The Jets take on the Ravens on Thursday night at M&T Stadium.

This is going to be ugly, really ugly. The Jets are not a good team to begin with. Then, add in the injuries they are dealing with. Then, add in the short week. Oh yeah, and they get to face the best team in the league with the hottest QB in football. Avert your eyes, Jets fans.

Ravens 42, Jets 13

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson vs. Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams

Jackson’s statistics are eye-popping. The leading MVP candidate is the only quarterback in NFL history to produce at least 2,500 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a single season, and he has three games left. He needs 23 yards to break Michael Vick’s record of 1,039 rushing yards by a quarterback. He is 17-3 in 20 regular-season starts.

Williams has seen all the stats and all the highlights. The defensive coordinator has done a tremendous job this season with a defense that has been hit hard by injuries. Now, he has to come up with a way to stop Jackson and his designed runs.

“The thing that you can do with option football, is that we can be schematically very sound, but then athletically, can you match up in the space with Lamar?” Williams said. “You see him cause people to miss some many times when they’ve got hat for hat, they’ve got person for person, sometimes two people out there and he still can make you miss. We’ve got to do a good job with our swarm.”

Jackson has been limited this week with a quad injury, so maybe the Jets will get Jackson at less than 100 percent. They can only hope.

Banged up gang: The Jets look like they will enter this game with just 45 players because of so many injuries. TE Ryan Griffin (ankle), RB Bilal Powell (ankle/illness), CB Brian Poole (concussion) and RT Chuma Edoga (knee) were ruled out on Wednesday. The following players are doubtful and are not expected to play: S Jamal Adams (ankle), CB Arthur Maulet (calf), WR Demaryius Thomas (hamstring/knee) and DL Quinnen Williams (neck).

Those injuries would be hard to deal with against an average team, never mind the hottest team in football. Coach Adam Gase said this week that Adams would be a game-time decision, so maybe there is a chance they can get him back, but will he be 100 percent after not practicing for two weeks?

On offense, the loss of Griffin, who leads the team with five touchdowns, will be tough to overcome. Daniel Brown should get most of the reps at tight end.

These are just the latest in a long list of injuries the Jets have suffered this year. They have used a whopping 69 players this season and had to shuffle their lineup repeatedly.

Finding an alley: Le’Veon Bell missed Sunday’s game because of the flu. That did not stop him from going bowling Saturday night, and now the Jets will be counting on him bowling over some Ravens.

This season has not gone as he or the team had hoped, but they could use a big outing from their high-priced back. If the Jets can control the ball, they might be able to keep this respectable. It will be interesting to see if Bell’s conditioning is back after his illness. He said he lost 8-9 pounds when sick, and he has not had a real practice in a week. Even so, Bell says he is ready.

“I think if I get the opportunity, I’ll make some plays,” Bell said. “I’m ready. I told everybody else in the locker room and the coaching staff that I’m ready. They’re all aware. We’ll see how it goes.”

Don’t forget the D: With all the attention on Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense, it is easy to overlook what Baltimore is doing on defense this year. Defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale has his group rolling. They are sixth overall and fifth in scoring defense, allowing 18.2 points per game.

“They’re blitzing a lot, which I’m sure [Martindale] loves,” Gase said. “He loves being aggressive, he’s always been like that, since I was with him in Denver when he was a coordinator there. He wanted to heat it up all the time, and he’s got a good defense. Got a lot of good players and they’re executing what he wants them to do, and they’re playing aggressive and they’re playing off the offense.”

Not ready for prime time: The last time the Jets were on a nationally televised prime-time game, it did not go so well. The Patriots ran them out of the building, 33-0, on “Monday Night Football” two months ago. Sam Darnold was left seeing ghosts, and the Jets were a punchline.

They get a shot at redemption on Thursday. Even if they don’t win, if they can avoid getting embarrassed that is a positive. It won’t be easy. Not only are the Ravens really, really good, they are 13-1 in prime time home games since 2008 when John Harbaugh was hired. They are 6-0 on “Thursday Night Football” at home under Harbaugh.

Fox, NFL Network
Line: Jets +15 * O/U: 45

Dave Blezow: Jets
Mark Cannizzaro: * Ravens
Brian Costello: * Ravens
Howie Kussoy: Jets
Drew Loftis: * Ravens
Ms. Charleen: * Jets
Paul Schwartz: Ravens
Steve Serby: Jets
Stitches: Jets
George Willis: Ravens
*-Best Bet

For more on the Jets, listen to the latest episode of the “Gang’s All Here” podcast: