Costello’s Call

In the words of the great Clubber Lang, “Prediction? Pain.” This one is going to get rough.

Patriots 41, Jets 13

Marquee Matchup

Jets RB Le’Veon Bell vs. Patriots coach Bill Belichick

With Luke Falk making his first start, the Jets are clearly going to have to rely on Bell to gain yards both on the ground and in the short passing game. If we know that, so does Belichick, so this should be an interesting matchup.

“Bell’s clearly one of the top backs in the league,” Belichick said. “Outstanding with the ball in his hands, great receiver, just a really hard matchup player and does an excellent job of breaking tackles. He’s a hard guy to get on the ground — whether he spins, jumps over guys, makes them miss in the open field, puts his shoulder down and runs through them.”

Bell did not get much help from his offensive line last week against the Browns. He had 61 rushing yards and 68 receiving yards, and it felt like he barely had any blocking in front of him. Bell was beating himself up over a late fumble and his failure to convert a fourth down, but he is the only hope the Jets have offensively right now.

Falk This Way: Luke Falk has gone from being a practice squad quarterback to the starter in less than a week. The second-year player from Washington State was thrust into action in the second quarter last week when Trevor Siemian went down. Falk played decently in the second half of the game, completed 20 of 25 passes for 198 yards in the game.

Players said he does not seem overwhelmed and looked good in practice.

“Trust me, If you were around him, you’ would not worry about it,” coach Adam Gase said. “He is like that [makes a straight line with his hand]. That’s just the way he is. He’s just built that way.”

Falk may be new to the big stage in the NFL, but he was a three-year starter at Washington State and holds the Pac-12 record for the most passing yards and passing touchdowns. It is a leap from facing Arizona State to the Patriots, but Falk does not seem fazed.

Rusty Rivarly: It is hard to call Jets-Patriots a rivalry anymore. The Jets have lost six straight to them and 9 of the past 10 games. Gang Green has not won in Gillette Stadium since the 2010 playoff “Can’t wait” game.

The Jets are not alone in their struggles in Foxborough. The Patriots are riding a 14-game home winning streak entering this game. They have not lost at home since Oct. 1, 2017, to the Panthers. Since 2016, they have lost just four games at home.

The Jets have lost by 35, 20 and 38 points in their last three trips there.



Dealing with No. 12: The Jets face the ageless Tom Brady yet again this week. Brady is 27-6 all-time in the regular season against the Jets. The only team he has beaten more are the Bills (30). Brady has not cracked 300 yards against the Jets since 2015 but he has not had to.

The Patriots’ offense lost one piece when Antonio Brown was released on Friday, but Brady still has plenty of weapons to throw to. The Patriots are hurting on the offensive line with two starters out and third questionable for this game, giving the Jets some hope of a pass rush.The Jets’ offense has struggled in the first two weeks to be on the same page. That has led to some ugly breakdowns in pass protection and other areas. They spent this week trying to clean it up.

“It’s not a talent problem,” center Ryan Kalil said. “It’s not a scheme problem. The coaches have put us in a great position to win. You watch the film and we’re one block away, one better fit away from being more explosive. You have a back like Le’Veon [Bell], you’ve got to do a better job of how we’re doing things. That’s on the players, especially on the offensive line. Those are things we worked on all week.”