The Jets are dangerous when they are unpredictable. End-arounds, jet sweeps, fly sweeps and even the option are among the options that New York has at its disposal, and to keep pace with the Broncos, they might try them all at some point.
The athleticism of quarterback Geno Smith makes this possible. But through five games this year, Smith has generated first downs on a higher percentage of his non-kneeldown run plays (9-of-22, 40.9 percent) than pass plays (44 of 156 pass plays, 28.2 percent).
According to ProFootballFocus.com, Smith holds the football for at least 2.6 seconds on 57.5 percent of his dropbacks, the third-highest rate of any quarterback with at least 50 dropbacks behind Tennessee's Charlie Whitehurst (64.2 percent) and Seattle's Russell Wilson (57.8 percent).
But Smith has completed just 33 of his 96 passes when he holds the football for that long. His completion percentage in that situation (42.3) is 18.5 percent behind Wilson's, and 7.7 percent behind Whitehurst's.
Smith does well at keeping plays alive, but as with many young quarterbacks, can be hesitant to commit to the run or the pass. He has the quickness and agility to keep plays alive, but often falls into trouble trying to decide, which puts him under the gun of an effective pass rush.
His inexperience also means the Broncos could try and disguise their intent as often as possible, to keep him off-balance.
"I can definitely see that we've got to disguise," said Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. "If we can disguise and try to confuse Geno, then that will help us out a lot, to make him make mistakes. That's one thing -- he's having to read the coverages and being a quarterback, you can't have a slow thought process with that rush coming.
"If we can make him think a little longer and hold onto that ball a little longer, that's going to help us coming out of our breaks and being able to make a lot of plays."
And that could help the Broncos counter Smith's ability to keep plays alive. As with the first three quarterbacks they faced this year and San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick next week, a mobile quarterback means that pass rushers need to keep chasing, and defensive backs have to stay with their receivers longer.
"he has the ability to make all the throws, so we've just got to be ready for that," Harris said. "There's going to be a lot more throws on the run, so, a lot of boot(legs) and misdirection things. That's the difference when you play a running quarterback: there's not a lot of drop-back passes, there's a lot more bootlegs, and trying to get them on the run, so we've got to be ready for them."
But what the Jets do best is run the football, with Chris Ivory and Chris Johnson providing a solid one-two punch, averaging 5.4 and 4.0 yards per carry, respectively.
"They do a good job running and they'll run if you let them," said Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio. "They've got good design and they've got good backs.
"It's a challenge for us to make sure we don't let them do what they're most comfortable doing, which is pounding people. So we've got a plan and we want to make sure we're taking responsibility with that. I think all defenses would like to make offenses one-dimensional and then get them off the field. That'll be the challenge for us."
