This has been one of the strangest weeks of my life. As a Jets fan, I really have no idea how to deal with success. Failure and disappointment are both good friends of mine. But success — that's a new one. Even when things have looked good in the past, I've always passed on drinking the green Kool-Aid that many a Jets fan would get sucked into.
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But this week something weird happened to me. For the first time in my life I'm expecting the Jets to win a big game.
Think about it: the Jets played the Colts closely in week 16. Sure, Peyton Manning left the game early, but there is no way you can tell me that the Jets had no chance of winning a game when they only trailed 15-10 midway through the third quarter. Would I have bet they would win at that point? No.
But the Jets have shown that one of their strengths is the ability to wear down opposing defenses late in the game. And to claim that they had zero chance of defeating the Colts is ridiculous.
As for this week, we all know what the Jets game plan is. Run the ball, make sure Sanchez doesn't throw more than 20 passes, and play great defense.
Offensively, the Jets need to put points on the board. The Colts do not have a good run defense and I fully expect Shonn Greene to walk all over them. Indianapolis has a small defensive line, and they are extremely vulnerable up the middle — a tradeoff for having one of the fastest defenses in the league. As long as Jets' offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer pounds the ball up the middle and stays away from the outside, the Jets should be able to control the clock through the run game.
As for Mark Sanchez, it looks like Schottenheimer has finally realized that Sanchez is not the Sanchize and should be playing the "Trent Dilfer" role. So while I do not expect Sanchez to win the game, I would be shocked if he had more than one turnover under the new color-coded conservative game plan.
Whenever someone plays the Colts, the key to winning is to slow down Peyton Manning. But the Colts lack an effective running game — something that has stopped the Jets defense all year. While I used to believe that a great defense couldn't stop a great passing offense in today's NFL, Darrelle Revis and the Jets have made me a believer.
I've always been hesitant whenever the Jets have had a little success in the past, but I'm not afraid of my team's shaky past anymore. I think I'm ready for game day now.
