Jets head coach Robert Saleh didn’t sugarcoat things following Sunday’s 45-17 beatdown vs. the Buffalo Bills: The defense is not playing good enough.
“It always starts with me,” the former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator said. “We have eight games left and we have to figure it out.”
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So what exactly is the problem? If the answer was that simple, linebacker C.J. Mosley said, things would have been fixed already.
“It comes to a certain point where you are playing for pride and when you step on the field you are playing not to quit. You are playing for the name on your jersey,” Mosley said. “I can’t really tell you what is really going on. It could be scheme. It could be mistakes here and there. That’s all of our job to figure out.”
The defensive woes took a turn for the worse in Week 7′s 54-13 loss at New England (the fourth-most points they’ve ever allowed in a single game). Coming off of bye week, they gave up 551 yards, which was the most they’ve allowed in a single game in regulation since giving up 621 yards vs. the Cincinnati Bengals in 1986.
In Week 8, the defense made strides, coming up with some big stops in a 34-31 upset against the Bengals, but still gave up a significant amount of points. In their last four games, the Jets are allowing an average of 43.8 points, including back-to-back contests of 45 points.
Any progress vs. Cincinnati was completely erased in Indianapolis. The Jets allowed 260 rushing yards, with 211 of those yards before first contact. They also gave up 500-plus total yards for the second time in three weeks (532).
Buffalo fell just shy of reaching 500 yards with 490. After not scoring a first half touchdown in their last two games, the Bills reached the end zone their first and last drives of the half. They also scored on their first drive of the second half to lap the Jets, marking the second straight game the defense allowed a touchdown on either end of the half.
“Clearly, it’s not good enough. It just hasn’t been good enough ever since that Tennessee game. We played Atlanta alright, but ever since that bye week, we haven’t been nearly as good as we have wanted to be,” Saleh said. “We have eight games left and from coaches to players, we have to find a way to get better every day. Otherwise, you’re selling yourself short.”
The defense showed some signs of life in the first half against Buffalo with some big sacks, but it wasn’t enough to stop the hurting. They intercepted their second pass of the season and forced a fumble on back-to-back drives in the second half, but it was far too late to have an impact on the game.
Are the last four weeks a sign the defense needs to hit the reset button? Maybe not, but there is much work to be done, and if a defensive-minded Saleh and staff can’t figure things out, then the Jets are in for a rough road ahead.
“Our system prides itself on being able to get better as the year goes on. Clearly, it’s not happening,” Saleh said. “To look at the fundamentals and the way we do things all the way across the board – what are we asking our players to do? And for players to be able to look in the mirror and see if they are executing exactly the way we want things executed. There are a lot of things to look at. We have eight games. From here on out, we have to find a way to get better.”
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Joey Chandler may be reached at jchandler@njadvancemedia.com
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