An inside look at Sunday’s Jets-Falcons NFL Week 13 matchup at MetLife Stadium:
Marquee matchup
Falcons RB Bijan Robinson vs. the Jets defense
It is no secret who the Falcons offense is going to run through.
Robinson is one of the most explosive backs in the NFL. He has 853 rushing yards and 543 receiving yards this season, as well as six total touchdowns.
The Jets defense knows he is capable of breaking a long one at any point if they do not tackle well.
“He can break for 90 [yards],” cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. said. “That’s the type of speed he’s got. That’s the kind of juice he runs with. We’ve got to be gap sound and make sure we’re more aggressive than they are. Their O-line is pretty good when it comes to blocking for the run and blocking that wide zone scheme. We’ve got to have more than one hat to the ball. He’s a shifty guy. He can get from sideline to sideline in no time. We’ve got to be really good at rallying up on him.”
The Jets defense has shown vast improvement against the run recently.
They allowed 98 yards rushing against the Ravens last week and 65 against the Patriots.
“I know it’s a cliché, but everybody understanding, if I just do my job and have trust with the man beside me as far as gap integrity, and that’s what you’ve been seeing,” defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said. “Guys not trying to make plays that aren’t theirs, and when we press and try to do something that’s not there, we start getting out of our gap, and that’s when you see the explosive plays.”
Four downs
Captain Kirk: Both teams are on their second quarterback of the season. While the Jets turned to Tyrod Taylor by choice, the Falcons have had to start Kirk Cousins after starter Michael Penix Jr. tore his ACL and was lost for the season.
This will be Cousins’ second consecutive start and third of the season.
Jets coach Aaron Glenn faced Cousins several times when he was an assistant in Detroit and Cousins was in Minnesota.
“I’ve played against him a number of years, so to me, when you look at his play-action game, which he’s been phenomenal at, he does look like himself,” Glenn said. “Man, we saw the bomb that he threw to [Darnell] Mooney, which was a damn good play for those guys. It’s just, man, he’s smart, he understands defense in totality, and he’s going to be able to guide those young guys into what we’re trying to do and to try to figure out how can they beat the coverages that we’re in.”
Breece bounceback: Breece Hall had 119 yards from scrimmage last week, the third time in the Jets’ last four games he had more than 100 yards.
But he had a critical fumble near the goal line in the loss to the Ravens that overshadowed many of the good things he did.
Glenn and offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand both tried to lift Hall up after the mistake.
“I saw him after the game and I just went over to him and I said, ‘Hey look man, things happen, but you’re the reason we got down there. You got us down there, and just stuff happens at times,’ ” Engstrand said. “He knows he’s got to protect the football, and we preach it and we talk about it all day, but that’s really what I talked to him about.”
Sad sacks: While the most jarring statistic about the Jets defense has been its zero interceptions this season, an NFL record for futility through 11 games, the Jets also are lacking in the sack department.
The Jets only have 19 sacks this season. Only three teams in the NFL have fewer.
At their current pace, the Jets would finish with 29 sacks, which would be their lowest number since the 2017 season. Will McDonald IV has seven sacks, but no one else has more than three.
Cousins is a stationary quarterback and could be easier to sack than Lamar Jackson or Drake Maye were the last two weeks.
Ulbrich’s return: The Jets will see a familiar face on the Atlanta sideline.
Jeff Ulbrich, who spent the past four seasons with the Jets, is now the Falcons defensive coordinator.
Ulbrich was the Jets defensive coordinator under former coach Robert Saleh and then became the interim head coach in 2024 after Saleh was fired.
Ulbrich’s time as head coach did not go well. He went 3-9 on the job as the Jets’ season spiraled downward.
The Falcons are 16th in yards allowed and 14th in points allowed in the NFL under Ulbrich this season.
Costello’s call
The Jets have been playing well lately but they have faced teams that were simply better than them.
The Falcons are in their weight class and the Jets will win this one. I expect a physical game dominated by defense.
The Jets pull away in the fourth quarter.
Jets 20 Falcons 10
