Patriots-Jets Week 16 Predictions
BOSTON (CBS) -- There is plenty on the line Sunday afternoon when the Patriots take on the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
Here are a few predictions for Sunday's tilt from the WBZ-TV, 98.5 The Sports Hub and WBZ NewsRadio 1030 sports teams:
Steve Burton, WBZ-TV Sports
Sunday will not be easy for the Patriots. It's late in the season and even though they are 12-2 they are a team that desperately needs to get healthy.
With Dion Lewis and LeGarrette Blount done for the year, the Pats have signed 32-year-old Steven Jackson to bolster their running game. We'll see if he's ready to go Sunday against the Jets.
New York is a team that is heating up, winners of their last four games. That win streak should come to an end on Sunday, but it will be tight.
Patriots 28, Jets 24
Dan Roche, WBZ-TV Sports
The Patriots need only one win in the next two weeks in order to clinch the top seed. Health is important too - so if I'm Bill Belichick I would "ground and pound" in this one. Give the ball to Joey Iosefa, newcomer Steve Jackson (if ready), Brandon Bolden and James White and let them run (and catch a few passes out of the backfield) while the receiver corps heals. And yes, I know the Jets are great against the run. But, for me, it's run first and play off of that.
Patriots 20, Jets 17
Levan Reid, WBZ-TV Sports
Okay... Let's stay in the Christmas spirit even as I say this.
I think the Pats are going to lose on Sunday. Not sure if they are going to have Danny Amendola and that means the Pats are going to be shorthanded against a very good Jets team.
Also, and this is big, the Jets need this game. Todd Bowles has done an excellent job with this team and New York finds themselves having to win to stay in the postseason race. I just feel it's too close to call, so I'm going with the home team. The Jets are also less injured than the Patriots.
Jets 24, Patriots 20
Mike "Sarge" Riley, 98.5 The Sports Hub/WBZ NewsRadio 1030
Hopefully this will be the last real "test" for the Patriots before the postseason. If they take care of business this week they wrap up the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
It won't be pretty, and it definitely won't be easy. Stephen Gostowski hit a game-winning field goal at MetLife Stadium earlier this year against the Giants, and he'll do it again on Sunday in the final moments against the Jets.
Patriots 24, Jets 21
Rob "Hardy" Poole, 98.5 The Sports Hub
I think it's obvious that the Patriots are going to win this week, 4-0. What a lot of people don't know is how it will happen.
The Patriots will lose the coin toss, and the Jets will defer. They'll get the old "possession at the end of the first half and beginning of the first half."
But in the ultimate double backfire, the Jets will be tackled in their own end zone on both of those possessions, giving the Patriots safeties each time. Hence the final score.
Tune in to Patriots-Jets Sunday afternoon on 98.5 The Sports Hub and WBZ-TV -- the flagship stations of the New England Patriots. Pregame coverage on 98.5FM begins at 10am, with coverage on WBZ kicking off at 11:30am with Patriots GameDay. After the game stay tuned to three hours of postgame coverage on the Hub, and to Patriots 5th Quarter on WBZ!
