Broncos vs. Jets 2014: Denver heads back to New York to face struggling Jets
The Denver Broncos are 3-1 and have plenty of confidence heading into New Jersey as they take on the struggling New York Jets.
Broncos vs. Jets
The last time the Denver Broncos played in New Jersey, it was a disaster. That shouldn't have much impact on Sunday's Week 6 game against the New York Jets, however, as the Broncos were dominated by the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl the last time. New York is ... in a decidedly worse place than the Seahawks.
Denver is 3-1 thus far on the season, with its only loss being to those same Seahawks in their Super Bowl rematch. The team is coming off a dominating victory over the surprisingly tough Arizona Cardinals in Week 5. Peyton Manning, predictably, is leading one of the top passing offenses in the NFL and the defense is playing well enough to supplement that side of the ball.
New York shows well in some categories as well, with a surprisingly strong running game and run defense, but it hasn’t translated to wins. They’re currently 1-4 and fourth in the AFC East. Head coach Rex Ryan can’t figure out what he wants at the quarterback position and the Jets have to be thinking about potentially moving on from him if this season doesn’t improve sooner rather than later. A win over the tough Broncos would certainly help.
Digits
New York's passing offense is laughably bad -- the worst in the league. The Jets throw for just 184.0 yards per game on average and New York benched Geno Smith at halftime last week. Smith, who will start once again this week, completed just 58.1 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and six interceptions. Michael Vick didn't fare well in relief last week and completed just 8-of-20 passes for 47 yards off the bench, later admitting that he didn't take practice seriously.
But the rushing offense is a different story. Chris Ivory is playing great football, rushing for 318 yards on 59 carries with two touchdowns. That's a per-carry average of 5.4 yards, with Chris Johnson adding another 191 yards and a touchdown. The Jets have the No. 6 rushing offense in the NFL, with 139.2 rushing yards per game on average.
Denver is solid against the run this season, though, allowing just 88.3 rushing yards per game on average. That may have something to do with the struggling running games of some of the teams they’ve played, but the Broncos have worked well with what they’ve been up against. It’s the pass defense that has struggled. The Broncos allow 258.5 passing yards per game on average, 22nd in the league. Whether Smith and the Jets can take advantage remains to be seen.
The Broncos can also throw the ball, of course. Manning and the Broncos offense managed 317.0 passing yards per game, which is good for third in the league. New York has the No. 15 pass defense in the league and has played well against solid quarterbacks thus far this season, but Manning and Denver’s offense is a different beast entirely.
Who to watch
Ronnie Hillman: Starter Montee Ball has not ran particularly well this season, with a per-carry average of 3.1 yards and a touchdown. Ball sustained an injury in the team's last game and Hillman had to take over. He played well, carrying the ball 15 times and picking up 64 yards. He'll be getting the start against the Jets and is definitely a player to watch.
Geno Smith: After being benched at halftime last week and taking criticism for missing a team meeting, Smith could use a bounce-back week if he’s going to quiet any of the detractors. He’s struggled this season and hasn’t convinced many he is a franchise quarterback. Although Vick struggled in relief last week, the Jets may be forced to make a move at some point if Smith continues to limit what New York does offensively.
Eric Decker: Decker has struggled this season, but a lot of that can be attributed to Smith. The rest of it can be attributed to a lingering hamstring injury that kept him out of New York's last game. Decker may or may not play, but he's expressed a desire to do so. That likely has a lot to do with the fact that he's facing his old team for the first time.
How to watch
Where: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford
When: 1 p.m. ET
TV: CBS
Announcers: Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts
Online streaming: Verizon NFL Mobile, NFL Sunday Ticket
The venue
MetLife Stadium opened in 2010 and is one of the top stadiums in the league. As noted above, the venue played host to the Super Bowl last season, opening the door for other cold weather cities to potentially do so. It's a shared stadium, as the Jets and New York Giants worked together to get it funded and built. Cheering the Jets on is a home crowd that is as loud as the loudest of them.
Odds
The Broncos opened as six-point favorites for the game, but the line quickly widened from there. Denver could be had favored by as much as 10 points, according to OddsShark.
Preliminary judgment
Out of the seven experts picking for SB Nation, all of them went with the Broncos to win this one, which isn’t a surprise. All eight of the experts over at CBS Sports felt the same way, as did both of them with Yahoo! Sports.
Further reading
For more on the Jets, go to Gang Green Nation. If you want more on the Broncos, head on over to Mile High Report.
