The Jets Might Have Asked Santa Claus For the Broncos

Denver looks like everything the Jets could want in an opponent

If you were given an NFL team and assigned to build a roster expressly designed to lose games to the current New York Jets, you would have a very difficult time doing a better job of it than the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos don't run the ball well -- they are 32nd in the league in rushing efficiency -- and they don't even seem to be all that interested in running the ball most of the time. They have started five different offensive line combinations in the first five games and, based on reports out of Denver, they could go with number six come Sunday. That's helped contribute to 12 sacks of Kyle Orton through five games and will absolutely contribute to the Jets bringing the house early and often on Sunday.

Defensively, the Broncos have been torn apart on the ground. They gave up 233 yards to the Ravens last week and are giving up 4.4 yards per carry overall. Their pass rush has mustered just five sacks, opponents are completing just under 62 percent of their passes and, if all of that isn't enough, they're missing safety Brian Dawkins. Four other key members of the defense will miss the game with injury as well, making this a week where the Broncos might as well just let the Jets know which why they'd like to be beaten.

Things are obviously never that easy in the NFL, especially not when you're playing on the road at high altitude, but has there ever been a game that seemed more ripe for a blowout? The Jets can keep shoving Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson down the Broncos' throats, force them to move players up into the box and then throw deep to Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes and Dustin Keller. The one-dimensional Broncos offense will be faced with a blizzard of blitzes and they won't have much in their arsenal to slow it down because you don't have to respect their rushing game.

There's a flip side to all of this, of course. There's the chance that the combination of a short week after a big prime time game, a long trip to a difficult building and a game that doesn't weigh all that heavily in the playoff race could combine to keep the Jets from playing their best. 

Still, it's a nice sounding recipe, even if it doesn't seem like Darrelle Revis will be in the kitchen. The cornerback is flying out to Denver with the team -- thankfully, he's not driving -- but with next week's bye giving them a chance to rest him for two weeks while missing just one game has to be awfully tempting. The Broncos love to throw, something that would seem to make his return a priority, but the rest of the secondary needs the work and the Jets should be confident that they can win on Sunday without a less than 100 percent Revis in the game. 

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.

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