Cleveland Browns vs New York Jets: Game Preview
Sep 3, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach
Todd Bowlesduring first half against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
New York Jets Offense
If you take a close look you can see a lot of similarities between the Jets and the Browns. Unfortunately that has included disappointing their respective passionate fan base recently over and over again.
On offense the Jets plan on running the ball a lot. The initial plan was easing Jets quarterback Geno Smith into his role onto the team and letting him slowly develop throughout the season while running the ball a lot to limit his impact on the game. Unfortunately, this all happened before Ik Enemkpali decided to punch Smith in the Jets locker room over a few hundred dollars. This led to Enemkpali being cut by the team and Smith getting his jaw broken. Smith now has to sit out multiple weeks of the season.
Now the man under center is a man many NFL fans know very well, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick is well known not necessarily for his performance at QB, but for all of the teams he has played for. The Jets will be Fitzpatrick’s sixth stop in his ten year NFL career after having a brief stay with the Houston Texans. While Smith is not lighting the world on fire by any means, the Jets prefer him over Fitzpatrick and for good reason. Smith has a great amount of upside and is young, so chances are we have not seen Smith’s best play at QB.
Fitzpatrick had a good year last year in Houston with 17 TDs, 8 INTs, 2,483 yards and a 63.1% completion rate; but other than that he’s been a middle of the road QB with 106 TDs, 88 INTs, 16,790 yards and a 59.8% completion rate in 77 starts. The Jets do have a new weapon on the outside in former Chicago Bear Brandon Marshall.
The five time Pro Bowler was the number one option with the Bears and will also be the number one option with the Jets this season alongside Eric Decker. While this passing attack of Fitzpatrick, Marshall, and Decker is not one to ignore, it does lack a lot of play making ability at each position. Instead of moving the ball primarily through the air with this group the Jets will look to move the ball mostly on the ground with their running game.
The Jets running backs are the most lethal group on the offense. Not many people talk about the leader of this group, Chris Ivory, but he deserves to have his name in the conversation when it comes to their top talent the Jets will bring to the table. In the past two seasons Ivory had 1,654 yards on 380 attempts for 4.35 yards per carry. Ivory has yet to achieve a 1,000 yards rushing season, but he definitely is capable of doing so with a few more carries.
Don’t be surprised if he achieves that milestone this year (might wanna keep an eye on him if you’re drafting a fantasy team this week). Bilal Powell will also get some carries on Sundays as the second back in the rotation. Powell ran for 838 yards on 209 carries (a little over 4 yards per carry) over the past two seasons for the Jets.
With a shaky QB situation the expectation is that these two will get plenty of carries against what used to be a horrible Browns run defense. Stopping these two backs will be key.
Next: New York Jets Defense