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Feat. Gang Green Nation’s MacGregor Wells.
The Steelers and New York Jets clash in Pittsburgh for Week 7’s Sunday Night Football matchup. To preview the game, I chatted with MacGregor Wells of Gang Green Nation to get the latest on Pittsburgh’s upcoming opponent.
You can read my questions and his answers below:
1. The Jets have a new (interim) head coach in Jeff Ulbrich and a new offensive play-caller in Todd Downing. How have they coached thus far, and have they made good changes?
I’m not sure we can say after one game how these two have changed the Jets. Ulbrich was the defensive coordinator before he was promoted to interim head coach. He’s still calling the defensive plays today, so there really hasn’t been much change there. Downing took over play calling duties from Nathaniel Hackett.
The running game was considerably improved in Downing’s first game calling plays, but that may have been largely because the Jets faced one of the NFL’s worst run defenses in the Buffalo Bills. Downing did use more motion and seemed to have a better feel for the game, but the jury’s still very much out as to what he ultimately brings to the Jets as a play caller.
2. Davante Adams is now a New York Jet. How much will he affect Sunday night’s game against the Steelers?
Ordinarily a new guy brought in with just a few practices before he sees the field would likely have limited impact as he learns the playbook and tries to develop chemistry with the quarterback. But Adams was Aaron Rodgers’ favorite target for years with the Green Bay Packers, so the chemistry is baked in, and the Jets’ playbook is really Rodgers’ playbook for the most part, so getting up to speed shouldn’t be much of a problem for Adams. I expect Adams to be heavily involved in the Jets’ game plan on Sunday, possibly leading the Jets in targets.
3. The Jets have a lot of weapons on offense. What’s the key to slowing them down?
Heh. The Jets have a lot of weapons on paper. Thus far opponents haven’t really had a lot of trouble slowing them down. Aaron Rodgers has looked very much like a quarterback in decline, with just one game in six where he looked like the MVP version of Rodgers from a few years ago. For the most part he has been an average-ish at best NFL starting quarterback, a far cry from what the Jets hoped they were getting.
Garrett Wilson has had trouble getting on the same page as Rodgers. Breece Hall has looked sluggish and lacking his usual burst. The Jets just haven’t looked anywhere close to what was expected going into the season on offense.
The key to slowing the Jets down has been blitzing the quarterback, which the Jets offensive line has had no answers for, and shutting down Hall, which hasn’t been difficult all season. We’ll see if Davante Adams changes things enough to where the Jets offense actually matches the hype.
4. New York once again has one of the best defenses in the NFL. How do they match up against the Steelers?
The Jets defense has been good so far, but they enter this game pretty banged up. The key to the Jets’ success on defense the last few years has been a great secondary and a good pass rush. But the Jets defensive line was partially dismantled in the offseason: edge rusher Haason Reddick is still holding out, and edge rusher Jermaine Johnson is out for the season with an injury. Now just one player, Will McDonald, is having any success rushing the passer.
In addition, three of the five starting members of the Jets’ secondary will miss this game: safety Chuck Clark and cornerbacks D.J. Reed and Michael Carter. That is going to transform the Jets secondary from one of the best in the NFL to a pretty uninspiring group outside of Sauce Gardner. There will be open receivers to be found against the Jets on Sunday. In addition, the Jets run defense has been exposed in multiple games this season. The Jets lack bulk on defense, and they can be exploited by a strong running game between the tackles.
5. The Steelers started out the week as 1.5-point favorites, but now the line has moved to Jets -1.5, per FanDuel Sportsbook . What’s your score prediction and how do you see the game playing out?
I think the Steelers will win this game. The Jets have had all kinds of problems in Pittsburgh over the years. The Steelers defense is no joke, and I expect the Jets to have trouble moving the ball on offense. Aaron Rodgers will probably come under heavy pressure as the Steelers exploit the Jets’ mediocre starting tackles.
Meanwhile, I expect a very run heavy Steelers approach on offense. It’s possible the Jets’ suspect run defense holds up fairly well here, largely because the Steelers offensive line is so beat up. If the Steelers get the run game going this could be a very long day for the Jets. As for score predictions, I’m pretty terrible at this, but I’ll say Steelers 16, Jets 13.