Predictions Summary Projections by Position Projection Team Boxes

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Prediction: DEN 34, NYJ 17 (Line: DEN by 8)

UPDATE: Eric Decker was limited in practices all week and is no lock to play. He obviously wants to face his old team but HC Rex Ryan said he was hopeful that he might play if he could get some work in on Saturday. Expect him to be a game time decsion on Sunday and to not be 100% if he does play.

The 3-1 Broncos made up for that Seattle loss by waxing the visiting Cardinals. The 1-4 Jets are on a four game losing streak with almost all facets of the team under fire. After losing three straight by exactly seven points. getting shutout 31-0 by the Chargers brought the Jets to a new low.

Losing Montee Ball for a few weeks shouldn’t be much more than a bump in the road for this passing machine. The Broncos still trail the Chargers by a half game but host them in week eight. It was also nice to see the Broncos willing to pile it on the Cardinals to reach a few records for Peyton Manning and Demaryius Thomas. They need to rack up the points and wins now before their final nine games contain six road venues.

QUARTERBACK : After four games, Peyton Manning already scored 12 times and comes off a personal best 479 passing yards and when Peyton Manning sets a record on you, it is going to really hurt. He’s a safe bet for high 200’s passing yards and at least two or three touchdowns every week.

RUNNING BACK : Montee Ball injured his groin but it will not require surgery. The injury is likely two to three weeks to heal and he will be back as early as week eight if not nine. In his place the Broncos are likely to run with a committee. Ronnie Hillman is the veteran of the group and is likely the primary back but Juwan Thomas could figure in as well as C.J. Anderson.

Anderson was inactive since he doesn’t play special teams but is not one to overlook. Chances are better that Anderson would play than Thomas.

Unfortunately this happens when the Broncos are on the road to face the Jets defensive front line. Likely not a lot is going to happen regardless.

WIDE RECEIVER : Andre Caldwell injured his knee in the win over the Cardinals and may not play this week. Wes Welker ended with seven catches for 58 yards and he continues to play a short role with only a half dozen catches per game. Emmanuel Sanders has topped 100 yards in each of this last three games but still has yet to score a touchdown.

Demaryius Thomas was rewarded for being a team player earlier this year with eight catches for 226 yards and two scores. His final catch was expressly thrown to beat Shannon Sharpe’s previous team record of 225 yards.

Everything is purring under this hood.

TIGHT END : Julius Thomas not only has a touchdown in every game so far, he has a total of seven scores in just four games. His yardage is not always that much but he is a touchdown magnet in the red zone. He leads the entire NFL in receiving touchdowns. He is just a tight end. Sort of.

MATCH TO THE DEFENSE: This is a bad week for the Jets to have one of the worst secondaries in the NFL. Every opponent throws at least two or three touchdowns against then including Derek Carr. The rushing defense has been stellar aside from a couple of breakdowns last week so expect little from the run game of the Broncos. But load ’em up and pull the trigger – Manning, Thomas, Thomas, Sanders and Welker all need to be starting this week. The Jets already allowed both Martellus Bennett and Antonio Gates to score twice on them.

It is only week five but this all smacks of “not going to get any better.” HC Rex Ryan already admits his job is on the line and since teams have learned all you have to do to defeat that defensive line is to throw over it, the Jets are hard-pressed to compete. Benching Geno Smith did nothing last week. Bottom line here – somehow a backfield with a high mileage vet and the Saints #4 back coupled with receivers that might be #3 on any other team means the offense is just not getting any better. It has nothing to get better with by this time.

QUARTERBACK : HC Rex Ryan made his weekly ” I believe in Geno Smith” speech to be repeated next week and onward until someone gets fired. Smith is stuck on throwing one score each game and moderate to low yardage. In fairness – hard to say how good or bad he really is. All we know is he is not good enough to make this crew turn into a real competitor.

RUNNING BACK : Chris Johnson continues to shrivel from sight and he has not ran for more than 44 yards since the season opener. At least he still gets a paycheck way better than yours or mine. And he sort of looks like a paycheck is about the only reason he is getting dressed. Chris Ivory hasn’t scored since week two or had more than marginal yardage but he’s doing a lot more than Johnson each week.

WIDE RECEIVER : Here is the thing. Eric Decker was out last week with a hamstring though he nearly played. So he should make it here and he has been clearly the best (some would say only) wideout for the Jets with two touchdowns and as many as 63 yards in one game. This is his chance for a revenge game facing his old team. But this is not Steve Smith and Joe Flacco ripping up the stumbling Panthers. It would be Decker and Geno Smith facing the Broncos. It is like you once worked on Wall Street and now you show up with your name sewn on your uniform next to “Welcome to Jiffy Lube!”

Decker is the only reason this group is ranked #31 instead of #32.

TIGHT END : No fantasy value though Jace Amaro is coming along slowly.

MATCH TO THE DEFENSE: What the Jets are bringing to the party is more important than what they meet. Expect whatever the Jets accomplish to come mostly in trash time later in the game. No one is a safe start but Decker and Ivory had some upside.

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