There won’t be much more than draft positioning on the line in this coming Sunday’s game between the New York Jets and New England Patriots. Both teams have long been eliminated from contention, and New England is one of the worst teams in the NFL this season. But Bill Belichick’s team has been completely dominant over their division rival for close to a decade, and they’ll be looking to ride that wave to close out the season.
NFL: Jets Haven’t Beaten Patriots In 2,930 Days
Jets aiming to end 15-game skid against the Patriots to close 2023 campaignhttps://t.co/tmH6JtQWsQ pic.twitter.com/yNYf9Ctzkm
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) January 2, 2024
The Jets haven’t defeated the Patriots since December 27th, 2015, a span of 2,930 days. They are 0-15 in that time frame, one of the more commanding runs that we’ve seen from one NFL team over another in recent memory. The last time the Jets won the matchup, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for nearly 300 yards and 3 touchdowns, including the game-winning toss to Eric Decker in overtime.
In fact, the last two wins for New York in their rivalry with the Patriots have been overtime victories. Their last regulation win over New England was in the 2010 AFC Divisional game, and the last regular season, regulation win was over 13 years ago.
Will the streak continue this Sunday? The two sides played early in this season, and the Week 3 win for New England was their only victory in their first 6 games. Neither team has shown much fight down the stretch in order to say either has any momentum, but the Jets are currently the listed favorites, heading into the latter part of the week with a 2.5 point edge.
Draft Positioning On The Line On Sunday
As speculation over the future of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick swirls, Belichick explained Tuesday why he doesn’t get caught up in the uncertainty, via @MikeReiss:https://t.co/efl4DTVp3f
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 2, 2024
And just how interested will the Patriots be in winning on Sunday? There are massive NFL Draft positioning implications for New England, considering that they are currently in position to have a top-3 pick for a class that is top-heavy in quarterback talent. A win would boost them up into the 4-8 range, depending on how the rest of the weekend shakes out, and likely out of the running for one of the top prospects.
But Belichick might not even be around to be the coach of whoever the Patriots decide to select in April. There have been plenty of rumors that owner Robert Kraft is ready to move on, and Sunday could be the last time that Belichick graces the side lines in New England.
And he’ll probably be looking to go out with a bang against the team he loved to beat the most in his career.
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