{"id":80845,"date":"2025-09-04T02:31:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jetnation.com\/?p=80845"},"modified":"2025-09-04T02:31:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:31:43","slug":"jets-vs-steeles-big-matchups-myers-goes-from-backup-to-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2025\/09\/04\/jets-vs-steeles-big-matchups-myers-goes-from-backup-to-key\/","title":{"rendered":"Jets vs Steeles big Matchups; Myers Goes From Backup to key"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When the Jets kick off their 2025 season this Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they&#8217;ll be doing so without right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker.\u00a0 Vera-Tucker <a href=\"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2025\/09\/03\/report-alijah-vera-tucker-suffers-significant-arm-injury\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>suffered a torn triceps<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in practice yesterday and could end up missing the season.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Alijah Vera-Tucker Suffers Serious Injury\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wpnlGf1FnFw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>With Vera-Tucker out, this changes the makeup of the Jets offensive line and vaults backup center Josh Myers from backup, to a player who should be viewed as critical to Gang Green&#8217;s success. Here&#8217;s a look at Myers and a few other key players we expect to suit up on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>C Josh Myers vs NT\/DT Keeanu Benton:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Benton is a powerful, explosive defender up front who will line up directly over the center and plug the a-gaps.\u00a0 Instead of drawing Tippmann, he&#8217;ll face Josh Myers, who ranked 34th out of 35 centers in run blocking last season according to PFF.\u00a0 Among centers with at least 400 snaps played, Myers earned a run block grade of 52.2\u00a0 Only Andre James of the Raiders was worse at 50.2.<\/p>\n<p>For a team that plans on running the ball at what some expect to be the highest clip on the NFL, this is not great news.\u00a0 Can Jets O-line coach Steve Heiden get better production out of Myers?\u00a0 We&#8217;ll find out this Sunday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>QB Justin Fields vs ILB Payton Wilson:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This one was already a key matchup before the Vera-Tucker injury, but looms much larger now.\u00a0 With the Jets likely to lean heavily on Fields&#8217; legs, the Steelers will likely counter with a spy on defense.\u00a0 Expect Wilson, who runs in the 4.4&#8217;s, to draw that assignment.\u00a0 Patrick Queen could also get the nod at times and is no slouch himself in terms of speed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CB Sauce Gardner vs DK Metcalf:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gardner spent much of last season drawing the ire of Jets fans after allowing a touchdown and drawing four pass interference calls.\u00a0 Many demanded he be dealt for draft picks, but now he&#8217;s got a brand new contract and draws Metcalf in week 1.<\/p>\n<p>The two squared off last season with Metcalf finishing the game with 1 catch for 28 yards on four targets when lined up against the Jets All-Pro corner.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RT Armand Membou vs Edge TJ Watt:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Welcome to the NFL, Armand.<\/p>\n<p>The Jets rookie draws elite edge rusher JT Watt in his first ever NFL contest.\u00a0 If the Jets keep this one close then it&#8217;ll help Membou out as Gang Green figures to run it for much of the day.\u00a0 But if the Jets need a big throw from Fields late in the game, Membou keeping Watt away from the QB becomes essential, and this can quickly become the most important matchup of the day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Edge Will McDonald vs OT Broderick Jones:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It may represent the last time Bill Belichick was widely regarded as a football genius.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2023 NFL draft, Belichick and the Patriots were one pick ahead of the Jets before they moved down with the Steelers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsboston.com\/nfl\/new-england-patriots\/did-patriots-thwart-jets-first-round-draft-plans-in-trade-with-steelers\/294117\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>to allow Pittsburgh to leapfrog Gang Green<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to select Jones.\u00a0 The Jets then went with McDonald and the talking heads had a blast.\u00a0 The Jets were &#8220;outsmarted, outclassed and beaten by Belichick once again&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward two years and McDonald posted his first ever double-digit sack season while Jones\u00a0<em>allowed <\/em>double-digit sacks.\u00a0 According to PFF, Jones let defenders get to his QB ten times while turning in a paltry pass block grade of 54.6.<\/p>\n<p>Now, likely looking to quite the critics even further, McDonald faces the guy the Jets &#8220;really wanted&#8221; before they had to &#8220;settle&#8221; for him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CB Brandon Stephens vs WR Calvin Austin III:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If Gardner can manage to keep Metcalf under wraps, look for Aaron Rodgers to call Austin&#8217;s number on a regular basis until Stephens shows his preseason performance was no fluke.\u00a0 Having surrendered over 800 receiving yards with the Ravens last season, teams will challenge him until he gives them a reason not to.<\/p>\n<p>Prediction:<\/p>\n<p>Steelers 17<br \/>\nJets 10<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the Jets kick off their 2025 season this Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they&#8217;ll be doing so without right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker.\u00a0 Vera-Tucker suffered a torn triceps in practice yesterday and could end up missing the season. With Vera-Tucker out, this changes the makeup of the Jets offensive line and vaults backup center Josh [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":80846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[258],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-80845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets-game-previews"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Brandon-Stephens-2-scaled-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-l1X","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}