An inside look at Thursday’s Jets-Colts Week 9 matchup in Indianapolis:
Marquee matchup
Colts offensive line vs. Jets defensive line
This game will be decided by the big boys up front. Indianapolis has one of the better offensive lines in football, although star guard Quenton Nelson is dealing with a toe injury and his status is questionable.
The Jets have gone as the D-line has gone. Against the Patriots, they got beaten badly. Against the Bengals, the D-line won many of their matchups and made things tough on quarterback Joe Burrow. The line made two monster stops in the fourth quarter to seal the win over Cincinnati, with Shaq Lawson intercepting Burrow and Sheldon Rankins sacking him on third down a series later.
“That’s big,” Rankins said. “As a D-line, we’re always talking about, ‘Put it on us.’ We want that pressure. We want that added fuel. For Shaq to be able to come up with that pick and then me coming up with that sack, it all works hand in hand. Each and every guy out there on that D-line winning their one-on-one matchups that helps a single guy make a big play for this entire defense. It all works together.”
Costello’s call
Can the Jets keep riding the Mike White wave? I think White plays OK, but not close to what we saw Sunday. The Colts figure out how to take away the short stuff and a desperate Indy team pulls out a close victory.
Colts 24, Jets 20
4 Downs
AVT time: It is rare for a guard to have a highlight play, but Jets rookie Alijah Vera-Tucker got a lot of love on Twitter this week for a block he threw on Mike White’s touchdown pass to Braxton Berrios just before halftime. Vera-Tucker showed his athleticism by blocking two Bengals linemen.
“AVT is on track,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “He’s exactly where we want him to be. Obviously, he’s always going to have things that he needs to improve on, but every other day I walk into Joe’s [Douglas] office and thank him for being very aggressive in going up and getting him. It was worth everything. AVT is a stud, knock on wood, and he’s only going to continue to grow and get better. He’s made of the right stuff, he’s got the right mindset. Football is very, very important to him, and he’s definitely not one of those O-linemen that are going to read his press clippings. His focus is getting better and trying to find a way to be his best.”
Taylor made: The Jets’ run defense has had its ups and downs this season. They enter this game ranked 18th in the NFL and face a huge challenge this week in the run game. Colts running back Jonathan Taylor has been tough to take down. He has 649 rushing yards on 161 carries and six rushing touchdowns. In addition, he has caught 21 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown.
The Jets got a boost last week with the return of linebackers C.J. Mosley, who missed the previous week with a hamstring injury, and Jarrad Davis, who played in his first game of the season after recovering from a preseason ankle injury. The Jets will need both to be flying around to slow Taylor down.
Like Mike: Last week’s game was not just a breakout game for Mike White. Another Mike also had his best day in the NFL. Rookie running back Michael Carter was a big reason why White threw for 405 yards. Carter took White’s short passes and ran through the Bengals’ defense to roll up big yards. Carter had nine catches for 95 yards to lead the Jets. He also ran the ball 15 times for 77 yards and a touchdown.
D buck stops here: The Colts have their own defensive stud up front in lineman Deforest Buckner. The 6-foot-7 big man in the middle of the Indy defense has four sacks this season and could be a major headache for the Jets’ interior offensive line, which has struggled. Saleh is no stranger to Buckner, having coached him with the 49ers for three years.
“DeForest Buckner, obviously I have recall with him, he’s probably one of the better players that I’ve ever coached,” Saleh said. “And he is an absolute problem.”