Did anyone think the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars would have a combined three wins among them heading into their Week 4 matchup?
I didn’t either.
Yet, here we are as both teams are coming off of unlikely wins.
The Jets took care of the Miami Dolphins 20-6 in Week 3 while the Jaguars destroyed the Baltimore Ravens 44-7 in London.
Here are three things to watch come Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium:
The efficient Josh McCown
While the Jets are basically playing to draft either Josh Rosen or Sam Darnold next year, their current quarterback has been a pleasant surprise.
Through three games he’s 60-for-86 with 602 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
All three of those touchdowns have come in his last two games, as he completed 34-of-57 passes for 415 yards in the process.
He meets a big challenge in the Jaguars pass defense, which has allowed the least amount of yards this year.
LSU clash awaits
A pair of LSU teammates and 2017 first-round picks will probably see a lot of each other on Sunday.
Jets safety Jamal Adams and Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette were teammates at the Louisiana institution from 2014-2016.
They won a pair of bowl games together during their time together but were never able to mount a serious run at the College Football Playoff.
Fournette was taken fourth overall by Jacksonville before Adams was nabbed at No. 6 by Gang Green.
“It’s friendly competition,” Adams said, via ESPN. “When we’re on the field, we go at it. It’s been like that since our LSU days. We feed off each other, so it’s going to be a great matchup.”
Here comes the boom
Don’t look now, but the Jaguars have one of the more imposing defenses in the NFL.
For an organization that has represented ineptitude for the last decade, things look to be trending up for Jacksonville.
And it all starts with the defense.
The Jaguars rank fourth in the NFL in total defense, yielding just 779 yards in three games.
Their 373 passing yards allowed is least in the league and their 51 points given up is sixth-best.
A loaded secondary with A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey headlines a unit that has four interceptions already.
They rank first with 13 sacks while veteran defensive tackle Calais Campbell, who came over from the Arizona Cardinals during the offseason, is third in the league with 4.5 of his own.
Needless to say, McCown and his offense have a lot on their plate considering they haven’t scored over 20 points in a single game this year.
