It is a virtual playoff game featuring a very real truth. With the December winds howling at the Meadowlands, the running game will rule.
So Sunday’s Jet-Bronco game probably comes down to the Jets’ Curtis Martin vs. the Broncos’ Clint Portis.
Let the team with the better running back survive.
“It always revolves around the running game,” said CBS’ Dan Dierdorf, who will do color commentary on Sunday’s game.
With the Jets at 6-6 and coming off a Monday night loss in Oakland, and the Broncos at 7-5, both teams enter the week trying to climb into the playoffs. The Broncos might be able to survive a loss, but the Jets surely can’t. If the Jets are to win, they must stop Portis.
The rookie out of Miami, is special. His numbers are even better than Martin’s. He has run for 995 yards on 5.2 yards per carry, while Martin enters with 721 yards on 4.1 per tote.
The scary aspect of Portis – according to Dierdorf, who has called two Denver games this season – is that if you give Portis one step, he will take seven points.
How fast is Portis? Portis confided to Dierdorf that he’s just a bit slower than the Jets’ Santana Moss, Portis’ former University of Miami teammate. Moss runs the 40 in 4.2 seconds.
“He is an extremely fast running back,” Dierdorf said of Portis. “If he gets behind the defense, they won’t catch him.”
Dierdorf, along with Dick Enberg, seem to pop up on New York TV nearly every Sunday afternoon. This is the fifth Jet game Dierdorf has analyzed.
In Week 5, Dierdorf called Chad Pennington’s first Jet start. The Friday before the game, Dierdorf sat in Jet coach Herman Edwards’ Hofstra office.
Edwards told Dierdorf that Pennington would bring a high level of excitement and energy to the offense. Dierdorf noticed that the second that Pennington started smacking helmets with his lineman during warm-ups.
Ultimately, though, Dierdorf has seen too many December games at the Meadowlands to know it’s not the quarterback who is most important. The winner of the running game will probably take the scoreboard as well.
Who will that be, Dan? Asked for a prognostication, Dierdorf make a point instead of a prediction.
“In this league,” he said, “trying to plan on how a team is going to play is a futile gesture.”
