The New York Jets (5-8) will have a short week as they will be taking on the Baltimore Ravens in what could be a very painful game to watch or maybe not. The Baltimore Ravens are by far the best team in the NFL right now with an 11-2 record, and they have done it by using all three of their former Heisman trophy winners in Lamar Jackson, Mark Ingram, and Robert Griffin III. Their offense has been one of the best in the league and they do it in many different ways, one of which is running the football. Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman has done a terrific job working to Lamar Jackson's strengths and ultimately incorporating everything else. They love to run the ball and then working the play action into the schemes as well, but what makes Jackson so dangerous is that he can run the ball at anytime or improvise at the last minute when he sucks in the defense before throwing it to the open receiver. Therefore the Jets are in for a tough test tomorrow night, but they could be up for it even without there best players.
The Ravens offense is the best in the league in terms of running the football with Ingram and Jackson in the backfield, in fact they average over 100 yards rushing every game. They are currently 1st in the NFL with 5.5 YPC (Yards per carry) and first in YPG (Yards per Gain) with 200.9, what's even more impressive is that Jackson is only the second quarterback in NFL history to rush for 1,000+ rush yards in a season. But despite all of the injuries they had, the New York Jets defense has only allowed 1 running back to rush for over 100 yards in a game. Their rush defense as a whole are the best in the NFL with only allowing 3.0 YPC and a 78.8 YPG, they'll have to really focus on eye discipline tomorrow because the Ravens have multiple guys in the backfield that can turn it loose.
When it comes to the throwing the football, the Ravens love to get their tight ends involved more than their receivers. In fact, Mark Andrews is their leading receiver in terms of yards and touchdowns, but they also have two other good tight ends in Hayden Hurst and Nick Boyle. Last week against the Buffalo Bills, the Ravens tight ends caught two of Lamar Jackson's three touchdown passes. Those three tight ends are very good in the passing game but people don't seem to talk about how good they are with blocking.
The Jets pass defense hasn't been the best this year because of the lack of depth with their secondary and how banged up they are, but this matchup may play into their favor as they allow the fifth fewest yards to a tight end this year. If the defense can not only stop the run and contain the tight ends, the Jets could very well be in this game.
As for the offense, they might have some trouble as the Ravens defense sacked Josh Allen six times last week with their offensive line, and they brought the blitz on most occasions. Therefore if the Jets want to have some success, they will need to work on their short game which means more dump off passes and getting the ball to Le'veon Bell.