WATCH: Five things to look out for in Jets' preseason game vs. Saints

As the Jets prepare to take on the Saints, here are five areas of Gang Green that should be given extra attention.

It’s week three of the preseason and the New York Jets are getting ready to take on the New Orleans Saints at MetLife Stadium tonight. The past 10 days have been eventful for the Jets as they suffered a few setbacks along the way. Before Gang Green takes on New Orleans, here are five things to look out for in tonight’s game.

1. Sam Darnold’s consistency

The 22-year old quarterback entering his second season has been impressive so far this preseason. Darnold led the Jets downfield for a touchdown on the opening drive in each of the first two games. Heading into tonight, Darnold is 9 for 12 for 114 yards and one touchdown pass.

Darnold has earned a lot of praise from his star running back, Le’Veon Bell. Earlier this week, Bell told Randy Lange of the team’s website that Darnold brings all the intangibles, has a great mindset, and is a competitor that reminds him a lot of himself. Let’s see if Darnold can continue this impressive play against the Saints.

2. Quinnen Williams getting on the stat sheet

The third overall pick from this year’s draft has yet to make a dent on the stat sheet. However, if you look at the footage from last week’s game against Atlanta, he is inching ever so close to becoming a threat in the trenches.

Though he didn’t make a tackle, Williams held his own against the Falcons. He came very close to sacking Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub, he freed up room for Henry Anderson and Jamal Adams to make tackles and even drew a holding penalty on Jake Matthews. Williams is making progress, now it’s only a matter of time until the 21-year-old out of Alabama registers his first tackle as a Jet.

3. Which linebacker will step up?

The Jets suffered a major setback when linebacker Avery Williamson got hurt in last week’s game. The 27-year-old linebacker suffered an ACL tear that put him on the shelf for the remainder of the season. Then, as if the linebacker position needed more setbacks, the Jets also lost Brandon Copeland to a four-game suspension for PED violations. The question now is, who will step up to fill in these roles?

The team brought in Stephone Anthony, who played under head coach Adam Gase in Miami and linebacker coach Joe Vitt in New Orleans. They also signed veteran Albert McClellan, who won two Super Bowls in Baltimore and New England. Keep an eye on the linebackers tonight, we might just find out for sure who the next men up are.

4. Playing Time

Usually, week three of the preseason is when the starters get the most playing time. However, because of Williamson’s injury, Gase might be a little more cautious this time around. Gase already took responsibility for Williamson’s injury and announced after the Atlanta game that Bell will not play for the remainder of the preseason. Is he going to take a similar approach and put the starters out for a shorter amount of time tonight?

It’s important to get the players ready for the regular season. But it’s equally important to make sure the remaining starters stay healthy going in. The Jets had enough injury issues already this week.

5. Kicking

To say the Jets kicking so far has been subpar is quite the understatement. The Jets had two kickers the past two games, each succeeding in one field goal attempt, but both went one for three in extra-point attempts. Chandler Catanzaro was the Jets kicker for the first week, who retired shortly after his abysmal performance. Taylor Bertolet replaced Catanzaro last week but didn’t fare much better.

As it stands right now, Bertolet is still the Jets kicker, but if he doesn’t get on track, the Jets won’t hesitate to replace him. Some notable free agents include Matt Bryant, Mike Nugent, and Sebastian Janikowski. Gang Green can’t afford to have points taken off the board like this.

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And those are five things to look out for in the Jets’ preseason game against the Saints. Kickoff is at 7:30 P.M. on CBS.