The good thing about a Monday Night Football defeat is that the turnaround is usually pretty quick. Despite the defence doing what the defence has been doing all season, the game got away from the Jets as a tough 27-6 loss to the Chargers dropped them to 4-4 on the season.

They have the perfect opportunity to put things right on Sunday, as they head to the West Coast to take on the Las Vegas Raiders. Win in Vegas and the Jets move back above .500 and can put the Chargers game well and truly in the rearview mirror. 

More of the same will be the instruction to the defence. After holding Justin Herbert to his lowest passing total in his NFL career, the Jets will now face the 27th ranked scoring offence in football (17.3 PPG). 

The Raiders are coming off a big 30-6 win against the Giants last week, boosted by the classic coaching change injection. Following the trade deadline, owner Mark Davis fired Head Coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, putting former Super Bowl winning linebacker Antonio Pierce in charge in the interim. 

There is an element of mystery around the Raiders with a new man calling the shots, but there are some safe assumptions. They’ll almost certainly try to pound the rock with Josh Jacobs, and get superstar receiver Davante Adams more involved in the game plan. After catching 100 passes from former QB Derek Carr for 1,516 yards and 14 touchdowns last year, Adams has just 573 yards and 3 touchdowns through the first half of this season. 

Despite the Raiders being 31st in the league with just 76.1 rushing yards per game, in Pierce’s first game in charge, Jacobs rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries, with the Raiders as a unit rushing for 125 yards. Although some of the season stats could be a little misleading based on the changes in coaching, it’s also too soon to draw any concrete conclusions based on 60 minutes of football. 

On the offensive side of the ball, the Jets have a challenge on their hands.

One week after facing off against Joey Bosa, the offensive line will have Maxx Crosby to deal with. No player in football has generated more pressures than Crosby’s 53 in 2023. Not Micah Parsons, not Aidan Hutchinson, not Nick Bosa and not even Bryce Huff. Only Danielle Hunter over in Minnesota (10) has more sacks than Crosby (9.5). 

For a Jets offensive line that is already depleted by injuries, the potential return of Duane Brown could provide a boost to help them deal with Crosby’s presence.

On average, the Raiders allow 21.4 points per game which is middle of the pack, but two key stats offer reason for optimism:

1. The Raiders have one of the worst third down defences in football, allowing 43.10% to be completed (26th in the league). 
2. The Raiders have one of the worst red-zone defences in football, allowing 65.52% of red zone entries to be converted into touchdowns (27th in the league). 

Given the Jets recent struggles on third downs and in the red zone, the matchup could provide a perfect opportunity to start climbing those rankings. 

The Raiders are a little bit of an unknown entity at the moment with Antonio Pierce at the helm, but while a new coach can offer an injection of energy, there could still be ways to exploit their weaknesses.

Most of the damage against this Raiders defence has been done on the ground. Las Vegas ranks 31st, allowing 138.7 rushing yards per game and they’re also right at the bottom in terms of opponent rushing touchdown percentage and opponent rushing first down percentage. 

In short: Breece Hall can expect a heavy workload, and if the Jets want to walk out of Vegas with a royal flush, they’ll likely need Hall to spin the wheel.