Kris Jenkins talked yesterday to the press about stopping the run, and the pride he takes in it.

My personal philosophy is that I am a defensive lineman. Whether you’re on the defensive side of the ball or you’re on the offensive side of the ball, if you’re a lineman, you’re definitely not in one of the glory positions. This is the most media attention that I’ve gotten in a year. This is definitely something that has been new to me. You do what you can regardless of whatever it is whether it’s making a play, doing something so someone else can make a play, whatever you have to do to help your group out, that’s what you do. I look at it like we’re the front line of defense, so we have to go out there and we have to make a solid stance. For me and for the rest of the d-lineman, we share the same thought when it comes to what we do. We look at the run game as pride. We take a lot of pride in stopping the run. That is something that we feel we have to do week-in and week-out. There are no excuses. We have to do our best. As far as the run goes, if everything else doesn’t go right for me in a game, that’s something that should go right every week, regardless. I don’t settle for being second best with that. I have to be at my best every week to give my defense and my team the best chance to win.

It all feeds into having a better defense overall.  Stopping offenses on first or second down runs, puts opposing offenses in second and third and long situations, which forces them to throw more.  From this, the Jets actually get to rush the passer and get sacks and force turnovers via strip-sacks and interceptions.  The Jets already have 18 sacks this season, where they had 29 all of last season.  The secondary characteristics of having a good defense were there last year, but with the ability to stop the run, it’s changed everything for this team.

That said, the Jets will take on a great rushing team this coming weekend in Oakland, so we’ll see just how good they really are.

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