I am sure that I am not the only one who has heard about the great Jets defense and Jets fans have probably heard tons about our great offense, but are people overlooking the other side of the ball for each team?  I pulled up the stats and I found it to be quite interesting...

Offense

                                                                New York Jets                New Orleans Saints

Points per game                                       21.3 (13)                               40.0 (1)

Passing yards per game                       185.0 (25)                            267.3 (6)

Rushing yards per game                       130.0 (11)                            170.7 (2)

First downs per game                             16.3 (27)                               24.0 (3)

Third down percentage made               37.8% (19)                            48.8% (3)

Time of possession                                 33:31 (5)                               33:30 (6)

Defense

                                                                New York Jets                New Orleans Saints

Points per game                                       11.0 (2)                                 18.7 (14)

Passing yards per game                       173.3 (6)                             245.3 (T-22)

Rushing yards per game                         82.7 (9)                                67.0 (5)

Interceptions                                               4 (T-7)                                   7 (T-1)

Passes Defensed                                     16 (T-6)                                 17 (T-3)

Sacks                                                           4 (T-22)                                 6 (T-11)

Turnover Margin                                       +3 (T-6)                                 +4 (T-3)

All in all, this looks like a good matchup between two solid teams.  The thing I found really interesting is the time of possession for the Jets being so good in spite of the third down conversion percentage only being 37.8%.  Both of the run defenses are good and I think that the Saints passing defense numbers are a bit inflated from the first two games where they played prevent defense to protect a large lead for most of the fourth quarter.  Another thing that really  stands out is the balance on the offensive side of the ball for the Saints.  I know we won't be getting over 200 yards on the ground like we did this past week, but if we can average about 150 yards per game I think our offense will be the best we've ever seen with the Saints.  That said, this is definitely the best test we'll have at this point of the season and I can't wait to see our offense match up against their defense. 

I honestly think that the Jets offense will be overmatched against our defense, but that team has a lot of heart and determination and nothing will come easy.