Veteran safety Minkah Fitzpatrick got right to the point talking about the Jets road game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
"Doesn't matter who they are, who they've been, what they've done," Fitzpatrick said on Thursday. "What matters is the fact that the Jets need to win. There's no extra. We'd be happy with it. We'd be happy with one."
A win would erase the Green & White's three-game losing streak overall, against a Kansas City (5-2) club that began the season with five straight wins, followed by a two-game slide. But the Chiefs' offense, led by QB Patrick Mahomes, remains a formidable unit with the No. 5-ranked offense in the NFL.
Mahomes, who returned this season after an injury to his ACL limited him to 7 games last season, is averaging 256.4 passing yards a game. In last week's loss at Denver, the play-extending Mahomes rolled up 321 passing yards and threw a trio of TD passes.
"Just kind of staying alive, and the down is not over until it's all the way over," DC Brian Duker said of defending Mahomes on Thursday. "So don't assume at any point in the down, you can't really relax at all. That's kind of when guys get in trouble when they think it's over, and all of a sudden somebody takes off."
Fitzpatrick missed a couple of games after sustaining a groin injury in the Week 1 win at Tennessee. In 6 games, he has 45 total tackles (21 solo), which is fourth on the defense; he also has 3 PDs and 1 INT. He's formed a strong tandem at safety with Dane Belton, who's tied with Jamien Sherwood for the team lead in tackles with 68.
Mahomes, who is completing 66.4% of his passes with 12 TDs and 4 INTs, has a habit of extending plays and often ends up unloading passes from multiple launch points aimed in the direction of his favorite receiver, TE Travis Kelce. Kelce is KC's top receiver with 29 catches for 410 yards and a pair of TDs. The Chiefs added a dual threat in free agency when they signed RB Kenny Walker III, last season's Super Bowl MVP while with Seattle.
See photos of the Jets on the practice field ahead of their Week 9 matchup with the Chiefs.
Walker has taken his talent in the run and the pass game to his new team -- he's No. 3 in the league with 770 rush yards and has 6 TDs. In addition, he is third on the team with 31 receptions for 131 yards.
"They brought in one of the best running backs in the league, in my opinion," Fitzpatrick said. "You can tell that they're trying to get him the ball. They're trying to bruise you a little bit more than what they have done in the past. You can tell there's a lot more of a downhill demeanor to the offense, more than the physical demeanor."
While the Jets' defense is ranked No. 11 in the league, fifth against the pass and 21st against the run, the Raiders ran up 38 points last Sunday as the Green & White lost their fifth game of the season by one score.
"Man, I think when you're able to add an elite running back like Walker to an already explosive offense, it just presents another dynamic that's very challenging to go against," Jets LB Demario Davis said. "I think for years Mahomes and Kelsey have been a top tight end/quarterback tandem in the National Football League, and when you're able to add a running game on top of that [with] dynamic receivers as well - that can stretch you vertically."
