The up-and-down nature of the Jets offense shouldn’t be a surprise. It is a new system with a new quarterback and depth issues at wide receiver.
The offense wasn’t supposed to carry the Jets.
The defense was their projected strength.
The defense returned stars Sauce Gardner, Quincy and Quinnen Williams, and high-ceiling edge rushers Jermaine Johnson and Will McDonald IV.
But so far, the defense under new coordinator Steve Wilks hasn’t even held up its end of the bargain, torched by the Steelers and Bills, allowing 64 points in two games.
It couldn’t close out a win in Week 1 after an unexpected offensive explosion and it couldn’t keep the winless Jets in the game on Sunday.
“At some point you got to be tired, for some change to happen,” Quincy Williams said. “I feel like we’re at this point, where we’re just tired of every week going the same way. Really, just coming up with the mindset of moving forward [and saying], ‘We’re going to be better.’ ”
The numbers are ugly.
Only two teams, the Bears and Dolphins, have allowed more points.
The Jets are ninth worst in rushing yards allowed (277) and have yet to take the ball away.
In Week 1, they couldn’t stop the pass, allowing four touchdown passes to Aaron Rodgers.
This past Sunday, Rodgers looked more like the 2024 version, picked off twice, in a loss to the Seahawks.
In Week 2, Gang Green were gashed for 224 rushing yards, their most allowed since giving up 260 yards on the ground to the Colts Nov. 5, 2021.
It could’ve been much worse, had the Bills not pulled their starters.
“Over-pursuit for the most part and just playing leverage football because the effort was absolutely there,” coach Aaron Glenn said. “Our guys were running their [asses] off trying to get to the ball, but when you have two or three guys running outside the ball, and it’s a cutback league, man, we can’t allow that to happen. And that’s something that we can fix quickly, and our guys will understand that.”
There is a lot to fix on that side of the ball.
The last time the Jets allowed at least 30 points in each of their first two games was 2002.
The tackling has been poor and the coverage worse.
Most concerning, this isn’t a makeshift unit.
Several starters are back, led by Gardner, the Williams brothers, McDonald and Johnson. A year ago, that group was third in total defense, allowing 313.8 yards per game. This version is giving up 337 yards, which is 19th best.
“I want to see all three levels of the defense put it together, man. That’s the main thing,” Quincy Williams said. “Just putting it together, everything that we practice, everything that we talk about in the meetings, the keys, the anticipation of the plays. Everything showing up on Sunday. From the D-line to the linebackers to the [defensive backs], just putting it together.”
The Jets have said all the right things, that the shaky start hasn’t hurt their self-belief. Inside the building, the defense remains confident despite what is being said about the unit.
“We’re going to get over that hump,” linebacker Jamien Sherwood said. “Next thing you know, we’ll be shutting teams out soon.”
Just holding the next opponent under 30 points would be a good first step.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
