Jets Vs. Broncos Week 5 Preview: How The Fuck Are The Jets Favored Here?

I’ll be brutally honest here. I no longer feel much confidence at all about the Jets winning football games. It needs to be said because although I’ve spent the last 2+ months pumping this team up with air and trying to my hardest to get myself and everyone who reads these blogs excited about the future, it’s all been 1000% genuine. It’s just how I am as a Jets fan and frankly as a sports fan in general. Rooting for bad teams sucks and if you can’t make yourself believe, at least early on in the season, then there’s no point in rooting for that team in the first place.

With that said, I just don’t know anymore. I don’t know if Todd Bowles is really the coach we need to get this team out of the basement. I don’t know if we have the right coordinators to maximize the potential of the young talent we’ve got on the roster. I’m not at all ready to speak on Sam Darnold’s future. But after a Week 1 performance that had everyone, myself included, just about ready to suck his dick, he’s come back down to earth and looked like a rookie still learning how to read defenses and make plays down the field.

None of that is a big deal. But looking at a Week 5 matchup against a struggling Denver Broncos team that still has one of the NFL’s elite pass rushing talents on D, I’m really struggling to cook up a scenario in my mind where things go right and the Jets win this game.

At the beginning of the year there were a ton of question marks, but there were also a few things I was fairly certain we’d be able to do effectively. I thought we’d be able to run the ball at an at least average rate. I thought we’d be able to play at the WORST solid defense and operate with a “bend don’t break” philosophy given our lack of a pass rush. I thought we’d be able to stretch defenses down the field with some explosive WRs like Robby Anderson and Terrelle Pryor, as well as attack defenses with quick timing routes to guys like Quincy Enunwa and Jermaine Kearse. That one still stands true but it doesn’t mean shit when it’s literally the only thing the Jets have been able to do consistently on offense.

I’m sorry for being so negative but this is therapeutic for me and maybe if I get this all out the Jets will surprise me and look like a decent team on Sunday against Denver. I’ve got a few more things I want to focus in on, so I’m gonna do that right now.

Let’s get into it.

Here’s To Hoping Von Miller Gets A Bunch Of Roughing The Passer Penalties When He Inevitably Sacks Sam Darnold

Yeah. That’s it right there. That’s probably our only hope. Fuck it, I honestly hope Jeremy Bates makes it part of the offensive game plan. Every once in a while let’s just let Miller through for a clean shot and hope that he gets so hyped up he doesn’t remember to turn into a ghost and defy physics and the laws of gravity after he delivers a bone-crushing hit to our potential franchise QB. It’s a free 15 yards and an automatic 1st down and we haven’t had many 15 yard plays on offense this year so it sounds prettaaaay prettayyy good to me.

Sam Darnold Needs To Keep Getting Better And Also Maybe Throw The Ball Down The Field?

Surprise. Sam Darnold needs to be better. He was better against Jacksonville than he was against the Browns (who are good), but it obviously wasn’t good enough. You can point fingers at the game plan all you want but that’s also lazy and at some point Sam Darnold needs to show more of the improvisation and playmaking ability that he showed at USC and even during the preseason.

I don’t think Jeremy Bates has done the best job helping him be successful and maximizing the talent around him. But Robby Anderson forgot how to hold onto the football once he catches it and Terrelle Pryor is a big dumb idiot loser who looks just about ready to talk himself out of another NFL locker room. The only consistent WR we have is Quincy Enunwa, whom I love very much, but it’s just not enough.

Also, being able to run the ball effectively would do wonders for helping Sam Darnold. It’s hard enough as is being a rookie QB in the NFL and trying to singlehandedly keep your team in a game by throwing the ball a bunch of times. When you have to do it against a defense who knows you can’t run the ball anymore, it becomes even harder. Sam Darnold is talented and I still think he will be successful in this league, but he’s not ready to throw the ball 30-40 times a game and expect to be successful. It’s unrealistic to expect anything else.

That Reminds Me, We Need To Run The Football Effectively

I’m ready to talk about how Isaiah Crowell would be getting shredded by the NY media if it wasn’t for his 1 long run in the first game of the season. Beyond that, he hasn’t done much at all. He’s scored a few touchdowns and that’s all well and good, but he’s been nowhere near consistent enough to take pressure off Darnold and the passing game.

Bilal Powell is so beloved at this point, I have no desire to say anything negative about him so I wont. He is what he is. He’s been an awesome weapon out of the backfield in passing situations, but obviously what he lacks is the reason Isaiah Crowell was brought here in the first place. If neither of them can step up and start being more consistent, it will continue to be a long year.

Yes, I understand a lot of this can be pinned on the offensive line. They’re not good. I’ve already talked about that so much I just don’t have the mental strength to do it anymore. That’s also why I said what I said about Von Miller. Read between the lines guys.

Injury Report

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Nothing really new here other than Trumaine Johnson, who has been ruled out for Sunday. That’s obviously not ideal but he also didn’t play very well against the Jaguars. All we can do now is put on a brave face and hope for the best from whoever gets the nod in his place. I have a feeling they’re gonna keep Skrine in the slot, so I expect to see more of guys like Daryl Roberts and even the recently unsuspended Rashard Robinson.

Also, let the record show that Quincy Enunwa is fine.

Prediction

Well, let’s see here. Things have not been going well for the Jets. I just put together 1000 words on that. We all get it. Also, we’re talking about the Jets, so there’s not really any reason to think it’s gonna change miraculously. Again, I’m just being honest here.

Howevah, with that in mind, the Broncos are also not that good. Case Keenum has been worse than Sam Darnold and they’re starting a guy named Phillip at RB who I’m like 90% sure is white and has dreadlocks (I’m 100% sure about the dreadlocks part). I’m not scared of their offense at all, I’m just scared about our defense forgetting who they’re supposed to be covering again. If Todd Bowles can figure that part out, I don’t think the Jets give up a TON of points.

So what it comes down to is everything I mentioned above. If the Jets can run the ball somewhat effectively and Jeremy Bates can find Sam Darnold like 5-7 opportunities to make a big play, I actually slightly believe we can win this game. I didn’t feel that way when I started writing this but I guess that just shows you how fucked up and damaged my brain is as a sports fan.

20-13 Jets

You heard it here first.