New York Jets left tackle Kelvin Beachum calls Sunday’s visit to Jacksonville an “identity game.”“We have to be able to run the ball Justin Layne Jersey ,” Beachum said. “They know that and we know that.”The Jaguars (2-1) actually welcome it after what happened in the fourth quarter last week.“We want them to try it,” Jacksonville linebacker Telvin Smith said. “Try that. Try to come out and hit in us in the mouth. Try to come out and run it down our throats. … Try whatever you want to do against us.”The Titans pretty much did, at least late. Bruising running back Derrick Henry gained 45 of his 57 yards behind “heavy personnel” in the fourth quarter. Tennessee took advantage of sweltering heat and humidity and essentially beat the Jags at their own game and in their own backyard.Jacksonville’s defense will try to redeem itself against the Jets (1-2), who have one of the top rushing tandems in the league. Isaiah Crowell and Bilal Powell have combined for 310 yards and four touchdowns in three games.“Those backs together are a deadly combination,” Jaguars defensive tackle Calais Campbell said. “They are special. I’m a big fan of football, and I think Crowell and Powell are two of the most underrated players. People don’t talk about them, but they’re great running backs.”The Jets also torched Jacksonville on the ground in last season’s Week 4 matchup, which New York won 23-20 in overtime.Powell rushed for a career-high 163 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown in which the Jaguars failed to touch him down, and rookie Elijah McGuire added a 69-yard scoring run. New York finished with 256 yards rushing.“It’s definitely going to be a good challenge for us up front,” Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson said.With rookie quarterback Sam Darnold making his fourth start and going against Jacksonville’s vaunted defensive front, it makes sense that the Jets would try to establish the run. Throw in that the Jaguars have looked vulnerable to ground attacks — rookie Saquon Barkley ran for 106 yards http://www.steelersfootballauthentics.com/benny-snell-jr.-jersey-authentic , including a 68-yard TD run in the fourth — and New York would be silly to do anything else.“Because they’re good doesn’t mean you’re not going to challenge them,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “We feel like we have good players, too, and we’re going to challenge them and do the things we need to do to win the ballgame. Understandably, every week you’re going to have to go through good players to try to win the ballgame, and that’s what we have to do. You can’t shy away from them. You have to do your job better than they do their job.”Here are some other things to know about the Jets and Jaguars:FOURNETTE RETURNS?Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette is expected to return after missing the last two games because of a strained right hamstring. Fournette ran nine times for 41 yards in first half of the season opener against the Giants, but has been sidelined since.He practiced on a limited basis all week.FAVORITE TARGETQuincy Enunwa has quickly established himself as Darnold’s favorite target.Through three games, the receiver has seen 29 passes come his way, and has a team-leading 17 catches for 212 yards and a touchdown. The next-closest receiver is Terrelle Pryor, who has been targeted just 14 times with eight catches for 158 yards. Robby Anderson has 10 targets with six receptions for 90 yards.“I’m just going to put the ball in the receiver’s hands who is open,” Darnold said. “That’s my job, is to find the guy who is open Zach Gentry Jersey , whether it’s a running back, receiver or tight end.”PROBLEMATIC PENALTIESThe Jaguars will try to reduce their number of penalties. They have been flagged 26 times for 265 yards.“Obviously, it is hurting our football team,” coach Doug Marrone said. “We are not a team that is built to overcome long situations. We keep talking about it. We keep stressing it.”UNDER PRESSUREThe Jets have 23 quarterback hits, according to Radar360, a mark that ties them with Minnesota for the fourth most in the NFL.They also have eight sacks, tying them for 10th in the league. New York has four sacks in each of the last two games, the first time they have that many in consecutive games since 2015.Despite that success, defensive end Leonard Williams has yet to get a sack — and he registered no statistics against Cleveland.“I thought Leonard played well,” Bowles said. “He took the pressure off the other guys. They sent two or three guys at him almost every other play. But Leonard caused a lot of other people to make plays and that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. I’m happy with what he did.”<div class=”stanzacal” data-width=”100%” data-height=”250px” ></div> <script src=”https://dff2h0hbfv6w4.cloudfront.net/scr...stanzacal-v1.js” type=”text/javascript”></script> Dallas safety Jeff Heath figures there’s a world outside his locker room where people seek comfort in their jobs.The Cowboys are about to get a test of the notion that they’re never supposed to get comfortable in their line of work.“I think the coaches do a good job kind of keeping us sharp, keeping us on edge,” Heath said. “You just have to understand that comes with this game.”Before the four-game winning streak that propelled them to sole possession of first in the NFC East L.J. Collier Jersey , the Cowboys (7-5) were on the verge of losing touch with the playoff race early for the second straight year.Two games ago, Dallas trailed Washington by a game with the Redskins visiting on Thanksgiving. Now it’s the Cowboys with that one-game lead, this time over Philadelphia with the defending champion Eagles (6-6) coming in Sunday.Once the chaser, now the chased. No difference, says quarterback Dak Prescott.“We’re not necessarily thinking about we’re getting chased now,” Prescott said Thursday. “Our backs were against the wall a few weeks ago and they haven’t changed. This is a team that looks to go out there every week and put that on display every week.”Human nature will always suggest otherwise, and the New Orleans Saints might argue that point after their 10-game winning streak was stopped by the Cowboys. Dallas was tied with Washington then, and conventional wisdom gave the Redskins a shot to get back in first place alone.Instead, the Cowboys had their best defensive showing of the season in a 13-10 win over the high-scoring Saints while the Redskins lost another quarterback to a season-ending injury in a 28-13 loss to Philadelphia that left them tied with the Eagles.“Nobody’s really thinking about a letdown or anything,” Cowboys receiver Cole Beasley said. “They’re all big. We’ve got to worry about what we have to do to get better as a team each week and put our best out there. We put our best out there, we’ll be fine.”While the Eagles have back-to-back wins for the first time this season, the defending champs badly need a third if they want a shot at another Super Bowl.With a victory http://www.seahawksfootballauthentics.com/marquise-blair-jersey-authentic , Philadelphia would pull even with Dallas and have a season split with a better division record, the first tiebreaker between two teams. Lose, and the Eagles will trail the Cowboys by two games with just three remaining.The Cowboys would counter that they’re fighting to maintain control of their playoff fate.“We don’t have a margin,” offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. “We approach it no different than we did when we were, whatever it was, 3-5. Coach (Jason) Garrett’s been obviously talking that every minute of every day.“We all need to know that in the NFL, things change quickly, for the better or for the worse, if you don’t keep your foot on the gas pedal.”Whatever Garrett is sharing with his team, as usual, he’s not sharing it publicly.“I don’t really understand what you’re talking about,” Garrett said when asked about preaching against any tendency for the team to ease up. “Our backs are to the wall. They’re always to the wall and that’s how we look at it.”Running back Ezekiel Elliott will have something of a personal test to keep things rolling. After 90 touches �? 72 carries and 18 catches �? over three games in a 12-day span D.K. Metcalf Jersey , Elliott finally had some time to rest. He says he felt the best he has in a while coming into the week.The key is for Elliott to avoid any negative side effects of that feeling. Say, for example, easing up.“I mean, honestly, we’re in the same position that we were when we were 3-5,” said Elliott, who does have the motivation of trying to regain the league rushing lead he lost to Todd Gurley last week. “Having that same mentality, attacking work the same every day.”That means not being comfortable at work.
