Jets beating themselves up over showing in Miami
Photo credit: Getty Images | Quarterback Mark Sanchez #6 of the New York Jets pauses for a moment on the field during pre-game warm-up before taking on the Miami Dolphins. (October 12, 2009)
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Oct. 13: Dolphins 31, Jets 27
Inside an ultraquiet Land Shark Stadium visitors' locker room, Bryan Thomas sat at his stall, staring blankly into space almost in bewilderment.
Like everyone else who was a part of the defensive debacle that surrendered 21 fourth-quarter points to the Dolphins, the Jets linebacker had an incredulous look, wondering just how they could've have squandered three fourth-quarter leads.
The Jets' defense has talked big since the beginning of training camp, fueling hype they were already on their way to becoming the Baltimore Ravens North. However, 60 minutes of atrocious defense in their mind-numbing, 31-27 last-second loss to Miami with millions tuned in on "Monday Night Football" quelled that bravado - for now.
Defensively, the Jets were downright offensive.
"Man, I'm just disappointed," Thomas said. "As a defense, we let our offense down. They were out there scoring points, moving the ball, getting us out of jams left and right. We have to get off the field as a defense. I just feel like that was embarrassing out there."
What was the league's fourth-ranked defense is now barely holding on to a spot in the top 10. The Jets are yielding 304 yards per game after watching the Dolphins gobble up 413, and their run defense sprung a leak for the second straight week, a problem that has to be fixed immediately before it begins mirroring a Yellowstone National Park geyser.
Most of their wounds are self-inflicted, ranging from blown assignments to not getting off blocks to missed tackles.
"You've got to ask yourself why this is happening," Rex Ryan said. "You've got to go out and have a commitment from everybody that we're going to get the thing fixed."
The Jets must also find a way to generate better pressure up front, something they haven't done very much. They didn't record a single sack on Chad Henne - a second-year quarterback who stepped into the lineup when Chad Pennington went down with a season-ending shoulder injury two weeks ago - making him "look like Dan Marino" as Ryan quipped. Henne wasn't even knocked down once by the Jets, marking the second straight week they played like the quarterback had a force field around him.
At some point, they've got to start accumulating more than the measly four sacks they have through the first five weeks, which ranks last in the league with Jacksonville.
"We've got to get in a situation where it allows you to pin your ears back and rush the passer," Ryan said. "Most sacks in this league occur in the fourth quarter of games when you get leads. The other thing is, when you're facing second-and-2 or second-and-3, and third-and-1s and third-and-4s, it's hard to get sacks. We haven't put ourselves in a situation where we can take advantage of that lately. I think to get sacks, you've got to do a great job on first down.
"It is amazing that we've gone two games without a sack. I don't think that's ever happened. But hopefully this week, we'll get our opportunities. You've got to look at it from every end of it from a schematic standpoint."
With winnable games against the Bills and Raiders looming, the Jets have two weeks to get things squared away before their Nov. 1 rematch with the Dolphins. But it's hard not to look back at how they let one slip away Monday in a game that left the defense in a somber mood.
"We had a chance to take a big lead in the division and we didn't take advantage of it," Thomas said. "So we just have to go back to the drawing board. We have to come up with a game plan and get ready for the next game and just keep it moving. As a defense, we can't have another showing like that. It was just embarrassing."
