NY Jets: Scouting the Indianapolis Colts ahead of Week 3 matchup

The NY Jets are set to face off against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

It’s back to the drawing board for a team in the NY Jets who are struggling to find their identity two weeks into the regular season.

This week gives the Jets a new opportunity to prove they’re not the worst team in the NFL. A low bar to clear as they’ve dug themselves quite a hole this early in the season.

Injuries have started to mount once again for a Jets team that has been poisoned with bad luck thus far.

With wide receivers Breshad Perriman (ankle) and Jamison Crowder (hamstring) not looking good for Sunday’s slated matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, the team will likely look to elevate former Georgia receiver Lawrence Cager from the practice squad.

A player fans have been clamoring for to receive the call-up looks to finally make his debut.

Other injury concerns include center Connor McGovern who sat out of practice on Wednesday and Thursday with a hamstring injury, although Adam Gase was reluctant to rule him out for this week’s game.

If he can’t go, Josh Andrews would likely substitute. Andrews received his first taste of regular-season NFL action this past Sunday against the 49ers in relief of McGovern who left early.

Cornerback Quincy Wilson is currently in concussion protocol after suffering the injury this past weekend, expect him to be out for Sunday’s contest.

Both right tackle George Fant (concussion) and safety Ashtyn Davis (groin) showed up on the injury report after Wednesday’s practice, indicating that these injuries happened during Wednesday’s session.

If this is the case, Fant will likely be sidelined and Chuma Edoga would take his place in the starting lineup. This would also mean that Davis could very well miss this week’s game as well.

For the Colts, two notable players missed Wednesday’s practice — cornerback Rock Ya-Sin (illness) and tight end Jack Doyle (knee). A couple of developments to keep an eye on as we start to zero-in on Sunday’s bout.

The NY Jets have a few positional battles to keep an eye on this week.

Regarding in-game positional battles, one to surely watch will be left tackle Mekhi Becton versus defensive Justin Houston.

Becton has held his own in these first two contests against a couple of formidable defensive fronts. Houston, 31, has already made his presence felt while recording 1.5 sacks in his first two games.

Another positional group to keep an eye on is how the wide receivers will fare matching up against a Colts’ defensive unit that is fifth in defensive efficiency thus far this season, per Football Outsiders.

With Breshad Perriman and Jamison Crowder both potentially sidelined, Sam Darnold will likely look to tight end Chris Herndon and Chris Hogan to lighten the load, which will be no easy task against Indianapolis’ secondary.

As mentioned above, Sam Darnold will look to build upon his admirable performance this past Sunday with an even better one against a similar defense in rankings.

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Darnold doesn’t have to play magician — at least he shouldn’t have to — against an Indianapolis Colts’ defense that has been reluctant to giving up big plays against both the run and the pass so far through two games.

Darnold played well given the circumstances last week, but will it be enough to pull out a much-needed win against a fellow AFC opponent? Probably not.

Head coach Adam Gase, who has been unwilling to adapt to current NFL trends, will likely continue his dink-and-dunk style of play-calling that has gotten the Jets to a wildly impressive 0-2 start to kick-off a strange 2020 season.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, whose defense was hesitant to tackle this past weekend, will have his hands full in attempting to stop quarterback Phillip Rivers and this underrated Colts wide receiver corps.

On the ground, the Colts deploy a running-back-by-committee sort of deal. With rookie Jonathan Taylor leading the way with his impressive explosiveness and tough-as-nails mentality, the Jets will certainly have their work cut out for them.

The Jets will look for their first win of the season against a team in the Colts that are aiming to go 2-1 for the second consecutive year.

Score Prediction: Colts 24, Jets 14