You can look at net numbers, but these stats are flawed, they rely on the schedule faced...
Footballoutsiders.com has the best stats available, they are adjusted to a neutral playing field
The NFL determines the best players by adding up all their yards no matter what situations they came in or how many plays it took to get them. Now why would they do that? Football has one objective-to get to the end zone-and two ways to achieve that, by gaining yards and getting first downs. These two goals need to be balanced to determine a player's value or a team's performance.All the yards in the world aren't useful if they all come in eight-yard chunks on third-and-10.
Of course, the biggest variable in football is the fact that each team plays a different schedule. By adjusting each play based on the defense's average success in stopping that type of play over the course of a season, we get DVOA, or Defense-adjusted Value Over Average. Rushing and passing plays are adjusted based on down and location on the field; receiving plays are also adjusted based on how the defense performs against passes to running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers. Defenses are adjusted based on the average success of the offenses they are facing. (Yes, this is still called DVOA, for the sake of simplicity.)
Your net stats are archaic....
But even still, you say the Saints and Vikings have top 50% rushing games in the league...
How then, pray tell, do they run the same exact offense as the Colts who have the worst? You aren't making sense...
Based on the numbers presented by Footballoutsiders.com, that adjusts for playing field, opponent and neutralizes the playing field accounting only for a player's individual effectiveness...
Pierre Thomas was the 5th most effective runner in the league
Adrian Peterson was the 12th most effective runner in the league
Joseph Addai was the 14th most effective runner in the league
Thomas Jones was the 23rd most effective runner in the league.
Net numbers don't matter as much as you think they do...like it says above, a guy who runs for 8 yards on third-and-ten has, yes, rushed for 8 net yards, but has not helped his team in any truly effective or meaningful way.
Based on overall defensive efficiency, yes the Jets are #1, but NO is ranked above Minnesota in their effectiveness in relation to time on the field and opposition played.
All you are doing is spouting net stats...yes, the Jets have the #1 running game, but that's because they have two effective runners as well as a heavy reliance on the running game. It's not a bad thing, it just skews the NET stats used by amateur football analysts that don't really know what they are talking about. Same can be said for the Colts, they rely on an injury prone Joseph Addai and have a QB who may be the best ever...obviously, they call more passing plays, and as such, the stats will be skewed in that direction.
Is it that hard to comprehend that if a team relies on the running game, and as such, calls more running plays, that they will get more running yards than a team that relies on the pass? I don't think so...This is the fundamental flaw in all the stats you sight, they do not account for extraneous factors beyond "The Jets called a run...The Colts called a pass".
Even still, you still haven't explained how the Colts and Saints and Vikings all run the same offense when you then admitted that the Saints and Vikings have top half in the league running games (even based on archaic net yard stats).
To clarify, I AM NOT SAYING THE JETS ARE NOT AS GOOD AS ANY OF THESE TEAMS. Quite the opposite, I think they have a puncher's chance versus the Colts. In the playoffs, if you can run the ball and play tough defense, you can win the whole thing (look at the Ravens from years ago). I'm just not convinced the Jets are any better than the Ravens (Ravens are the #2 defense and have a better #1 runner than do the Jets as well as a great backup). But the stats you post are so skewed and so awfully flawed that I had to correct it. Like I said, the Saints defensive numbers are also skewed...they spend so much time on the field because the offense is so vertical that they score at will and the defense spends a ton of time on the field. But Will Smith is still the 2nd best sack man in the game, and Jabari Greer is only really slightly worse than Darrelle Revis, he was an incredible shutdown corner this year, just nobody is talking about him.
Edit: Just wanted to throw this in there too, about the skewed net defensive numbers. Now, the Jets are the #1 defense when you adjust for everything. Their defense is a stone-wall, nobody is doubting that. But for the future, when you look at the numbers, consider this:
A team that is better at the run is more likely to be better on defense. Why? Ball Control
If a team that controls the ball and controls the clock for long periods of time gets up, this necessarily leaves their opponent with less time. This forces teams to take more risks, run for bigger, lower %age plays. That is, rushing helps increase time of possession. As you increase time of possession on offense, you decrease the amount of time the other team has the ball, and thus decrease the amount of time they have to score, thereby increasing the yardage you have to cover per minute. It takes away the run. AGAIN, I AM NOT SAYING THE JETS BENEFIT FROM THIS. It's just something to consider when looking at net defensive stats for a good team, take a peek at time of possession and rushing plays called, I guarantee it's high.