Preview, prediction, what to watch for in Week 8

An inside look at Sunday’s Jets-Bengals NFL Week 8 matchup in Cincinnati:

Marquee matchup

Bengals WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins vs. Jets CBs Brandon Stephens and Azareye’h Thomas

The Jets will be without star cornerback Sauce Gardner, who suffered a concussion last week.

They never want to be missing Gardner, but it feels especially consequential this week against Chase and Higgins — perhaps the best receiving duo in the sport.

Thomas, a third-round pick last spring, will start in place of Gardner. Chances are the Jets will not have anyone follow Chase, but just have Thomas and Stephens play sides.

“Listen, any time you lose a player of that caliber, it’s always concerning because he’s one of the best in this league,” Jets coach Aaron Glenn said. “But we have other guys that have to step up ,and that’s what this league is. You saw [the Chargers on Thursday] night that had a ton of injuries that went out there and played. No one’s going to feel sorry for you, not going to feel sorry for us, so [Thomas] is going to step up, and he’s going to do a good job for us.”

Chase has been rolling since Joe Flacco took over as the Bengals quarterback. He has two straight games with double-digit receptions, including a franchise-record 16 for 161 yards and a touchdown last week against the Steelers.

Four downs

Joe cool: Though the Jets are going through another quarterback crisis, their former QB Joe Flacco will be leading the Bengals. This is Flacco’s third game for Cincinnati after being traded by the Browns. Flacco, 40, had two stints with the Jets, in 2020 and 2021-22.

Flacco passed for 342 yards and three touchdowns in the Bengals’ 33-31 victory over the Steelers last week as he tries to keep the Bengals afloat while awaiting the return of starting quarterback Joe Burrow.

There were not many good memories with the Jets for Flacco, who went 1-8 as a starter with the Jets, but he said this week he cherishes the relationships.

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“I remember driving home on the [New Jersey] Turnpike after losing a game and shaking my head and talking to my family like, you know, what the hell am I doing?” Flacco said. “ I think most of the time when I look back at those times it’s being in the locker room and everybody else that I kind of got to play with in that organization.”

Here’s the catch: It might not matter who the Jets QB is with the state of their receiving corps. Garrett Wilson will miss his second straight game due to a knee injury and Josh Reynolds was ruled out Saturday, too. Last week, the Jets were led by Tyler Johnson, Reynolds and tight end Mason Taylor, who each caught three passes.The Jets have to find a way to get running back Breece Hall more involved in the passing game after he only had two catches last week and zero the week before.

On the defensive: It is hard to find positives on an 0-7 team, but the Jets have played better defensively in the past two games. Coordinator Steve Wilks’ crew has allowed just 13 points in each of the past two games. They have rebounded from their early-season struggles when they allowed 30 points or more in three of their first five games.

One area that still needs work is takeaways. The Jets have one fumble recovery this season and zero interceptions. Maybe Flacco will give them some chances.

Bad streak: The Jets are 0-7 for the first time since 2020 and the third time in franchise history. The 2020 team lost its first 13 games before finishing 2-14, so this year’s crew still has a long way to go to catch that group for the worst stretch.

The seven-game losing streak is tied for the fifth-longest in franchise history. If they lose their eighth in a row, they will move into a tie for third-longest losing streak in team history. The 13-game streak in 2020 is the longest, followed by 12, which happened over two seasons in 1995-96. The Jets also lost eight in a row in 2014 and 1975.

Costello’s call

The Jets could have won the past two games if they had any semblance of a functioning offense. Justin Fields gets another chance to turn his season around. I think he’ll find some success against a weak Bengals defense. I’m not buying Joe Flacco and the Bengals.

Jets 20, Bengals 17