The Jets are a mile high today, preparing for their second road game of the season under head coach Robert Saleh and with rookie Zach Wilson at QB and for their 21st game all-time at Denver to play the Broncos.
And for this game under sunny and hot skies near the foothills of the Rockies, the offense didn't add to its arsenal from the Jets' home opener against New England, but the defense will get two rookie contributors into the mix.
LB Jamien Sherwood, who missed the Patriots game with an ankle injury, is active. So is CB Jason Pinnock, who had been inactive the first two weeks of the regular season.
Wilson and the offense will be working with the same set of wideouts they had for the Pats: Corey Davis, leading pass-catcher Braxton Berrios (12 catches, 124 yards), rookie Elijah Moore, Keelan Cole and Jeff Smith. Jamison Crowder will be unavailable for the second game with a groin injury after missing the opener on Reserve/COVID and Denzel Mims has been deactivated for a second straight game.
The Jets offense will also be without RB Tevin Coleman (non-COVID illness on Friday) and, for the third game, La'Mical Perine. They will feature Ty Johnson, rookie Michael Carter (coming off an 88-yard scrimmage game vs. the Patriots) and Josh Adams.
The Jets will be attempting to keep pace with Denver, which will welcome a rabid home crowd to Empower Field at Mile High in the Broncos' home opener after charging from the NFL gate with road wins over the Giants and Jaguars. This will be Denver's third home opener all-time vs. the Green & White, with the Broncos posting solid victories in 1976 and 1996.
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The Broncs' offense is led by QB Teddy Bridgewater (a Jets QB in the 2018 offseason and preseason), who's had great early success passing to WR Courtland Sutton and TE Noah Fant and handing off to the one-two punch of Melvin Gordon and rookie Javonte Williams.
And their defense features, as always, LB Von Miller, who has all three Denver sacks this season and 109 sacks in his iconic decade in the NFL, all 10 seasons spent with the Broncos.
But the Jets defense, stout up the middle with DL Quinnen Williams, LB C.J. Mosley and S Marcus Maye, is in the league's top three in opponents' third-down and red zone touchdown conversion rates.
The Jets list five inactives for this game:
- WR Denzel Mims
- RB La'Mical Perine
- RB Tevin Coleman
- WR Jamison Crowder
- DL Jonathan Marshall
And this is Denver's five-man inactive list:
- CB Kary Vincent Jr.
- S Jamar Johnson
- T Cameron Fleming
- LB Aaron Patrick
- DL McTelvin Agim
