To shed 'Same Old Jets' moniker, team needs new results on defense
Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner grabs Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Rachaad White during the first half of an NFL game Sunday in Tampa, Fla. Credit: AP/Jason Behnken
Aaron Glenn opened his Monday morning Zoom call by pointing out the areas where the Jets need to improve. Glenn could have talked a lot longer than he did.
The Jets are 0-3. They’ve had late leads in two games but lost on field goals. Glenn has tried to accentuate the positive, particularly after the Jets erased a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit Sunday in Tampa and almost pulled off the victory.
He praised the fight and tried to convince everyone these are not the "Same Old Jets". That moniker, which Glenn can’t stand, won’t go away until the Jets consistently win games.
It starts on defense.
The Jets’ biggest concern right now is that their defense hasn’t been able to get off the field – especially in closing time.
This doesn’t excuse the offense. The Jets have slept-walked through the first three quarters of their last two games, producing four field goals and three turnovers in 16 possessions.
But, the offense was expected to take some lumps. The Jets have a new quarterback – who’s in concussion protocol — a first-time NFL coordinator and no real No. 2 receiver.
The defense, though, is where the Jets should be further along, and much better.
The Jets returned eight starters from last year’s third-ranked defense, including former All-Pros Quinnen Williams, Sauce Gardner and Quincy Williams. Glenn has a defensive background as a former cornerback and defensive coordinator. He hired an experienced coordinator to run the defense, Steve Wilks.
Yet, the unit has been a major disappointment.
“You can't give up the number of points that we have given up and expect to just be gung-ho about it,” Glenn said. “Every guy knows that. We're all a part of that and we're all going to do everything we can to fix that.”
Let’s start here: the Jets’ defense has allowed 34, 30 and 22 points, respectively.
They led Pittsburgh 32-31 in Week 1 and couldn’t close it out. A big pass interference penalty on the Steelers’ final drive led to Chris Boswell's 60-yard field goal.
The Jets went up 27-26 on Tampa after Will McDonald blocked a field goal and returned it for a touchdown. They couldn’t close that out. They let Tampa drive down the field and win on Chase McLaughlin's 36-yard field goal.
“We shouldn’t have even put ourselves in that position, [letting] them get all the way down there,” linebacker Marcelino McCrary-Ball said.
Wilks said last week that nothing “schematically” has led to the Jets’ breakdowns. But this Glenn and Wilks-led defense hasn’t forced a takeaway and has been prone to being out of position, giving up big plays and missing tackles.
The Jets have missed at least 10 tackles in each of the last two games. They missed 16 against Tampa according to Pro Football Focus. Live tackling drills was a regular part of training camp. The Jets have not carried that over to games.
Glenn noticed the Jets’ defensive players “were on the ground quite a bit” against Tampa - that they “were diving instead of running through tackles.” They’re not going to have tackling drills now, but he will make sure they go over proper positioning to bring guys down.
The big plays have been crushing. The Jets have allowed 22 plays of 15 yards or more. They gave up six pass plays of at least 20 yards against Tampa. Two of them came on the game-winning field-goal drive
Even more alarming was the fact that the Buccaneers were down three starting offensive linemen, yet the Jets only sacked Baker Mayfield once. Also, none of those explosive plays involved Mike Evans, who exited the game with a hamstring injury. They were made by rookie Emeka Egbuka, ex-Giant Sterling Shepard and running back Bucky Irving.
The Jets were banged up in the secondary, but they needed to be better – not just on the final drive but throughout the game. Glenn said he’s not “shaken” by the Jets’ start and expressed “total confidence” in his defensive coaches and players.
“I know who we got, and I know how our guys are built,” Glenn said. “We just have to continue to do those things that help us win games.”
Until they do, that “Same Old” moniker that Glenn hates will continue to precede "Jets".
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
