The Mercury News

Mayfield next young quarterbac­k to test Pats

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At one point during the Patriots’ 33-0 shutout over the Jets last week, second-year quarterbac­k Sam Darnold said he felt as if he was “seeing ghosts.”

New England’s defenses have had that effect on young quarterbac­ks during coach Bill Belichick’s tenure.

The Patriots have won 20 straight games against first- or secondyear signal-callers, the longest such streak in NFL history.

Five of those victories have come this season, with New England’s topranked defense limiting the Jets’ Darnold and Luke Falk, Dolphins’ Josh Rosen, Bills’ Josh Allen and Giants’ Daniel Jones to a combined 44 percent completion rate and 595 yards, while coming away with 12 intercepti­ons. Jones had the lone passing touchdown among the group.

The next to try to break the streak is Browns second-year quarterbac­k Baker Mayfield , who is coming off a three-intercepti­on performanc­e in a loss to Seattle and leads the league with 11 picks.

“They try to get you to give the perfect look or perfect protection and they mix stuff up,” Mayfield said of New England’s defense. “They pressure you. They hit you up. If you are a young quarterbac­k, you can see that.”

But knowing how the Patriots defense attacks is just part of it. New England has also been masters at taking away opposing offenses’ top options.

Browns receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. knows that means that Belichick will be trying to take him out of the game plan and capitalize of any miscues.

“You can’t beat them by making mistakes. They do not make many mistakes,” Beckham said. “They have few penalties. They play perfect.” Or at least very close to it. New England enters Week 8 leading the NFL in several defensive categories including fewest points allowed (48), fewest total yards allowed per game (223.1), fewest yards per play (4.0) and fewest net passing yards per play (4.3).

The Patriots also are holding teams to a league-low 14.3 percent success rate on third down and lead the NFL with 18 intercepti­ons.

Oh, and by the way, Patriots coach Bill Belichick would earn his 300th career victory, including the postseason, with a win today.

Cardinals at Saints

It could mark the return of Drew Brees, who has said “the plan” is for him to be back this week for the Saints after missing five weeks with a thumb injury. Teddy Bridgewate­r certainly did a fine job filling in, going 5-0 in Brees’ place. The defense has also been a big reason the Saints have continued to march on, holding four straight opponents to 257 or fewer yards. They’ll take on the Cardinals and dynamic rookie Kyler Murray, who ranks second among quarterbac­ks with 266 yards rushing. Chase Edmonds is also coming off the first 100-yard rushing game of his career, going for 126 yards and three touchdown runs last week against the Giants.

Packers at Chiefs

Tonight’s matchup lost some of its luster with Patrick Mahomes sidelined with a dislocated kneecap. So, it’ll be veteran backup Matt Moore under center for the Chiefs this week, taking on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Moore will make his first start since Nov. 26, 2017, for Miami against New England. Meanwhile, Rodgers had a perfect passer rating of 158.3 last week in Green Bay’s win over Oakland, going 25 of 31 for 429 yards and five TDS with no intercepti­ons.

Seahawks at Falcons

For all the talk of the “12th Man” in Seattle giving the Seahawks a huge edge at home, they’ve been even better on the road so far this season. Russell Wilson and this group of Seahawks are trying to improve to 4-0 away from home for just the second time in franchise history, and first since 1980. Seattle will face a Falcons team that might not have quarterbac­k Matt Ryan because of a sprained right ankle. If Ryan’s streak of 154 consecutiv­e regularsea­son starts is snapped, it’ll be Matt Schaub starting for Atlanta. His last start came in 2015 for Baltimore.

Eagles at Bills

The surprising Bills haven’t started 6-1 or better since they opened the 1993 season 7-1. They’ve gotten to this spot in large part because of their comeback ability, with Josh Allen and Co. going 4-1 when tied or trailing in the fourth quarter. The Eagles are coming off their biggest game of the season so far, an embarrassi­ng 37-10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in front of a prime-time audience last Sunday night. Philadelph­ia will be looking for a better start this week after losing fumbles on its first two possession­s, quickly leading to a 14-0 deficit.

Broncos at Colts

The Colts’ Jacoby Brissett was sacked five times in the first two weeks, but has gone down only twice in the last four games. Next up is Denver’s Von Miller, who has sacked 48 quarterbac­ks during career — but Brissett isn’t on the list. Yet. The Broncos’ defense has also been stingy in the red zone lately, not allowing a touchdown on opponents’ last 10 trips.

Buccaneers at Titans

Jameis Winston is coming off the second 400-yard passing performanc­e of his career with the Buccaneers, but also threw five intercepti­ons and lost a fumble during Tampa Bay’s 11-point loss to Carolina in London two weeks ago. The last time these teams squared off, it marked first time in NFL history that the top two picks in the draft — Winston and the Titans’ Marcus

Mariota — met as rookies in Week 1 in 2015. This time around, Mariota is on the bench in favor of Ryan Tannehill, who threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Chargers. Tennessee tied a franchise record by not allowing more than 20 points in any game through its first seven games.

Giants at Lions

Both teams enter this matchup struggling while on three-game losing streaks. Giants rookie quarterbac­k Daniel Jones has thrown one touchdown pass in each of his last four games, but also has seven intercepti­ons during that span. Golden Tate, playing his fourth game for New York, will face his former team after spending 4 1/2 seasons with the Lions. The Giants’ secondary could have its hands full after Detroit wide receiver Marvin Jones had four touchdown catches last week, joining Jerry Rice and Sterling Sharpe as the only players in NFL history with two such games.

Jets at Jaugars

Darnold is looking to rebound in a big way after saying he was “seeing ghosts” with New England’s blitzhappy defense making things miserable for him and the Jets last Monday night. The second-year quarterbac­k threw four intercepti­ons, lost a fumble and also batted a ball out of the end zone for a safety in the loss. Darnold and the Jets won’t get much of a reprieve this week against a Jaguars defense that allowed 291 yards in a 10-point victory at Cincinnati last week, and pressured Andy Dalton into three fourth-quarter intercepti­ons.

Chargers at Bears

The Chargers are trying to avoid going 0-4 in October for the first time since 2000, and have lost three straight by seven points or fewer. Philip Rivers’ team has had a long week trying to get over its stinging 23-20 loss at Tennessee in which the Chargers thought they scored the go-ahead touchdown twice in the final 44 seconds, only to lose both on replay reviews. The Bears hope to see improvemen­t from Mitchell Trubisky, who threw for 251 yards and two touchdowns last week after missing a game with a left shoulder injury.

Bengals at Rams

The winless Bengals hope they can turn their fortunes around across the pond at Wembley Stadium. It’s Cincinnati’s worst start since it opened 0-8 in 2008 under Marvin Lewis, and the seventh time overall the Bengals are 0-7. The Rams snapped their three-game skid with a blowout win at Atlanta last weekend, and spent the week practicing at Georgia Tech to try to minimize the effects of going all the way from LA to London. Jared Goff hasn’t thrown an intercepti­on in his past two games, and also wasn’t sacked last week.

 ?? STEVEN RYAN — GETTY IMAGES ?? Danny Shelton, left, and the rest of the Patriots defense rattled the Jets’ Sam Darnold in last week’s shutout. Baker Mayfield and the Browns are up next today.
STEVEN RYAN — GETTY IMAGES Danny Shelton, left, and the rest of the Patriots defense rattled the Jets’ Sam Darnold in last week’s shutout. Baker Mayfield and the Browns are up next today.

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