What to watch for in today's AFC East matchup between the Jets and Patriots

Jets get serious: We're no longer pushovers

The Jets already have shown progress in Year 2 under Aaron Glenn. Real progress would be beating the AFC East rival Patriots on Sunday.

“This is our opportunity to establish ourselves in this division and kind of show everybody who we want to be,” guard Joe Tippmann told Newsday. “The plan is for people to fear the Jets when they got to play us. I think it’s huge for that.”

The Jets are 2-3, one game behind New England in the division. A win over the reigning AFC champs would allow the Jets to match their win total from all of last season,  but they would have to do something they didn’t do last year and something else they haven’t done often.

 The Jets were winless against AFC East opponents last season and were outscored by 45 points in their two losses to New England. They’ve won one of their last 17 games at New England. 

None of this history matters to Glenn. It’s a new year and a different team.

“We really don't focus on what happened in the past when it comes to us, we just focus on what's happening right now,” he said. “Division games are definitely crucial. Sometimes people say they count as two games. But the only thing that we're focused on is this is the one game that we have to play. This is the one game we want to win.”

RB = Running Braelon

It will be The Braelon Allen Show again.

Running back Breece Hall will miss his third straight game with a quadriceps injury. Allen rushed for a career-high 116 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown late against Cleveland.

“I’m excited for Braelon,” offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. “We think we have the best 1-2 combination in the NFL. I think Braelon is an outstanding player.”

The Jets will try to get the ground game going again, but the Patriots are good against the run. They’re holding teams to the sixth-fewest rushing yards (90.8) and haven’t allowed a 100-yard game to a back this season. The Jets look forward to the challenge of changing that.

“Just being able to run the ball and just establish that physicality early on in the game, as an O-line, that's something we want to do every game,” Tippmann said.

Tippmann is coming off a rough game in pass protection. He allowed two sacks last week and is ready for a redemption game

“That's just not up to my standard,” he said. “I have to keep learning, keep getting better and can't be making those same mistakes.”

Receiver Adonai Mitchell will miss his fourth straight game with a finger injury that required surgery, but the Jets are getting back rookie receiver Omar Cooper Jr. after a four-game stint on injured reserve.

Disrupting Drake may be key

The Jets matched a franchise record with eight sacks in last week's win over the Browns. Rookie David Bailey had his coming-out party, recording three sacks, and was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance.

Glenn is calling for blitzes at the second-highest rate in the NFL (behind the Vikings). The game plan won’t be the same for the Patriots as last week, but the goal will be trying to prevent dual-threat quarterback Drake Maye from getting in a rhythm.

“It's something that we have to watch out for,” Glenn said. “We have to go out there and compete our [butt] off, I know that.”

Maye is playing better after a rough start that included eight turnovers in the first three games. In his last two games, he has thrown for 643 yards, seven touchdowns and  one interception. Three of those TD passes were at least 23 yards.

“They love explosive passes,” cornerback Jarvis Brownlee said. “We got to keep a roof on top. More than anything, we got to collapse the pocket and make sure we give him looks or things that make him a little hesitant.”

Battle of two top defenses

This could be a low-scoring game between two top-five defenses.

The Jets rank fourth in total defense — one spot ahead of New England — and fifth in points allowed (19.2), just below the Pats (18.8).

They’re very different offensively, though.

The Jets are the NFL’s fifth-lowest-scoring team, averaging 18.6 points. They totaled 29 points in their last two games. In that same time, the Patriots racked up a league-high 941 yards and scored 74 points.

“We're going to need our best,” Reich said. “It's a great challenge for us and looking forward to having our best offensive production and game of the year.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.