Blackmon’s keys to Jets-Falcons in London

The NFL is back in London! And ahead of this Sunday’s game between the New York Jets (1-3) and Atlanta Falcons (1-3) at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, former NFL safety, Will Blackmon – who has twice played in London and will be in the studio for Sky Sports – breaks down his keys to the game…

Jets: Zach Wilson must protect the football

From the Jets’ perspective, the game will come down to whether rookie quarterback Zach Wilson is able to protect the football.

He has done a better job of late in terms of, ‘when it gets bad, don’t make it worse’. Whereas in their Week Two loss against the New England Patriots, he threw a couple of bad picks and that then quickly turned into two more interceptions.

You’re going to have games like that. That’s the NFL. But it was good to see what he could be last week; he did throw one bad interception against the Tennessee Titans, but he was then able to shake it off, come through, throw for nearly 300 yards and two TDs and win the game.

I like his resilience. He plays with extreme confidence.

Jets: Keep feel-good feeling going

Also, in that win over Tennessee, another rookie, Michael Carter, got his first rushing touchdown.

He was a really good running back at North Carolina, and he can be the guy for this offense. To get him going will be a tremendous help to Wilson too.

It’s a cliche, but when an offense has a good running game, it’s definitely beneficial for the quarterback – he can use play action passes off the back of that.

Also, getting Jamison Crowder – a former team-mate of mine in Washington – back was massive, because it gave the Jets another option at wideout. And he has opened up things for their number one receiver, Corey Davis.

And the Jets defense is improving too. Those guys are playing with good effort. Linebacker CJ Mosley is a big deal and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, in particular, is playing very well.

The energy is still good in New York despite their early struggles this year, and that comes from head coach Robert Saleh and his management team. They set the tone for the entire organisation.

Falcons: Overcome redzone struggles

For Atlanta, they have ignited the Cordarrelle Patterson package on offense. He has been outstanding for them, with four receiving and one rushing touchdown on the year already.

We’ve seen a little bit before of how he can be used. In New England, they used him in the run and pass game, the same in Chicago with the Bears.

He is key for this team, because they’ve got to look to score more points in the redzone – historically, they have not been good with that. Even when they had All-Pro Julio Jones at receiver, they were struggling to score in the redzone.

Patterson gives them their best chance. But also can they get rookie tight end Kyle Pitts more involved?

He is like a Travis Kelce sort of player, where he is able to take short passes and go the distance. He can run any single route going. Get him the ball early, get him some confidence and then he’ll make bigger plays and demand the ball more.

Give him some short passes, some screens, maybe get him in the backfield or on a reverse. Similar to what they’re doing with Patterson.

Falcons: Stop the late errors

Defensively, the Falcons must cut out their last-minute errors.

There’s no way they should have lost to the Washington Football Team last week – they lost on a last-minute check-down play where JD McKissic took it 30 yards for the game-winning score. It’s those sorts of silly mistakes which are proving really costly for them.

When your organisation is prone to losing a lot, it can become a habit. But they’ve got a new head coach in Arthur Smith and so they shouldn’t have that kind of energy in Atlanta.

If both teams are able to protect the football, I think the Falcons have a better shot overall. But I can also see the Jets taking the momentum from last week’s win into London. It should be a great game!

Watch the Atlanta Falcons take on the New York Jets, live from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on Sky Sports NFL from 1.30pm, Sunday.