(Sports Network) - In reality, the New York Jets' season-opening 48-point
outburst in a Week 1 defeat of the Buffalo Bills was only a month ago.
It just seems like 10 years.
Coach Rex Ryan and Co., losers of three out of four amid a rash of injuries
and ineffectiveness since that breakout triumph, return to the MetLife Stadium
circus tent this Sunday when they entertain No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck and
the resurgent Indianapolis Colts.
Ryan is insisting embattled starting quarterback Mark Sanchez, who's completed
less than 50 percent of his passes four times in five games, will keep his job
-- in spite of a gradually increasing drumbeat for the world's most popular
second-stringer, Tim Tebow.
Sanchez, a former Southern Cal draftee, was 14-of-31 with a touchdown and two
interceptions in a 23-17 loss to Houston on Monday, dropping his overall
completion percentage to a league-worst 48.4.
The Jets are 30th in the league with 293.4 yards per game.
"Yeah, no question (Sanchez will start)," Ryan said. "I'm not going to get
into the what-ifs and all that. We're not preparing to lose, that's for sure.
We're thinking we're going to win, starting this week."
Winners just twice in a lost season without an injured Peyton Manning in 2011,
the Colts equaled that total last week with an emotional 30-27 defeat of the
Green Bay Packers that came just six days after head coach Chuck Pagano went
public with a leukemia diagnosis.
Interim coach Bruce Arians stood by and watched as Luck threw 55 passes and
completed 31 of them for 362 yards with two touchdowns. The youngster led a
13-play, 85-yard drive to win it, ending with a 4-yard touchdown pass to
Reggie Wayne with 35 seconds remaining.
"That is what you're looking for in a quarterback. That grit. That will to
win," Arians said. "A rookie, I don't put (him) statistically in the
categories with (Tom) Brady and those guys. His passer rating is not going to
be as high as theirs, but he's playing at a level that far exceeds where he
should be at this time."
His primary target has been soon-to-be 35-year-old veteran Wayne, who caught
13 passes for 212 yards -- a career best -- against the Packers.
His 506 receiving yards in four games are third in the league.
"Those were a lot of big situations that he comes up in," Luck said. "It's not
that hard to throw the ball in the vicinity of a receiver and he goes out and
makes an amazing catch. He made everybody look good."
Wayne was inspired by Pagano, who'll be out indefinitely while undergoing
treatment and wrote a letter to the team prior to last weeks game demanding
the players focus on football.
"Chuck's instilled a lot in us," Wayne said. "His whole motto since day one,
the first meeting, has been team, team, team, team. Nothing else. So we've
wanted to do it every week as a team. That's all we practice, that's all we
preach."
Wayne has one 100-yard game and no touchdowns in seven games against the Jets.
On the ground, Indianapolis will face a New York rush defense that's second to
last in the league with 172 yards allowed per game. However, the Colts' No. 1
runner, Donald Brown, is out after surgery to repair cartilage in his knee
that was damaged against the Packers.
Rookie Vick Ballard will get the start in place of Brown.
For New York on offense, not much has been going well on the ground either.
Shonn Greene's scoring run in Week 1 is its only one of the season and the
Jets' 3.2-yard average is tied for 31st in the NFL.
"We have to get the run game going," Ryan said. "If we can run the ball, it'll
open up a lot of things in the passing game. We have to be more efficient
running the football."
Wayne caught one pass for one yard while Sanchez went 18-of-31 for 189 yards
and an interception in the Jets' 17-16 wild-card victory Jan. 8, 2011, the
teams' most recent meeting and Manning's last active game as a Colt.
In the regular season, the Colts lead the all-time series, 40-26. New York
won, 29-15, in Indianapolis in 2009, while Indianapolis won, 31-28, the last
the teams met on the Jets' home field in 2006.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
A fifth-round pick in April -- 170th overall -- Ballard gets his first pro
start in the absence of Brown and will see if he can generate the same sort of
success that other backs have managed thus far against the Jets.
Indianapolis cranked up the physicality while churning out 119 ground yards
against Green Bay in Week 5, and will lean on the 5-foot-10, 219-pound
Ballard, who's gained 42 yards on 21 carries in limited duty.
New York's troubles with the run began with Buffalo's C.J. Spiller in the Week
1 win and have continued since, including 200-plus allowed against San
Francisco, when Niners defensive back Carlos Rogers claimed the Jets defense
quit.
OVERALL ANALYSIS
With New England on the horizon next week and a pair of ugly losses to the
Texans and Niners in the immediate rear-view mirror, this is as close to a
must-win as Ryan has had in three-plus years in New York. And with the season
teetering on the verge of an early abyss, it's also a referendum for Sanchez,
who's lost six of eight starts since an 8-5 beginning to 2011.
Expect Ryan and defensive coordinator Mike Pettine to throw just enough chaos
at Luck to get it done, but, if not, prepare for the second coming of No. 15.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Jets 20, Colts 14
The Sports Network