Willis McGahee Injury: Healthy RB Won't Push His Team to Victory

Despite having a short week, Willis McGahee is on track to play for the Broncos tonight vs. the Jets.

That was confirmed by Mike Kils of the Denver Post via this Tweet:

Thursday, Nov. 19 at 6:22 p.m. EST

This is good news for the Broncos. With Knowshon Moreno out for the season and Tim Tebow coming off of a game where he completed all of two passes against a defense nowhere near as good as the Jets defense, the loss of McGahee would pretty much eliminate any chance that the Broncos have of winning. 

McGahee injured himself on Sunday a week ago against Kansas City. Considering he's 30 years old on a short week, just how effective he will be can be questioned.

But even McGahee's best effort won't be good enough. The Jets are just a better team than the Broncos. The home-field advantage won't be enough to put the Broncos on top. 

What makes Tim Tebow an effective quarterback is that he can move. Mobile quarterbacks are nightmares for opposing defenses. But defenses that have good linebackers are far more equipped to defend them.

Here's the other problem for the Broncos. The Jets have one man in Darrelle Revis who's effectively able to shut down half of the field. So, the other 10 guys are much more able to devise a defense to keep Tebow neutralized.

Now, would a healthy McGahee help that? A little, but not enough. The Jets certainly have a defense that can keep McGahee in check and focus on the rest of the offense.

Now, am I saying that McGahee won't have a good game? No. I am also not saying that Tebow won't make some good plays. 

But I don't see that attack doing enough to consistently beat one of the best defensive units in the league. 

From there, the only question is, will the Jets offense do enough to win the game? It won't be much of an effort, but yes, they will. 

McGahee will make the game a little closer, but the Jets will win either way.