Opinion: Will the Real Problem Please Stand Up
There has been a lot of commentary this week about the Jets ‘ defense, or lack thereof, but, typically, much of it is ill informed. National commentators have talked about the problems defending the pass. But, anyone who saw the game last week will tell you that the defensive problem against the Bills was run defense, a former strength, not the pass defense.
From a stats point of view, the Jets’ defense did rather well last week against the pass. Losman was 24 for 39 for 148 with one TD and three picks. It’s fair to say that, other than on the go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter, the Bills got very little done in the air. Even this drive can be chalked up to probability. The defense isn’t always going to defend well throughout the game. There is always the one charmed drive for an offense.
Naturally, it was J.P. Losman, and he is not much of a talent but the Jets have been making journeymen quarterbacks look like Peyton Manning all season. In this game, to my eye, the defense was covering both short and long range passing closely. Lowery did a creditable job and Eric Smith had a nice pd on a short crossing route. Elam seemed to be the good Abram, too. The pass rush wasn’t spectacular, but Losman was pressured and there were three sacks. Calvin Pace got off his blocks with more intensity in this game than the past few weeks. As a matter of fact, had special teams, the run defense and the offense performed up to par, most of us would be suggesting that the pass defense was on its way to being fixed.
So, while we’re composing our doomsday predictions for Sunday, let’s try to remember that it was the offense’s failure to do anything after the halftime show and the lapses by special teams that did the most damage in this game. I’m not minimizing the issues, but let’s put our emphasis where it’ll agree with the facts.
One last thing. For anyone who wants to put last week in perspective, let me remind you about week five. Indianapolis is 1-2, there only win a late gift from Minnesota. They are down 27-10 with less than five minutes to play against Houston. Sage Rosenfels fumbles twice and throws an ill advised pick and the Colts win a miraculous 31-27 win. Note the score. After this loss, they win eight of their next ten and are now 10-4. It’s a long season.
8 Responses to Opinion: Will the Real Problem Please Stand Up
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droseatwork says:
nice headline, wonder where you got it from?
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david i says:
I don’t believe in problems, only solutions, which the entire team seemed to be able to provide against the Titans. The Jets had all pistons firing at the same time, so they know what they can do when they play their best, which is what they seem to do against the best teams. They defending the run and pass; ran the ball with authority and threw when we had to and special teams also played well. Recapturing that formula is the key. Everything seemed to click in that game. Maybe the answer is that playing against top teams motivates this team and if we manage to stagger into the playoffs, their engines will be ignited like they were to play with emotion like they did against the Patriots and Titans.
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Andrew Weiss says:
Did I steal one of yours? That would be just like me. Witless to the end.
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Vinny says:
Jenkins
Hasnt played well in three games, neither has the D. Hes the key and hes either injured badly ( listed with a hip) or worn down. Either way I think a big Key is getting him better or fresh
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KevT says:
Why do I feel like the Jets can never really win in the minds of the nat’l press and some fans even when they do win. If they win games ugly, it’s “they don’t deserve to win.”. If they win big, then everyone’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m getting tired of feeling like that. I’m just happy with wins however they come.
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momshead says:
Continuing on Andrew’s week five Indy story, there is a hopeful parallel to a point earlier in the Jet’s season. Maybe I’m just deluded here, and stretching the similarity, but after that miserable Oakland loss, they came back to beat KC at home in the last two minutes after Thigpen had a field day. Remember, it was that awful Herm Edwards run, run, run at the end of the game that really gave the Jets the chance for a win. At the time, we were bitching at how bad they looked, and yet I remember remarking that, regardless, they were playing for first place the following week.
Fast forward, and we have an almost identical situation. Bad loss to SF away, a gift of a win at home in the last minute, and still the chance to play for first place the following week. They turned it around before, so we need to be hopeful, take one week at a time, and maybe we can get hot for a second time this season. That’s all we have – it’s so easy to get mired in the negatives that I, personally, need to force myself to the other side.
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Harvlis says:
Vinny, Jenkins is the key and you might be right. It is hard to play a full season, getting double teamed on almost every play.
Unfortunately, Sutton is not bringing any pressure up the middle or having his ends or LB’s loop in around Jenkins. If he did, other teams would not be able to double Jenkins and nobody can block Jenkins straight up. We seem to have a boring, vanilla pass rush of three or four, almost every play. When we do bring the pressure, it is so obvious, the other team knows it is coming. We should look like we’re coming on every play and then we should come on most of them. I hate Sutton. He is a bend, don’t break, nightmare. We looked like we were playing prevent for most of the Buffalo game. Thank god it was Losman.
We can have that really good defense that we saw at the beginning of the year, if Sutton stops playing scared.
It should also be noted that the offense did the defense absolutely no favors in the second half of the Bills game. The defense had to trot back onto the field every two minutes, which generally makes it hard to consistently stop a guy like Marshawn Lynch at first contact. The Jets MUST win the time of possession battle in Seattle and against Miami.