But three weeks into this Jets season —which has started relatively well for Gang Green — concern has been mounting about the veteran quarterback’s limitations in throwing the ball downfield.

In last week’s loss to the Eagles, Fitzpatrick went 0-for-8 with an interception in passes that traveled 20 or more yards in the air, according to ProFootballFocus.com. For the season, he has completed just three of 20 attempts on passes of at least 20 yards in the air.

By comparison, there are plenty of other questionable quarterbacks with higher completion percentages on passes of 20 yards and beyond such as: Tyrod Taylor (40%), Ryan Tannehill (39%) Jameis Winston (46%) and Blake Bortles (33%), all according to ProFootballFocus.com.

Former Ravens coach Brian Billick, now an analyst for NFL Network, said demonstrating an ability to throw deep is important for the Jets.

“You have to be able to take the top off the defense,” Billick said in a phone interview. “It’s not enough (just to throw it deep). At some point you have to connect deep.”

Arm strength, however, is not necessarily the issue, the former coach thought.

“Obviously, when you look at Ryan Fitzpatrick’s total work, he’s never really been with an explosive team,” he said. “Deep balls are not a function of arm strength, it’s a matter of touch and timing. So it’s kind of hard to put a finger on why they haven’t been more explosive.”

Of course, the numbers could be worse: Sam Bradford has yet to complete a pass traveling at least 20 yards in the air this season — though he’s only attempted seven, per ProFootballFocus.com. That might not be much of a surprise to Jets fans, because while the Eagles won on Sunday, Bradford did not look good.

The problem for the Jets against Philadelphia was that, once they fell behind, they needed to rely too much on Fitzpatrick.

He ended up attempting 58 passes, which, even by the quarterback’s own admission, was too many.

“For Ryan Fitzpatrick, in my opinion you want to keep it to a 30-35 throw game,” Billick said. “You get up (higher) you’re going to get all of Ryan Fitzpatrick, and that means the good and bad.”

Often when fans imagine a successful Jets season, they picture something in the vein of the 2000 Ravens team that Billick coached. With Trent Dilfer as their quarterback, that team won the Super Bowl.

“Anytime a team plays good defense and is marginal at quarterback, that comparison is made,” Billick said. “Which is probably not fair because we’re not talking about good defense, we’re talking about all-time great defense.”

He also pointed out that the league didn’t have quite as many star quarterbacks at that time, and that he didn’t have to go through teams that had QBs the caliber of Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

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Backed by three prodigious home runs, the Mets took the opener of this installment of the Subway Series with a 5-1 victory over the Yankees.

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After his go-ahead, two-run home run, Yoenis Cespedes gets a big high-ten from teammate Daniel Murphy as the Mets sweep aside the Nationals.

WASHINGTON — Kelly Johnson might have had the biggest home run of all, the one that tied the game when Stephen Strasburg was looking unhittable, and gave the Mets still another opportunity to show off a new killer instinct that says they’re not about to blow a seven-game lead.

In case you’re thinking about 2007 or something.

Yet as big as that home run was, Johnson, like everyone else, is marveling at Yoenis Cespedes these days, watching him lift the Mets to heights this season they never imagined six weeks ago.

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After all, it was Cespedes who broke the tie with a two-run home run that led to a 5-3 win and sweep of the deader-than-dead Nationals, giving him 14 home runs in 36 games for the Mets since he arrived courtesy of the Tigers at the trading deadline.

And while David Wright went so far as to say that Cespedes should get serious consideration for National League MVP the way he’s playing, and Terry Collins then compared him to the Barry Bonds he saw when he coached with the Pirates, Johnson put the Cuban star’s heroics in even more historic perspective.

“It’s crazy,” Johnson said. “My rookie year I got to see Andruw (Jones) put us on his back. He hit 52 home runs that year, and every one felt like it tied a game or won it for us. Every time he did it you were just shaking your head.

“When guys with this much talent get on these rolls, it’s unbelievable. So much fun to watch. It really does remind you of some throwback player, like your dad used to tell you about Clemente or Mantle.

“You feel like you’re watching that. He’s got the arm, he’s legging out triples. All the stuff he’s doing — it’s Bugs Bunny. It’s crazy.”

Call it hyperbole if you must, but that feeling is real in the Mets’ clubhouse, that Cespedes is leading them on some magical run to October, and from there, well, who knows.

They didn’t just bury the Nationals with this sweep, they drove a stake through their heart with wins against their three best pitchers, more so by pulling off comebacks in each game.

And while perhaps nothing tops rallying from a 7-1 deficit as they did on Tuesday night, this one was remarkable in its own right, simply because Strasburg was completely overmatching Mets hitters for most of the night, racking up 13 strikeouts in 7.1 innings, most of them with a curveball that was pretty much unhittable.

Terry Collins said it was the best he had ever seen Strasburg, and indeed, the performance reminded you of when he set the league on fire as a rookie before he needed Tommy John surgery.

Alex Brandon/AP

It’s not just Cespedes, Kelly Johnson hits a big home run to tie the game off Stephen Strasburg.

Yet the Mets hung in there because, well, they have the pitching to match up with anybody. It was Wright, in fact, well aware of the ugly memories a seven-game lead in September might stir among Mets fans, who essentially said this team isn’t about to pull a collapse.

“It’s a much different team,” Wright said. “The biggest strength is obviously our starting pitching. No knock on what we had on those teams, but they’re not deGrom, Harvey, Syndergaard, Matz . . .

“When you have those types of arms, you don’t run into funks, where back in ’06, ’07 and ’08, the team was geared mostly around offense. And offense is a lot more fickle than solid starting pitching.”

On this night Jacob deGrom helped prove his point. He was nearly as dominant as Strasburg, totaling nine strikeouts, yet the Mets were trailing, 2-1, after seven innings when Collins pinch-hit Johnson for Wilmer Flores.

Johnson had been paying attention, watching Strasburg “carving us up” with the curveball.

“I figured he’d throw a curveball early in the count,” Johnson said. “I’m not going to hit that curveball, the way he was throwing it. I was determined I wouldn’t help him by chasing it.”

Alex Brandon/AP

Cespedes is on a ridiculous hot streak – even his teammates are in awe.

As it turned out, Strasburg fell behind 2-0, missing with a curve and a fastball, and Johnson made him pay, crushing a fastball into the right-field seats.

Soon enough Matt Williams was doing the Mets a favor by bringing in Drew Storen, who was a disaster on Tuesday night, and Cespedes, who hammered a laser of a double against him the night before, smashed a hanging slider to send the Mets to the sweep and beyond.

How far can they go? Right now anything feels possible.

“It’s definitely got that feeling,” Johnson said. “You feel like everything’s going your way. You hear that all the time from guys who get to the World Series — everything went right, we were meant to win it.

“Hopefully we’ve got a little of that magic. There’s no doubt we’re in an enviable position.”

They’ve been there before, a seven-game lead in September. This is worlds apart. If nothing else, it seems Cespedes won’t let them lose.

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YANKEES 5, RAYS 2

It may have been one of the most productive four-hit nights in Yankees history.

That was the Bombers’ modest hit total on Friday, but three of them landed in the seats as the Yankees took a 5-2 win over the Rays in front of 32,530 at the Stadium.

“I’ve said for us to win we usually need to hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Joe Girardi said. “That’s what we did tonight.”

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The victory was the sixth in seven games for the Yankees, who finally picked up ground in the AL East race for the first time in more than a week. The Blue Jays lost to the Orioles, which trimmed Toronto’s lead over the Yankees to just a half-game.

Jake Odorizzi (6-8) allowed only five baserunners — three hits and two walks — during his 6.2 innings for the Rays, but all three hits left the yard, and both walks came before home runs, making for an ineffective night for the 25-year-old righthander.

Alex Rodriguez, Brian McCann and Greg Bird all took Odorizzi deep, giving Luis Severino ample run support.

“Another great performance,” McCann said of the rookie. “He’s been doing that since his first start. . . . He’s just got poise. He knows he belongs.”

Severino (3-2) earned his third straight victory, allowing one run on seven hits and three walks, striking out five over a career-high 6.1 innings. Severino’s 2.04 ERA in his six starts represents the lowest by any Yankees starter since he joined the rotation a month ago.

“It’s very exciting. I want to help the team to win,” Severino said through an interpreter. “Every time I touch the mound, my team makes me be comfortable.”

Brett Gardner reached on a two-out infield single in the eighth and was the only Yankees baserunner not to score in the game. The Yanks did not have a runner in scoring position all night.

“We made the most of our hits,” Girardi said.

McCann led off the second with a walk, setting up A-Rod’s two-run blast to left field. It was Rodriguez’s 27th homer of the year, but his first since Aug. 20 and only his third in the past 32 games.

Odorizzi (6-8) retired seven straight after A-Rod’s homer, striking out five of them. McCann broke that streak with a shot over the Yankees bullpen, making him 11-for-17 (.647) with three homers against the righty.

“We’ve got guys that can hit the ball out of the ballpark, we take our walks. That’s what happened tonight,” said McCann, who tied his career high with 24 homers. “We got a walk, homer. Then another one. We can beat you in a lot of different ways.”

Severino stranded five runners — three of them in scoring position — over the first four innings. Evan Longoria ended Severino’s shutout with a leadoff homer in the sixth.

Tampa Bay put the tying runs on base as Severino issued a two-out walk to Asdrubal Cabrera and James Loney reached on an infield single off Greg Bird’s glove. Severino struck out Kevin Kiermaier to end the inning, pumping his fist after escaping another jam.

“You can tell why there’s a lot of excitement about him,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He looks like a really good pitcher. Young guy had a good feel for the strike zone (and) threw all of his pitches.”

Odorizzi’s odd night continued as he sat down eight consecutive Yankees following McCann’s fourth-inning homer, keeping the Rays within two runs through six innings.

Severino got the first out in the seventh before Grady Sizemore beat out a ground ball he hit into the shift in shallow right field. Girardi pulled his starter after only 91 pitches, and Justin Wilson recorded the final two outs in the seventh.

Odorizzi walked McCann to open the seventh, then struck out A-Rod. But Bird crushed a 2-2 splitter into the right-field seats, his two-run shot boosting the Yankees’ lead to 5-1.

Adam Warren pitched a scoreless eighth before allowing a run in the ninth, bringing in Andrew Miller. The closer got the final two outs for his 30th save. “It’s just important to win baseball games from here on out,” McCann said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s at home or on the road, we just have to continue to play good baseball and get as many wins as we can.”

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YANKEES 13, RED SOX 3

The Yankees’ offense continues to make their unstable rotation a moot point.

The Bombers broke open a tight game with a nine-run seventh inning on Tuesday night, cruising to a 13-3 victory over the rival Red Sox to begin a three-game set at the Stadium.

Brian McCann homered and drove in four runs, while Chris Young also went deep, adding three RBI. Five Yankees had two or more hits, helping the Bombers to their 11th win in the last 15 games.

The Yankees have scored 90 runs in their last 10 games, including 13, 12 and 13 in three of their past four. They also busted out for 21 last Monday in Texas, posting an 11-run inning in that blowout.

Can the offense keep up this absurd pace, covering for a suspect rotation?

“The bottom line is we’re winning games. However you win them, you win them,” Joe Girardi said. “Just keep doing it the way they’re doing it. That’s fine with me.”

The Yankees were clinging to a one-run lead after Masahiro Tanaka (8-4) allowed three runs over six-plus innings, but McCann and Young each drilled three-run homers in the nine-run frame.

“We’ve just got a lot of good players who are hot at the same time,” said Chase Headley, who had two of the Yankees’ 13 hits. “When you can do that, it’s a lot of fun – guys are having really good team at-bats, and we’re able to put up some big innings.”

With Michael Pineda out for at least a month, CC Sabathia still trying to get on track and an untested Luis Severino set to make his debut on Wednesday, the Yankees need Tanaka to provide some stability atop the rotation.

With Tanaka having pitched to a 5.08 ERA over his previous seven starts, Tuesday’s line – three runs on five hits and one walk over six innings – was a step forward, as was the fact that he appeared to be in control for most of his outing.

The Yankees scratched out a run in the first against rookie lefty Henry Owens (0-1), who was making his major-league debut.

Tanaka retired 13 of the first 14 Boston batters, the exception coming on Mike Napoli’s two-out double in the second, a routine fly ball that Young let fall in left-center field. Napoli sparked a two-run fifth for the Red Sox with a leadoff double, as Blake Swihart later singled in the tying run and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a sacrifice fly for a 2-1 Boston lead.

The Yankees put runners at second and third against Owens with nobody out in the sixth, but reliever Robbie Ross Jr. couldn’t put out the fire as Teixeira tied the game with a single and McCann doubled in another run to make it 3-2.

With 80 pitches through six innings, Tanaka came out for the seventh looking to give the Yankees some much-welcomed distance. But his eight-pitch battle with Pablo Sandoval ended with a solo homer to right-center field, pulling the Red Sox within one run – and ending Tanaka’s night as Girardi went to his bullpen for the final nine outs.

Tanaka has now allowed 16 home runs in 93.2 innings this season, one more than he gave up in 136.1 innings during his rookie year.

“Overall, I think everything was there today,” Tanaka said through his translator. “But that pitch to Sandoval, I made that mistake and I paid for that.”

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