New York Jets: Saints provide sternest test of the season

The 5-8 New York Jets will face their sternest test of the 2017 campaign when they take on the high-powered New Orleans Saints in Week 15.

Now that their disgraceful performance against the Broncos is in the rear view mirror, the New York Jets head into the lions den Sunday to face their sternest test of the 2017 season, a clash with the 9-4 New Orleans Saints in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Gang Green (5-8) will do so without quarterback Josh McCown, who broke his left hand against Denver and will miss the rest of the season. It’s a shame what happened to the 38-year old signal-caller because he is the team’s emotional leader and MVP on the field. He’ll be sorely missed behind center. Bryce Petty takes over at quarterback, and that is a recipe for disaster against New Orleans.

The Saints are the third highest scoring contingent in the NFL (averaging 28.5 points per game) and are battling for first place in the NFC South. New York’s playoff hopes were extinguished when they failed to show up in Denver. That was inexcusable. Todd Bowles is lucky he still has a job.

Even if the Jets give a strong effort in New Orleans it’s not going to matter because the Saints simply have too many weapons. They rank fourth in the league in rushing (135.5 yards per game) and feature two of the best running backs in the NFL in Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram.

Kamara has compiled 1,247 yards from scrimmage with 11 touchdowns while Ingram ranks sixth in the league in rushing (971 yards) with nine scores. Kamara suffered a concussion in Week 14 against Atlanta but is expected to suit up. He’s the odds-on-favorite for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and is one of the league’s most exciting players.

Drew Brees is not the prolific passer he used to be but he doesn’t have to be any more. The Saints finally have a balanced attack. With that being said, the future Hall of Famer is still one of the best quarterbacks around and has dangerous weapons in steady Michael Thomas (85 receptions for 992 yards and 4 TD) and Ted Ginn, Jr. (46-678-3). Kamara has 62 catches out of the backfield as well. So my question is simple – how are the Jets going to stop these guys? The answer is just as simple – they can’t.

Petty is in for a long day against a Saints defense that is 11th in the NFL in team defense. He was 1-3 as a starter last year and looked very rusty in his relief appearance for McCown in Denver. The University of Baylor product overthrew wide open receivers on several occasions. Perhaps a full week of practice with the first team will help but he is in a very tough spot. Bilal Powell and Matt Forte will have to bounce back from their miserable outings last week and establish the run to set up play-action for Petty.

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Robby Anderson (52 receptions for 848 yards, seven touchdowns), Jermaine Kearse (52-681-5) and Austin Seferian-Jenkins (44-323-3) all have to rebound from their poor performances in Denver. New Orleans is 10th in pass defense and 11th in sacks (34) so this should be a very long afternoon for Petty. New York’s beleaguered offensive line needs to step up in a big way but I have no confidence that they will in this mismatch.

Gang Green is listed as a whopping 16-point underdog per oddsshark.com. I’d be very surprised if they lost by less than 20. It’s going to be a very long afternoon in the Bayou for Bowles’ brigade.