6 Patriots to watch against the Jets on Thursday Night Football

The New England Patriots will welcome the New York Jets to Gillette Stadium on Thursday Night Football, trying to improve to 9-2 on the year and put some pressure on their fellow AFC playoff contenders.

In order to do so, however, they cannot allow a slip-up even against an opponent that has won just two of its first nine games so far this season. The entire team from the starters to the depth and special teams options will be tasked with bringing their A-game, but our eyes will be on a handful of players in particular: considering the circumstances and opponent, here are our six pivotal Patriots for Week 11.

RB TreVeyon Henderson

New England’s running game has shown some improvement lately, but it will be short-handed on Thursday. Despite making an appearance at practice on Tuesday, Rhamondre Stevenson will miss a third straight game with a toe ailment. Meanwhile, Terrell Jennings will be out as well after suffering a knee injury during last week’s win in Tampa.

As a result, TreVeyon Henderson will again be called upon to serve as a workhorse against the Jets. The second-round draft pick already played 102 combined offensive snaps over the last two weeks, a playing time share of 79.1%, and he is expected to add a significant number to that total this week as well. The alternative, after all, is relatively bleak: the belief is that D’Ernest Johnson will be brought up from the practice squad for a second straight week to provide depth behind Henderson, but he is little more than an emergency option.

The Patriots will again rely heavily on their rookie runner, even on only three days of rest.

WR Mack Hollins

While rookie Kyle Williams played a career-high 34 offensive snaps against the Buccaneers and finished with a 72-yard touchdown catch, he was not the only player whose role changed with nominal No. 1 wide receiver Kayshon Boutte out with a hamstring injury. Mack Hollins’ playing time share rose to a season-best 78.7% and he was heavily featured in the Patriots’ aerial attack.

Whether or not he will match the 10 targets, six catches and 106 receiving yards he had in Tampa will be seen. With Boutte out a second straight week, however, Hollins should be expected to be an active participant yet again as well as a preferred downfield target for quarterback Drake Maye versus a secondary that is no longer employing All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner.

TE Hunter Henry

Despite regularly being atop the list of most-used skill position players in the Patriots offense, Hunter Henry has been relatively quiet as a receiving option lately. Over the last three games combined, he caught just six passes for 67 yards and a touchdown — not necessarily bad output, but also not reflective of the go-to status that he seemingly held earlier in the season.

That might very well change against the Jets, for two reasons. The first is fellow tight end Austin Hooper being ruled out for the game because of a concussion. While the Patriots have other options available — fullback/tight end hybrid Jack Westover on the 53-man roster and rookie C.J. Dippre on the practice squad — Henry will likely hoard snaps at the position and might see an uptick in targets with Hooper out.

The second is the Jets not necessarily being a top-tier defense against tight ends so far this season, which would further increase the chance of Henry becoming more prominently featured in the passing game again.

OT Will Campbell

Having to deal with a quick turnaround for the first time in his career, the Patriots’ rookie left tackle will be in for a challenge on Thursday night. Not only will have to go wire-to-wire again after already playing a full 61 snaps versus the Buccaneers on Sunday, he also will face the Jets’ best remaining pass rusher, Will McDonald on a regular basis.

Fresh off a four-sack performance to improve his season total to seven, McDonald is a speedy edge capable of winning around the corner and by executing line games up front. Campbell will need to be at his best to limit his impact and simultaneously showcase good chemistry with fellow rookie Jared Wilson, the Patriots’ starting left guard.

DT/FB Khyiris Tonga

The aforementioned Austin Hooper has spent more than half of his 356 offensive snaps so far this season getting his hands dirty in the run game. With him out, the Patriots will need to find other sources of blocking.

Hunter Henry will be one, as will be potential practice squad elevation C.J. Dippre and fullback/tight end Jack Westover. However, the team also might turn back to the second-heaviest player on their roster: 335-pound defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga, who has seen part-time action as a rotational fullback in each of the last two games.

Tonga’s offensive snaps will not be his only valuable contribution to the Patriots’ operation on Thursday, though. Going up against an offense whose most dangerous weapon is a running back — Breece Hall — the belief is that he will also see a high number of snaps in a defensive tackle rotation also including Christian Barmore, Milton Williams and Cory Durden.

The Patriots cannot allow Hall to put his stamp on the game, and shoring up the defensive line is one way to ensure this does not happen.

LB Jack Gibbens

The Jets’ passing game has been largely underwhelming this season, and now it will also be without its top receiver: a knee injury will keep Garrett Wilson out of the prime time matchup in Foxborough. Outside of him, the team’s arsenal at the receiver position is, frankly, not all that frightening.

This means that the team of head coach Aaron Glenn might look for other ways to move the football through the air, and it might find them in its running back and tight end groups. Entering Week 11, TE Mason Taylor and RB Breece Hall are already ranked second and third, respectively, in targets, receptions and receiving yards, and it seems likely that they will be even bigger parts of the game plan with Wilson unavailable.

That, in turn, will put pressure on the Patriots’ second-level personnel headed by Robert Spillane. However, we are interested in another linebacker for this week: Jack Gibbens. The offseason pickup played a season-high 41 defensive snaps last week versus the Buccaneers, in part because of fellow LB Christian Elliss being out with a hip injury. Elliss will miss Thursday’s game as well, which means that Gibbens should be expected to see a considerable workload once more.

If so, he will be tasked with filling gaps in the run game — especially if the Jets want to move away from Spillane — and helping in coverage against both Taylor and Hall. He better be up for the challenge.

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