The Denver Broncos take on the New York Jets, on Thursday night.  The Jets bring with them a 5-4 record and are converting 39% (12th in NFL) of their 3rd down opportunities and scoring 62% (4th in NFL) of the time, while in the red zone.

In this weekly article, Pro Football Spotlight will bring you the upcoming opponent’s rushing and passing tendencies, as well as some additional data and observations. For example: Did you know that the Jets are ranked 29th in the NFL in rushing yards, per play?

Every team in the NFL has strengths and weaknesses, tendencies, and go-to guys. They have plays they like to call during tight situations or directions they like to run when in the middle of the football field.

Let’s take a look at the rest of those tendencies…

Rushing Offense

Rushing Notes:

• Above, is a new slider graph we are trying at PFS. First, you will see the Jets’ run tendencies. If you click the ribbon (grey column) on the right you will see how opponents are doing against the Broncos’ defense. Hope you like it.
• The Jets love to run the ball to the right, especially right behind their left guard and left tackle.
• So far this year, New York has run the ball 37 ( 8th in NFL)  times at the guard position and 40 times (4th in NFL) toward their tackle position.
• New York has attempted more runs toward the center of the formation than any other this year, with 67.  That is not surprising though.  Most teams have high numbers around the center position since the weak spot in the 3-4 defense is in that location.  However, the Jets are only ranked 13th in the NFL in the number of times they have run at the center.  So even though they may run there a number of times, compared to other teams, their tendencies are in other locations.
• Since the Broncos are ranked 21st and 19,in yards given up in the locations that New York likes to run, expect the Jets to run toward the right a little bit more than any other location.

Passing Offense

Passing Notes:

• The New York Jets have a slight tendency to throw the ball right.  They are only ranked 17 in the NFL in the number of attempts toward the short right zone…but compared to their 29th ranked attempts to the short left zone, it ends up being a tendency.  They are ranked 7th in the NFL in the number of attempts toward the deep right area of the field.
• The Jets are also ranked 7th in the NFL in completion percentage to the deep right zone, with 46%.  Compare that with their lack of ability to complete a deep throw to the deep left zone, in which the Jets are ranked 30th in the NFL toward that area, with 27%.
• Compared to other teams in the NFL, New York likes to dump the ball off in the middle short zone.  They are currently ranked 9th in the NFL.
• The Broncos have been attacked the most in the short right zone, this year.  Denver is giving up 6.1 yards, per attempt, to that zone and allows a 71% completion rate (27th in NFL).
• Since the Jets tend to throw right…look for them to challenge the Broncos short right zone.  And since the Denver numbers in the deep right zone don’t really scare anyone off,  allowing a 35% completion percentage (15th in NFL), then expect New York to look deep right more often then any other deep zone.