Basically, Jets revisit the fundamentals

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Don't call it a "sophomore slump," Bart Scott said.

All the Jets' defense needed was a little fine-tuning, a little refresher course to get back on track heading into Sunday's regular-season finale against Buffalo and, more importantly, the playoffs.

"Football's all about making adjustments," the veteran linebacker said. "Who can make the adjustment on the fly and teams have adjusted to some of the things we do and now we have to readjust. That's all."

Scott's explanation seems simple enough, but the questions surrounding the lapses in the unit's technique and communication still remain. To combat these mental errors, the Jets' coaching staff had a lengthy meeting Thursday to go over the fundamentals of the base defense.

"Sometimes as a coach, when you think guys know, you have to make sure," defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said. ". . . So we took some of the time that we normally would have spent either reviewing a script or maybe going over something new and [revisited] our core fundamentals."

Jets coach Rex Ryan said he's never had to review the basics to this degree, but "it's so obvious what the answers are when you look at it on tape," he said.

Though the team ranks fourth in the NFL in total defense (300.1 yards per game), during their four December games, the Jets allowed 45 points by the Patriots and 38 by the Bears.

Last week, they gave up three touchdown passes of at least 25 yards by the Bears' Jay Cutler, all in the third quarter. In the past two games, they allowed the Steelers' Rashard Mendenhall to rush for 99 yards and the Bears' Matt Forte to rush for 113.

"With our defense, I think that's the No. 1 thing: stop the run," cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "We talk about it every week. We talk about it all the time, training camp, OTAs, offseason, we always talk about that. Don't let them run the ball on us . . . This week and leading into the playoffs, we've been trying to be consistent and just try to tighten things up and try to correct the mistakes that we've been making."

The addition of new players on defense and players with less experience in the secondary have contributed to the unit's struggles, players said.

"Whenever you've been in something for two years and then you become comfortable and sometimes you can be relaxed, you assume you know more than you know," said Scott, who spent seven years in Baltimore with Ryan before Ryan became the Jets' coach. "But what happens is, you forget those small, minute details . . . I've been in the system for nine years, so I've been through this before . . . but for everybody else, this is a new system for them.''

Several players agree the "fundamentals" meeting was a must.

"When the season comes, you're more focused on game-planning and what the opposing team is trying to do to you,'' Revis said. "So I think this is real good to go back and focus on what we need to focus on. The basic things and be consistent with those things. Because that's where the mistakes were coming from.''