In a game of milestones for Peyton Manning, Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker, the Denver Broncos had their best game of the season, blowing out the previously-undefeated Arizona Cardinals, 41-20, on Sunday. On the same day, the New York Jets had their worst game of the season as they were blown out of the water by the ruthless San Diego Chargers, 31-0.
Will Manning surpass Brett Favre’s record for most career touchdown passes in this game? Or will the Jets’ vaunted pass rush stop one of the best quarterbacks of all time? Read on as we give you a full breakdown of this game.
Speaking of quarterbacks with strong arms, Andrew Luck will lead the Indianapolis Colts against the Houston Texans on Thursday Night Football. Check out our preview for that game here, or find the rest of our Week 6 game previews here.
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Denver Broncos vs. New York Jets Preview
Where: MetLife Stadium, New Jersey
When: Sunday, October 12, 1:00 PM ET
Line: Denver Broncos (-9) at New York Jets (+9); total 47.5 – view all NFL lines
Betting on the Denver Broncos
After their victory over the Arizona Cardinals, the Denver Broncos moved into second in the AFC West, behind only the streaking San Diego Chargers. They are now 3-1 in the season, despite being 1-3 against the spread.
[sc:NFL240banner ]Peyton Manning made history against the Cards, as he became just the second quarterback to throw for 500 or more career-touchdowns. After throwing for 479 yards and four touchdowns against Arizona, Manning moved to 503 touchdown passes in his career, five shy of Brett Favre’s NFL record of 508.
Meanwhile, wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker also had big days. Thomas set a franchise record for most receiving yards in a single game with 226, 12 yards more than Shannon Sharpe’s 214 against Kansas City in 2002. Thomas also caught scoring passes of 31 and 86 yards. Meanwhile, Welker’s seven receptions in the game moved his career total to 854, the most catches in NFL history by an undrafted player.
Manning and his receivers should be able to exploit the Jets’ sketchy pass defense which has allowed an average of 286 yards through the air in their four losses.
With one of the best quarterbacks of all time, the Broncos haven’t relied too much on their rushing game this season. They only have 99 rushing attempts in four games (fourth-least in the NFL), and may continue to shy away from the running game against the Jets especially with lead back Montee Ball hurt with a serious groin strain.
On the other side of the ball, the Broncos limited the Cardinals to just nine first downs for the entire game and held their opponents to 3-for-16 on third down conversions. Their pass rush was also in play with linebacker Von Miller leading the team with 1.5 sacks and four QB hits. The Broncos’ defense should be able to find their way to get to the Jets’ quarterback – whether it’s Geno Smith or Michael Vick – who have taken a combined average of 2.5 sacks per game.
The Broncos are 13-3 against AFC teams since 2013.
Betting on the New York Jets
The New York Jets have dug themselves into a hole. After their embarrassing 31-0 loss to San Diego, the Jets have now lost four-straight games to sit last in the AFC East.
The Jets only had four first downs through the first three quarters against the Chargers, and didn’t enter San Diego territory until 7:35 in the fourth quarter. Geno Smith was disappointing yet again as he went 4-for-12 for 27 yards and a pick for an ugly 3.1 quarterback rating in the first half against the Chargers. Replacing Smith in the second half, Michael Vick was just as ineffective, finishing with 47 yards and two sacks for a combined loss of 14 yards.
The Jets finished the game with 60 yards through the air for 1.8 yards per pass. Nevertheless, the Jets’ passing may see an upswing against Denver. The Broncos allow 258.5 yards and 21.8 points per game, but have faced playoff contenders Arizona, Indianapolis and Seattle in three of those games.
New York’s rushing offense wasn’t of much use either as they only tallied 91 yards on the ground. Leading running back Chris Ivory matched his lowest output this season finishing with 44 yards. Ivory may continue struggling going against the Broncos’ eighth-best rushing defense in the league allowing just 88.2 yards per game.
Still, on the other side of the ball, the Jets did have three sacks, two from Calvin Pace and one from Sheldon Richardson, against Philip Rivers and the Chargers. The Jets are also tied for first with the most sacks in the league (17) through five weeks in the season. That vaunted defensive line will has quite a challenge ahead of them against the Broncos’ excellent offensive line, which is tied at second in allowing the least sacks (four) on Peyton Manning this season.
The Jets are 0-4-1 ATS this season.
Writer’s Prediction
The Denver Broncos dominate a helpless Jets side to a lopsided victory. To get into the Week 6 action, create a betting account now.
