The New England Patriots could feast on an inexperienced quarterback when facing the New York Jets on Sunday.
With Justin Fields sidelined, the Jets will give Brady Cook his third straight start. The undrafted rookie hasn’t exactly played like another notable quarterback named Brady, averaging 5.4 yards per attempt with one passing touchdown and six interceptions.
Cook will seek his first career win when the Jets host the Patriots in Week 17. The 24-year-old broke down his upcoming division opponent, per Jets.com’s Randy Lange.
“They’re physical, a sound defense, they know what they’re doing,” Cook said. “Their DBs are physical, their safeties are downhill players. Just a really sound defense. They play together.”
The Missouri product called on his offense to engineer a balanced attack at MetLife Stadium.
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“We’re going to need to be aggressive,” Cook added. “We’re going to need to run the ball and create explosives in the pass game. That’s what we’re going to have to do.”
New England enters the weekend seventh in yards and points allowed. Mike Vrabel’s unit has yielded 202.0 passing yards per game after ceding 352 combined passing yards in the last two contests against Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills and Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens.
Cook represents a far friendlier matchup. No team has mustered fewer passing yards per game (145.9) than the Jets, who settled for 105 behind Fields in a Week 11 loss at New England. Aaron Glenn enters the penultimate game as double-digit home underdogs, and the Patriots can clinch the AFC East with a win and a Buffalo Bills loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
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The Patriots and Jets kick off Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on Fox.
