Preview for Denver Broncos @ New York Jets
The Denver Broncos will hope the long journey to London does not end with a letdown against the New York Jets following their statement win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Denver had been largely unconvincing across the first four weeks of the season, and appeared to be drifting towards a meek defeat in Philadelphia last week when they fell behind 17-3.
But the Broncos scored 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to claim an impressive 21-17 triumph over the defending champions and improve to 3-2, with a meeting with the Jets offering them the chance to build significant momentum in the AFC playoff race.
The Jets produced some encouraging performances against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but last week’s miserable defeat to the Dallas Cowboys left New York as the only winless team in the league.
Yet head coach Aaron Glenn is not hiding from the scrutiny that comes with a winless start to his tenure in the largest media market in the United States.
“The thing that we’re not running from is the fact that we are where we are,” Glenn said. “We’re 0-5.”
However, he does feel that some distance and a change of surroundings could be beneficial for his team as they attempt to try fix their issues and end their wait for a victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“When you look at it, when you see guys that are running open, when you see missed tackles, when you see angles of pursuit, when you see all those things, just the little details of understanding how to play together, how to coordinate everything together as a unit,” Glenn said.
“Listen, that’s not one person. That’s us collectively, as a team, making sure that we get on the same page. And that’s why I like this situation [being in London] that we’re in right now — we’re away from everything.”
The one thing that Glenn might ideally like to change about the situation is the opponent.
Denver boasts a fearsome defense, one that ranks third in the league by Expected Points Added per play and first in success rate. In other words, they are a premier defense at preventing down-to-down success for offenses (success rate) and avoiding plays that would significantly increase an offense’s chances of scoring points (EPA).
The Broncos’ offense is distinctly more average, but their late explosion against the Eagles should provide confidence to a group that has plenty of talent surrounding quarterback Bo Nix.
And the matchup with the Jets figures to be extremely favourable to the Broncos. New York’s defense has allowed an average of 162.2 rush yards over the last four games since holding the Steelers to 53 in the opener.
Unless, there is a significant change in fortunes across the pond, Denver running backs J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey should be able to take a lot of the pressure off Nix and allow the Broncos to control a game for which they are understandably heavy favourites.
