Plenty of flashy headlines surround today’s New York Jets-New England Patriots matchup.
A.J. Brown and Christian Gonzalez are back for New England, while Omar Cooper Jr. returns for the Jets. Drake Maye is on fire, while Aaron Glenn is looking to lead the Jets to not just the biggest win of his career, but the franchise’s biggest win in years, and New York’s first meaningful win in New England in over 15 years.
One of the most underrated storylines, though, involves Jets linebacker Jamien Sherwood.
Why Sherwood will be critical this afternoon
Few Jets fans noticed it, but Sherwood, one of the Jets’ most maligned defenders, quietly had a game-saving two-play sequence in last week’s 17-12 win over the Cleveland Browns.
The Jets had just turned the ball over in their own territory and were trailing 12-10 with under five minutes remaining in regulation. They needed a quick stop from the defense to salvage their chances of victory.
Sherwood single-handedly delivered it with two straight stops as a blitzer. On a second-and-10 play, Sherwood defeated the running back’s block to hit Deshaun Watson and force his pass into the dirt. One play later, Sherwood leaped to bat down Watson’s pass at the line of scrimmage.
Cleveland was forced to punt, and after the Browns botched the punt snap, the Jets scored a touchdown to take the lead.
It was all set up by Sherwood, yet the oft-criticized starter received little fanfare for his heroics. He deserves credit where it’s due.
Sherwood has been the subject of much flak since the start of the 2025 season, and it has often been justified.
After a breakout 2024 season, Sherwood earned a three-year, $45 million contract extension as the first major investment of the Jets’ new regime, but he proceeded to have a significantly worse campaign, which included a benching at one point.
So far in 2026, Sherwood has dealt with familiar issues, particularly in coverage. It’s been frustrating for fans to watch, especially since Sherwood has handed over green-dot responsibilities to Demario Davis, which should be allowing him to play more freely now that there is much less of a leadership role on his plate.
However, amidst Sherwood’s struggles, he has quietly made a tremendous impact as a blitzer in Aaron Glenn’s blitz-heavy defense.
Glenn has sent Sherwood after the quarterback on 40 snaps, a whopping 8.0 times per game, which is lofty for an off-ball linebacker. He has been extremely effective on those snaps, recording nine total pressures and a batted pass. That means Sherwood has affected the quarterback on 10 of his 40 pass-rush snaps, a fantastic 25.0% rate. The league average for off-ball linebackers is 18.4%.
Sherwood’s combined total of 10 pressures and batted passes ranks third-best among off-ball linebackers, trailing only Eric Wilson and Blake Cashman of the Minnesota Vikings, who blitz far more often than any other NFL team.
So, while Sherwood has struggled in certain areas this season, his impact as a blitzer should not be overlooked. Glenn knows that Sherwood, who weighs only 216 pounds, is one of the more athletic linebackers in the game, so the second-year coach has weaponized that athletic advantage by frequently sending Sherwood after the quarterback.
Sherwood had shown potential as a blitzer in the past, posting a 23.7% pressure/batted-pass rate prior to 2026, but he was never utilized heavily in that area. This year’s usage has been a stark change, as Sherwood’s average of 8.0 pass-rush snaps per game is more than double his 2025 career-high of 3.8. Glenn deserves kudos for that change. He recognized a strength in Sherwood’s game and is emphasizing it.
So, why will this be so important in today’s game against New England?
Well, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has been among the most heavily affected quarterbacks by pressure this season.
In Pro Football Focus’ grading system, Maye has recorded a 90.4 overall grade when kept clean, compared to a 45.6 overall grade when pressured. The 44.8-point drop-off is the sixth-largest among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks.
There are multiple reasons behind the grade disparity. Firstly, Maye’s accuracy falls off a cliff when pressured, as he’s completed just 47.3% of his passes under pressure compared to 76.0% when kept clean.
Plus, Maye’s ability to push the ball downfield also takes a hit; he averages 6.3 yards per attempt when pressured versus 9.2 yards per attempt when kept clean, nearly a three-yard difference.
It’s imperative for the Jets to apply pressure on Maye today. Of course, it isn’t a groundbreaking statement in pre-game analysis to say that it would be positive if a team generated pressure (that’s not too far off from saying “It would be ideal if the Jets scored more points than the Patriots”), but some quarterbacks are more affected by pressure than others, and Maye falls on the more heavily affected end of the spectrum. That raises the stakes in the pressure department.
Therefore, Sherwood’s pass-rush snaps will be critical. While Sherwood has been excellent overall as a blitzer this season, his efficiency has been up-and-down from week to week. He made a massive impact with his clutch sequence against Cleveland, and he also had five pressures in the Jets’ season-opening win over Tennessee, but over the Jets’ three-game losing streak, Sherwood had just two pressures on 20 pass-rush snaps.
Sherwood’s blitzing efficiency has been directly tied to the Jets’ win-loss success so far. That isn’t to say that the Jets’ entire fate rests on whether Jamien Sherwood’s handful of blitzes get home, but it does show that he plays an important role in the success of their pass rush as a whole.
How often the Jets decide to blitz Maye will be a fascinating storyline today. The Jets racked up eight sacks against the Browns last week, and their enormous 63.6% blitz rate was a key reason why; six of the eight sacks came on blitzes. Maye, though, is a different quarterback from Deshaun Watson, not just in terms of talent, but also in terms of tendencies.
Watson is vulnerable against the blitz, so it made sense for New York to come after him. On the other hand, Maye has diced up blitzes this year, while his worst moments have come against fewer than five pass rushers. Six of Maye’s seven interceptions came on plays when he was not blitzed.
If the Jets call a low blitz rate against Maye today, Sherwood’s blitz efficiency will become even more important, as Glenn will likely save his blitzes for key spots rather than spam them all afternoon, as he did against Watson last week. In that case, Sherwood will need to win at a high rate to help make the Jets’ blitzes count.
Whether Sherwood gets home zero times or twice across his small diet of blitzes could be the difference between a couple of Patriots punts and a couple of drives that keep moving and end up in the end zone. Just one week ago, Sherwood’s impact as a blitzer was the difference between New York getting the ball back for a game-winning touchdown and the Browns potentially icing the game to drop the Jets to 1-4.
Keep an eye on No. 44 as a blitzer today. The results of his blitzes mean a lot more to the Jets’ chances of victory than many people realize.
