La Canfora: Jets Could Surprise In 2015

How many games will the New York Jets win in 2015?

Nobody knows the answer to that question but the responses will vary widely depending on who you ask. However personally I think this team could be a 10 win team, I really do. Most see us as a 7 or 8 win team at the moment, which means winning 10 games is not even considered unlikely.

The Jets re-tooled this off-season with the additions of Brandon Marshall, Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie, Buster Skrine and a number of other players who have flown under the radar. They improved their passing defense and their passing offense and while a lot of it rests on Geno Smiths development, there is reason for optimism among Jets fans.

There are way more pass-catching options now, and the rebuilt secondary should make that defense stout again, so if (Geno) Smith can manage games and protect the football this might be one of the more surprising teams in the league," he said.

"I think there's a reason they have so many commodities in that backfield. So many guys who while you don't look at anyone and maybe say he's a franchise back, collectively I think you have a lot of guys there who can tote the rock and that pie chart may be a lot of carries divided up a bunch of different ways," La Canfora told me. "Chan likes to get creative in the run game. I'm sure that will involve the quarterback position to some degree in certain instances, but really the bread & butter of this team is going to be its defense."

He obviously came away impressed with the offense, but what about the defense. We have a stacked defensive line, a much-improved secondary and while the linebacking unit is hardly filled with superstars, it's a steady group that can make plays

"It has all the makings of a Top 5 defense. I really do," La Canfora said. "You can say where is there a 15, 17 sack guy, but I think if you look at Todd Bowles' history - he can kind of create those guys or again the whole is kind of greater than the sum of its parts. People say there are too many defensive linemen. He'll find a way to get those four guys on the field at the same time. Somebody could be standing up, you could have a Mo Wilkerson doing some of the stuff Adalius Thomas used to do in Baltimore."

Hopefully the Jets continue to fly under the radar, and hopefully that results in a few surprises this year.