He’s tough to tackle if you let him get inside leverage. That’s a situation [the Patriots] don’t want to be in.”