NY Jets: Game breakdown and prediction for Week 5 against the Cardinals

Will the NY Jets win their first game of the season against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5?

The NY Jets played their best game of 2020 so far last week against the Denver Broncos, but it came to no avail as they dropped yet another game to move to 0-4.

Despite it being a losing effort, Sam Darnold still recorded his best QBR of the year at 72.9 and there for 230 yards and a very important zero interceptions.

This is what the Jets’ season has turned into, unfortunately.

Now we move to this week’s game against an Arizona Cardinals team that started off 2-0 but has dropped its last two to move to 2-2 on the season. Kyler Murray came out the gate scalding hot but has since regressed a bit and has developed a little turnover bug.

Out of the Jets’ four games this season, each matchup they’ve had has looked good at least from a historical standpoint. This week is no different as the Jets lead the all-time series against the Cardinals 6-3.

On top of that, we also have the fact that the Jets have won four of five at home in this series and have won four-straight. And overall, the Jets have won six of their last seven games against the Cardinals.

So, even though Arizona appears to be the much better team in this matchup, the numbers say the Jets won’t go away so quietly.

Had the Cardinals been 4-0 or 3-1, I believe I would’ve taken a serious look at the Jets winning this game, especially if they had at least one win by now.

Unfortunately, since the Cardinals have dropped two-straight and the Jets haven’t won yet (0-3 against the spread as well), I have to go with Arizona in this matchup.

The NY Jets have these two things working against them on Sunday.

Two big things stand out to me that goes against the Jets heavily.

First, Sam Darnold is out. People love to get on Darnold because he’s being outplayed by Josh Allen in his own division and is a turnover machine for the most part. But the crazy thing is, when the Jets don’t have him in the lineup, they’re 0-6.

Joe Flacco is the best backup quarterback they’ve had in years, but is he really about to come into such a dysfunctional situation and start winning games? That remains to be seen, but I lean towards no.

Second, I see a big issue staring the Jets directly in the face. No, it’s not the upbeat Cardinals offense. It’s Mekhi Becton, the Jets’ best lineman this year, being ruled doubtful as of yesterday with Chandler Jones coming into town.

The Jets are in the mid-20s in sacks allowed this year, and although there’s an argument to be made that their offensive line has actually been better than expected, Jones coming in with a top-10 pass rush behind him is going to give all sorts of problems for a non-mobile quarterback in Flacco.

I think the Cardinals bounce back this week and break their losing streak. I’m 1-3 with my spread picks for Arizona this year, but at the same time, the Jets are 0-3 against the spread as I mentioned before.

Something has to give here and I’m going to say the Cardinals win and cover 28-14.

We know the threat Kyler Murray poses in this matchup, but pay more attention to how the Cardinals play on defense. I think they have a big week and keep this thing under the 47.5 O/U.