Strength of New York Jets Up the Middle Will Be Important Against Houston Texans

by John B on Nov 20, 2010 11:32 AM EST

An old baseball cliche states championship teams are built on strength up the middle. The Jets have similar strengths defensively. Sione Pouha, David Harris, and Bart Scott constitute an elite combination up front. Aside from the first half last week, it is difficult to remember any time in which they did not totally control the trenches. Football Outsiders has the Jets in the top five in stuffing runs up the middle.

The Texans love to run it up the middle. Their interior offensive line creates more running room than any team in the league. The middle of the field is the location of almost 40% of their carries.

Arian Foster has Houston posting the best average of yardage created by running backs according to the Outsiders, while Scott and Harris have the Jets in the top three in preventing big plays in the open field.

These are reasons I feel good about this game. The Jets are strong defensively to counter what Houston does well offensively. Darrelle Revis should be able to check Andre Johnson on the outside. On the inside, Pouha will likely be able to hold his own against Chris Myers, Antoine Caldwell, Mike Brisiel, and former Jet Wade Smith. Harris and Scott will be able to work in traffic to slow Foster down.

The Jets don't necessarily need to dominate Houston's offense like they did last year to win. They have the horses to at least fight to a standstill defensively. The Gang Green offense should be able to dominate the Texans defense.

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The Jets are probably the worst martchup possible for Houston. The offense revolves around Andre Johnson, who could be negated by Revis. They are easy to pass on and average against the run.

NY will score a lot, while Houston will have a tough time against the Jets D.

Contributing Writer - GangGreenNation.com
Marty Brodeur - Stealing Rangers' lunch money since 1990

by Ryan Alfieri on Nov 20, 2010 11:40 AM EST reply actions

Have we had anyone break any big runs against us?

Darrelle Revis once won a game of Connect Four in three moves.

by bm01bath on Nov 20, 2010 11:53 AM EST reply actions

HIllis had that nice TD run to oour defensive right side last week. Pace crashed down way too hard to blow up the FB and they got the edge. AP cracked off a 30 yarder on us o the left side as well. But i don’t remember any other big runs against us except for QB scrambles and maybe a couple in prevent situations.

by Crackback on Nov 20, 2010 11:58 AM EST up reply actions

And the Houston defense is weak up the middle.

Their starting MLB is out; and their DTs are somewhat samllish in stature (305 and 295). We should able to push them around. Not to mention their LDE weighs only 275 and will up head up on 335 lbs Damian Woody.

Our offense should be able to get some push in the running game and really open up an already poor defensive backfield for big plays.

by Crackback on Nov 20, 2010 11:55 AM EST reply actions

This game has me worried.

There are 2 things that worry me about this game. The 1st is that everyone thinks we should win. That right there gets me worried, because nothing ever really goes the way it should. The 2nd is that I had a dream that we were losing big going into the 4th QTR. My dreams have correctly predicted the outcome of 8 out of the 9 games we played this year.

Get busy winning or get busy losing.

by GangGreenMag on Nov 20, 2010 11:58 AM EST reply actions

win

Well the jets are seasoned now on the suppose to win games as they pulled out OT victory on teams that we were suppose to win. There will be no sneaking up on us the way we have played lately. I’m glad that we had these close games as we built character and togetherness because of it. If we are flat and the texans play lights out of course they can win this is the NFL. But if we play our game and don’t self destruct then your dream record will be 8 of 10.

by ocjet on Nov 20, 2010 1:28 PM EST up reply actions

To tell the truth, Hillis exposed a side of the defense thats venerable to the run.

The right side or off left tackle seems to be the weakest link of the Jets run defense. I think AP of the Vikings also got a big run on that side of the line. I’m not worry about the middle; running up the middle is running into the best part of the Jets run defense. However, I’m worry about the right side.

by BIG OH!!!!! on Nov 20, 2010 2:21 PM EST reply actions