1. Oakland looking for a bounce back
This won’t be the Raiders team that had a fourth quarter meltdown to the Bills in Week 2 in what was a disheartening 38-35 loss.
There is some fight in this team — a spirit that has been instilled by first-year head coach Hue Jackson. The Raiders will hope to come out strong, as they did in Buffalo last week, and see if they can put together a complete four quarters against one of the AFC’s best teams.
“We have a long season ahead of us. We’re not worried about keeping our spirits up,” Jackson said. “Our spirits are fine. We just need to go finish a game and win a game.”
2. Put the focus on stopping the run
While a lot of the emphasis this week has been on the Jets’ anemic rushing offense, the attention should be on Oakland, who boasts a dangerous ground game of their own.
The one-two punch of Darren McFadden and Michael Bush has combined for 275 yards and two touchdowns. They use their running backs to open things up for quarterback Jason Campbell.
If the Jets can stop the run, they can take the Raiders out of their offensive rhythm.
3. A little more of the Plax please
After playing an important role in the Jets’ Week 1 comeback win over Dallas, wide receiver Plaxico Burress was shut out of last weekend’s game.
In fact, Burress was only targeted once by quarterback Mark Sanchez in the blowout win.
The Jets have a third-down conversion rate of just 34.6 percent in large part due to their inability to find Burress — a trend which must change soon.
