I'd better rephrase this, Lonnie, and see whether I have it right. You have
values in columns J, R and Z, and in each row of AC you have
AVERAGE(J2,R2,Z2). You want to color J, R and Z depending on how far off the
average it is. You don't want a single average for all the rows, ie
AVERAGE(J:J,R:R,Z:Z), but an average for each row.

Here's how I'd do it:

1) Your values in J, R and Z. You already have this.
2) AC2 (we'll use row 2 as our example) =AVERAGE(J2,R2,Z2), copied
throughout the column. You already have this too, I think.
3) Holding down the <Ctl key, click on J, R and Z, thus highlighting the
whole of those three columns.
4) Use Format Cells to color these columns green.
5) With those three columns still highlighted, go to Conditional Formatting.
6) Set the first condition to "Formula Is" and =ABS(Z1)ABS($AC1)*1.3. Make
the format red.
7) Add a second condition and set it to "Formula Is" and
=ABS(Z1)ABS($AC1)*1.2. Make the format yellow.
8) Accept these, then go back to conditional formatting and make sure the
formulae are as you intended (and not with quote marks around them, which is
what often happens to me).
9) If you need to, change back the formatting on the header rows, if any.

If what you were after is a way to set this up without having to do it
cell-by-cell, I think this should do it for you.