NY Jets: Scouting the Indianapolis Colts ahead of Week 9

Football is weird. The NY Jets are even weirder.

The green and white pulled off a miraculous win against the then-red-hot Cincinnati Bengals this past Sunday. Led by perennial practice squad candidate quarterback Mike White, the Jets were able to feast on routes underneath, playing with what the Bengals gave them for the majority of the contest.

It worked.

The Jets played to their strengths and won the game in the trenches.

This team has won this kind of game before. Flashback to Week 4 of this year, the Jets, without much expectation, beat the now-seemingly unbeatable Tennessee Titans at MetLife Stadium.

27-24. 34-31. The Jets seem to score points when they have to against better competition (again, weird).

The Bengals, who now drop to 5-3 on the season, are right in the thick of things in the AFC North. The Jets, who improve to 2-5, are still a ways away from competing in the AFC East. But beating a team in the Bengals will surely help direct the ship in the right direction moving forward.

The NY Jets will head on the road to face the Colts in Week 8

Fast-forwarding to this week, the Jets don’t particularly have time on their side. A Thursday night matchup is on deck for the Jets to travel west to face the 3-5 Indianapolis Colts in Indiana.

The Colts, led by sixth-year quarterback Carson Wentz, can be stingy at times. The Jets have no easy task traveling to their home turf to attempt to pull out the win.

But with Mike White, who knows what’s possible. White was fantastic in Week 8, recording more than 400 yards passing. He has a chance to build upon an impressive performance this week against the Colts.

The Jets defense wasn’t a pushover this past week like it seemed to be against New England. When the team surrendered 54 points to the Patriots in Week 7, a strong gaze in the mirror was necessary for defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.

A much cleaner performance followed. Although they allowed the Bengals to score 31 points — at one point 17 unanswered — it’s the playmaking that kept them in the contest.

Two huge goal-line stops and a first-time Shaq Lawson interception later, the Jets are on to Indianapolis riding off an invaluable win.

Colts second-year wide receiver Michael Pittman is going to be a task on his own to stop for the Jets secondary. After limiting standout Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase to three receptions for 32 yards, the Jets should look to take a similar approach with Pittman.

Although Pittman isn’t nearly as explosive as Chase, the playmaking ability from the former second-round pick is something to keep a close eye on progressing throughout this one.

The Colts seem to have a running back tandem of their own. With the Jets deploying both Michael Carter and Ty Johnson, the Colts take a similar approach in establishing both Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines out of the backfield.

The run defense has to be stout against these two with the Colts boasting one of the league’s stronger offensive line units. It’s imperative that the Jets get home in stopping the run frequently throughout the contest.

White will be throwing against a seasoned secondary in Indianapolis. The Colts, who are led by ninth-year cornerback Xavier Rhodes, will be looking to take away White’s outlets in the passing game. This may cause White to look elsewhere, farther down the field, to combat the Colts’ efforts underneath.

This will certainly be no easy task for a quarterback making only his second career start under center.

But adversity seems to fuel White, and I’m sure he would like nothing more than to win two straight games against two worthy opponents.