Jets Vs. Colts-Week 6 Preview

[JetNation]

After facing two of the best all around teams in the league, the Indianapolis Colts led by rookie phenom Andrew Luck, are coming to Metlife Stadium this weekend. With the media in a frenzy about Mark Sanchez vs. Tim Tebow, Rex’s accountability, and Tannenbaum’s lack of knowledge as a scout, the Jets have had many distractions the past few weeks. In order to quiet these distractions, Mark Sanchez and the offense have to start to look like a well-oiled machine. They can’t be successful averaging 87 yards per game on the ground. They can’t afford for miscommunications between offensive line and quarterback, and quarterback and his receivers. In order to silence the critics, the Jets will have to put together a solid game against the Colts.

The Colts hold the overall lead in the series 40-26, but lost the last time the two teams played in 2011 playoffs.

Offense

Andrew Luck has shown that picking him #1 overall will be well worth it in the future for the Colts. He is surprisingly agile, has excellent poise in the pocket, makes tremendously smart decisions for a rookie and has a very good arm. He can make all the throws and with Reggie Wayne, Donnie Avery, and deep threat. T.Y. Hilton. His tight ends are Dwayne Allen and Luck’s college classmate Coby Fleener.

Running the ball is Vick Ballard (21 rush, 42 yards). Ballard will now be taking the majority of the plays at running back because Donald Brown is out 2-3 weeks with a knee injury.

This could be a good week for the defensive line of the Jets. With a lack of a running game, and the fact that Luck has been sacked 9 times so far this season, it could be a breakout game for the Jet’s defensive line.

Colts Offense vs. Jets Defense ADVANTAGE: Jets

Defense

The defensive line of the Colts is mediocre at best. However, they make up for it with perennial Pro-Bowler Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. Teams have accounted for Freeney which has helped Mathis get 5 sacks so far this season, as well as, defensive end Cory Redding get to the quarterback twice.

Jerrell Freeman(LB) leads the Colts with 22 tackles this season and one interception. The defensive backs are very athletic. The corners are Vontae Davis (traded from Dolphins in offseason), and Jerraud Powers (6 pass deflections). Tom Zbikowski and Antoine Bethea bring a veteran presence to the defensive backfield.

With the Jets struggling to run the ball, they need to get a run game established early and often against the Colts. They need to sustain drives to keep Luck and the big play capability of the Colts offense off the field. A bounce back game is a necessity from Sanchez as the media is already calling for him to be replaced, traded, or released. Rex Ryan has made it clear that Mark is the starting quarterback, but a bad game against the Colts can lead to even more speculation. Sanchez and the Jets will need to take advantage of the aggressive nature of the Colts defensive backs and take what the defense gives them, which this week, can be a 300 yard passing day.

Colts Defense vs Jets Offense ADVANTAGE: Colts

Special Teams

Indianapolis has Adam Vinatieri as their place kicker.  A 40 year old veteran who has been a big game kicker his entire career. This year he is 7-10 on field goals with a long of 53 yards.

Their punter is Pat McAfee who’s averaging 49 yards per punt.

Returning kicks for the Colts are Lavon Brazill and T.Y. Hilton who are speedsters and can change the course of a game with one long return.

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[Warhawk]

Howdy, Colts fan here. I'll be at the game on Sunday (I'm from Connecticut).

Thought I'd supplement your analysis of my team a bit with a few notes from our perspective.

Offense

Luck's been very impressive, no doubt, but he will throw a few bad passes, as rookies tend to do. Aside from his pick last week (which was a very bad decision), he had at least 2 throws I can remember that were dangerously closed to being picked off. And, there have been some issues with some of the younger receivers tipping passes they should catch. I think for the Jets to have success they'll have to take advantage of the opportunities playing a rookie QB, albeit a good one, provides. If 3 or 4 Luck passes go right into the hands of Jets defenders, but they only pick off one, or none, that's bad news for the Jets, since so far Luck has shown that if he makes a mistake, and you fail to capitalize, he'll make you pay for it.

Don't really know what to say about Ballard. We had really high hopes for him in the preseason to split time with Brown, but even though Brown hasn't been great (partly due to the o-line), Ballard has been worse. It remains to be seen if more carries will help him any. Still, if I had to guess, I'd say Jets fans don't have to worry too much about their run defense tomorrow. As a side note, expect to see either Mewelde Moore or Delone Carter (or both) see some carries as well. Carter has had fumbling issues in the past, but we've been trying to develop him into a good power back. Moore is pretty much a known quantity - he's alright.

The offensive line isn't as good as some of us want it to be, nor as bad as some of us like to think. With Olsen gone and McGlynn a lot better than he was in the preseason, they're at least competent, but make more mistakes than we'd like. Castanzo is a good left tackle, and Justice isn't bad, but the Jets may be able to capitalize on the Colts' linemen's inconsistency. The biggest challenge for the Jets pass rushers, though, probably isn't the linemen, but Luck himself, who has shown excellent pocket presence and mobility so far. Luck has also shown he has a good grasp on when to run - he has 10 first downs on 16 carries, the best percentage of any NFL player with double-digit carries (Kaepernick on the 49ers is second - RGIII has run the ball 42 times, but only has 16 1st downs to show for it).

Defense

The D-line definitely qualifies as mediocre. We drafted a guy named Josh Chapman out of Alabama in the 5th round, who was a steal, but he's still on the PUP list after playing through last season with an ACL tear. We hope he'll be ready for the last few games, but as it is right now we don't really have a true nose tackle, which is an issue stopping the run. Still, the guys we do have are pretty good as creating pressure up the middle - a lot of the sacks on Rodgers last week were the result of guys like Redding getting a push, and Mathis and Freeney forcing Rodgers up in the pocket from the outside.

Freeman is good. The Colts linebackers are the best unit on the defense, even with Pat Angerer out (btw I'll be the guy in the Pat Angerer jersey tomorrow). Fokou is a good backup even if he was a bit of a disappointment as a starter for Philly. Unfortunately for the Colts, Mathis is out, which severely limits the pass rush. Mathis was quicker on the uptake than Freeney in learning OLB, but Freeney has been solid in the time he's played so far this year, so we're hoping he'll gradually get better as the season goes along. Jerry Hughes looked good in the preseason but has been quiet so far in the regular season. He's got some talent though, so I would say the Jets ignore him at their own peril. As far as the run defense goes, it's important for the Jets to get good blocking at the second level - the Colts D-line may not be formidable, but the linebackers will give you a tough day if you let them.

Jerraud Powers is, by far, the best corner the Colts have. He would be much more highly regarded around the league if he had better hands, he's dropped a lot of picks, but he works hard and makes good reads. Not an overly gifted player from a physical perspective, but he makes plays. Vontae Davis will be out, which hurts the Colts in the secondary a lot. While Davis gave up a pretty high QB rating earlier in the season, he was also very seldomly targeted, suggesting to me that QBs tended not to throw his way unless he made an obvious mistake. Replacing him will be Cassius Vaughn, who we all were kind of sick of in the preseason, but who has suddenly started playing pretty well. Darius Butler and Josh Gordy are behind those 2. We cut Justin King earlier this week.

Special Teams

I probably don't have to say much about Vinatieri, but McAfee I think is one of the more underrated punters in the league. He's got a very good leg and can get away good kicks even when backed up. He's also kind of a nut, check out some of his videos and stuff.

As the returners go, Hilton is the PR. He was very good in college, still waiting for him to break one in the NFL. Rookie, though, can get a bit jumpy back there. It's likely you'll see Cassius Vaughn returning kicks. While he's the starting CB with Davis out, he was the kick returner against the Packers, so he very well may be so again. I suppose it's a bit hard to say, but the 3 guys who are likely to see returns are Hilton, Vaughn and Brazill, though we haven't seen much of Brazill since the preseason.

[JET80TV]

colts schmoltz