• Braelon Allen leads the New York Jets in rushing yards: For the second week in a row, the rookie running back from Wisconsin was involved in many snaps and cut an impressive figure.

• Jets distribute the ball: Eight different Jets still players caught multiple passes in the double-digit yard range.

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

PFF’s fantasy football review focuses on player usage and statistics, providing all the essential information you need for fantasy success in 2024.

New England Patriots @ New York Jets

Braelon Allen continues to interfere: Allen set a new career high for touches midway through the third quarter.

Allen surprised several people last week with his seven carries for 33 yards and a touchdown while catching two passes for 23 yards and another touchdown. Last week, he was used specifically in the middle of the game. Hall played all 12 snaps in the first three drives. The two split the snaps in the next five drives, playing 18 each, which included four plays with both players on the field. Then Hall finished the game playing 11 of the final 13 snaps.

This week, Allen got more involved throughout the game. He started the second drive and consistently played some snaps on every drive except the first. Allen touched the ball nearly half the time he was on the field in Week 2, and instead of decreasing, that increased this week. At the end of the third quarter, his rookie colleague Isaiah Davis made his offensive debut and joined the rotation in the landslide victory.

Allen seems to be a stand-alone player in games where the Jets are clear favorites. It would not be surprising if Breece Hall would dominate snaps in a more competitive game. Allen’s emergence has put a ceiling on Hall’s fantasy potential. Ideally, Hall would have had 20 or more 100-yard runs in a game like this, along with his pass catches, but that hasn’t happened as the rookie running backs have played more. Hall will still be a clear must-start player every week, even if his ceiling is a little lower.

Michael Williams Snapshots take a step back: Williams was in the rotation for the third wide receiver spot after securing that job in Week 2.

Williams played just nine offensive snaps in Week 1, which wasn’t too concerning considering he was returning from a torn ACL. He was listed on the injury report in Weeks 1 and 2 with the knee injury.

In week 2, the number rose to 37 snaps, while Xavier Gipson played only six. Williams played 29 of 34 possible snaps in three-receiver sets and eight of 21 in two-receiver sets. He was not on the injury list this week, so he seemed ready to play.

Instead, he was rotated with Gipson in three-receiver sets. While he lost a lot of playing time in three-receiver sets, he began to break even with Allen Lazard in two-receiver sets. He caught three passes for 34 yards and was the target of two end zone passes, both of which were incomplete, including one that was ultimately called back due to a penalty, so he doesn’t appear in the statistics.

It’s entirely possible that a short week is the reasoning behind Williams’ limitations, or that the Jets simply want Gipson to have more opportunities on offense. Williams’ end zone targets are encouraging, but he’s not yet in a position where we can consider him a starter.

Antonio Gibson shone in the garbage time: Gibson largely disappeared until the end of the game

Gibson played just seven offensive snaps in the first 50 minutes of the game. All of his work came on the third drive or when the team was down by three touchdowns in the final 10 minutes. A lot of that had to do with the flow of the game. Most of the time Gibson was on the field last week, the Patriots had a longer drive.

Rhamondre Stevenson played 53 of 63 possible snaps on the first three plays of drives over the first two weeks. The biggest difference this week is that most of the Patriots’ drives lasted no longer than three plays. Gibson got the ball consistently in the final minutes of the game, which resulted in Gibson leading the team in rushing yards and catching the third-most passes. All of this means that Stevenson remains the Patriots’ clear-cut leading running back. That’s been the case in all three games, and Gibson’s strong performance last week didn’t change that.

It’s still fine to keep Gibson as a handcuff for Stevenson, but it remains unlikely that Gibson will have any standalone value this season unless the Patriots offense starts playing significantly better.

Miscellaneous notes

• While Tyler Conklin had his best game of the season, his role in the offense did not change. He is similar to Hunter Henrywho had a great game last week and barely did anything this week. They’re both tight ends who run a lot of routes and will have some good weeks as the season goes on, but they’re not targeted enough to trust them in fantasy starting lineups. They’re good off-week backups.
• The Patriots used six wide receivers for this game after using five in the first two games. This means that both Javon Baker And Kayshon Boutte were active.
• New England’s wide receiver rotation was very similar to last week. Ja’Lynn Polk, KJ Osborn And Tyquan Thornton turned outwards, while DeMario Douglas for three-receiver sets.
• The Patriots’ snap counts will look skewed because their longest drive was their last drive, which featured mostly backups in the game. Kayshon Boutte got most of his work on that 16-play drive, and Thornton didn’t play at all, which is why Thornton’s snaps were so much lower than those of the other Patriots receivers. Likewise, Austin Hooper ran more routes on this trip than Henry.
• Fourth running back of the Jets, Israel Abanikanda, was inactive every week.
• The Jets ran more plays in the three tight end sets of the first half than in the first two games combined.
• New York’s rookie wide receiver from the third round Malachi Corley played one offensive snap in each of the first two games and did not play a single offensive snap in this game despite the overwhelming victory.

Notes on the table

• Snaps include plays that were called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. These plays have been removed from the other three statistics.
• Targeting may vary from official NFL sources. The most likely deviation would be a clearly blocked pass, where the NFL may assign the target to the closest receiver, whereas this data does not.
• Turnovers are only allowed on planned plays. Quarterback scrambles do not count toward the total number of turnovers in the game.