Defense proving not to be a Jets strong point
Patriots running back Sony Michel runs in for a one-yard touchdown during the fourth quarter of a game against the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Darnold-less, popgun Jets offense had tied the Patriots late in the third quarter on a scoring drive complete with a first-down scramble by 39-year-old Josh McCown that ended with a dramatic, Elway-style helicopter tackle.
Might a feel-good upset — before a MetLife Stadium crowd loaded with New England fans — be in the offing?
Um, no.
Four Patriots plays later — three of which covered more than 20 yards — it was 20-13, and the visitors were on their way to a 27-13 victory on Sunday, the Jets’ fifth loss in a row.
“That’s really bad,” defensive lineman Leonard Williams said of the two-minute, eight-second New England drive. “At least make them work for it. At least make them drive down the field . . . I think it was the turning moment as far as momentum.”
If only that had been the extent of it, no biggie. Hey, it’s Tom Brady. It’s Bill Belichick. Big plays happen.
The problem is that the drive symbolized a game in which the Jets’ defense gave up a disturbing number of big plays, and the fact that this sort of thing has been going on for much of a now-lost season.
Six different Patriots had plays that covered more than 20 yards, four on passes and two on runs. Brady ripped gaping holes in zone schemes and discombobulated the Jets with play-action fakes. Runners exploited outside paths.
Asked what went wrong, coach Todd Bowles said, “Some people were trying to do too much and over-jumping their gaps and missed fits.”
It was a debacle. Remember, the offense was supposed to struggle this season while rookie Sam Darnold learned to be a pro quarterback, but the defense should have been a relative strength.
That is Bowles’ specialty, and there is good young talent led by second-year safety Jamal Adams, who as usual was a dynamic force on Sunday with 10 tackles and three passes defensed (one that involved knocking down Rob Gronkowski).
The unit also has been relatively healthy despite injuries that have cost cornerback Trumaine Johnson and safety Marcus Maye some time.
But the Patriots gained 498 yards, 215 rushing. At least that was with Brady on the field. The last time the Jets played, they gave up 451 yards to a Bills team quarterbacked by Matt Barkley. They have given up at least 395 six times.
The Jets have not had a takeaway during the losing streak.
Did we mention Bowles is a coach with a background on defense?
“When you play football, you know sometimes you’re going to mess up,” cornerback Buster Skrine said. “You’re not supposed to because you’re professionals, but it happens.”
None of this matters much for the final five games of 2018, but it does not bode well for next season, when the game plans is for Darnold to be better and for free agents to be signed with a bounty of salary-cap space.
In 2019, the Jets will be in win-now mode. They need a defense capable of being part of that. But that is not what was on display against the Patriots.
“We weren’t playing sound football on ‘D,’ ” Adams said. “We were giving up [big] runs and Brady was sitting back there and reading everything.”
When asked if the defense is “adrift,” Adams twice said it is not. When asked how he would describe what is going on, he said, “We’re flying around the ball. We just have to play fundamentally sound at all times.”
Or at least some of the time.
“I think we are a legit defense,” Williams said. “I think we need to step it up in certain areas that give up those big plays.”
The last two games of the season are against Aaron Rodgers and Brady again. Establishing that they are legit before then would be a good idea.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
