5 NFL teams on upset alert in Week 7
1. New England Patriots
After six weeks of the 2015 NFL season, the New England Patriots are undefeated and, to many, have looked like the best professional football team to this point. The aggressiveness and performance of the team, their offense in particularly, over their undefeated start makes that hard to debate at this point. However, they are going to be in for a battle against the New York Jets on Sunday afternoon.
Despite what the line that has the Patriots as 10-point favorites in this matchup may indicate, the Jets have sneakily been another one of the best teams in the NFL coming into Week 7. Ryan Fitzpatrick has been arguably the best and most consistent that we’ve ever seen him, Chris Ivory has quietly been a monster on the ground, Brandon Marshall is still incredible, and the Jets defense is arguably the best unit on that side of the ball in the NFL.
How the Jets defense holds up against the Patriots offense is clearly the major storyline coming into this game. It’s strength vs. strength, which always makes for an intriguing football game. In all honesty, I truly believe that New England will have a harder time moving the ball down the field against this Jets’ defense than people think. That’s not about the quality of the Patriots offense as much as it is a testament to the New York defense.
Moreover, one of the dirty secrets about the Patriots to this point in the season is that their defense has been average all year against both the run and the pass. Not that the Jets have a high-powered offense, but if they can play mistake-free football and control the game on the ground, that could give them a tremendous advantage in this huge matchup.
This may seem like a big brother vs. little brother type of matchup given these two teams’ history in the AFC East, but I think the Jets deserve more respect than that coming into Week 7. They have a legitimate shot at shocking the Pats and handing them their first loss of 2015.