Sleeper Watch

The season didn’t begin well for the New York Jets Defense. In the opener, Carson Palmer and the Cincinnati Bengals converted eight of twelve third downs and scored 24 points, their highest total of the season so far. The following week, the Chargers put 28 on the scoreboard, and any preseason optimism for this unit evaporated.

Yet the Jets came out of their week 3 bye like a team rejuvenated, and proceeded to hold their next three opponents to an average of just 12.3 points apiece. Unfortunately, that might not mean very much since those opponents were Miami and Buffalo, two of the league’s three lowest-scoring teams, and San Francisco, not exactly a powerhouse, either. How good is the New York defense really?

In sum, the Jets have put up middle-of-the-road fantasy numbers so far this season, allowing 318.8 yards total offense and 17.8 points per game. Both of those marks are good enough to rank 12th in the league. They’ve picked off seven passes so far and sacked opposing quarterbacks 13 times, including seven by John Abraham. These numbers are solid, but not quite enough to place them among the elite defenses.

Yet for fantasy purposes, the Jets’ season statistics may not matter much: except in deeper-than-average leagues, this isn’t a unit to leave in your lineup all year, but to exploit when the matchup looks promising. And over the next few weeks, those matchups look good indeed.

You probably don’t want to put your fantasy fate into the Jets’ hands when they visit division rival New England this week, but following that game, things quickly start looking up again. Week 8 features a Monday night home game against the lowly Dolphins, currently dead last in the NFL in both points (9.2) and yards (243) per game. In week 9, the Jets again face Buffalo’s 14.2 point-per-game offense. Dates with Baltimore, Cleveland and Arizona follow, none of whom are putting up 20 points a game.

The Jets probably aren’t the team you want to ride into the fantasy playoffs (Seattle and New England loom in weeks 15 and 16), but with their upcoming schedule, they might just be able to help you get there.