Defense justifies Robert Saleh's faith in Jets' victory over Falcons

Robert Saleh made his bones in the NFL by scheming his defenses to stop teams. It didn’t sit well with him that the Jets were at the bottom of the league in all important categories last season.

Saleh has no doubt that his defense will show up this season. “We are going to be better,” he said.

The defense got off to an ugly start in Monday’s preseason game against the Falcons. The Jets looked bad on both sides of the ball before fighting back to win, 24-16, on a night when Saleh held out most of his starters. They erased a 16-0 deficit.

The first-team defensive line, linebacker C.J. Mosley, two starters in the secondary, quarterback Joe Flacco, the starting offensive line and most of the skill players were among the regulars who sat out on Monday.

The Jets are evaluating players with five more roster cuts coming on Tuesday. They also don’t want to risk injury to key players, especially after quarterback Zach Wilson hurt his knee in the first preseason game. He could be sidelined for the first couple of weeks of the regular season.

The preseason ends Sunday against the Giants. Saleh said he’s treating the rest of this week like a dress rehearsal and plans to play the starters.

Mike White started at quarterback Monday and struggled. He was 12-for-17 for 90 yards. Fourth-string quarterback Chris Streveler sparked the victory.

It was 16-3 when Streveler entered in the third quarter, and he led touchdown drives on his first two series. Streveler was 8-for-11 for 119 yards and a touchdown, a 34-yard pass to Lawrence Cager. Streveler also led the Jets with 33 yards rushing.

After the defense showed little resistance in the first half, allowing 306 yards, it was strong at the end. Defensive lineman Bradley Anae scored on a 30-yard fumble recovery after sacking Feleipe Franks. The Jets kept the Falcons out of the end zone late in the fourth after they had a first-and-goal from the 5.

Saleh won’t overreact to one game, but the first-half defensive performance was reminiscent of last season. The Jets were last in points allowed and total defense. They finished next to last in takeaways, were 30th in passing yards allowed and were 29th in rushing yards yielded.

The Jets can only go up from there.

“It wasn’t good,” said Saleh, who ran some top-10 defenses as the 49ers’ coordinator. “It’s frustrating, but still, being in this chair, you want the defense to do well, but it doesn’t matter if the defense is doing well and the offense stinks. So there is a global aspect to it. I want them all to be great. We all want to be number one in every single category.”

The Jets are confident that they will be much improved overall in Saleh’s second year as coach. The returning players are better versed in the system. Also, general manager Joe Douglas added playmakers on both sides of the ball during the offseason and in training camp.

On the defensive side, the Jets added talent and depth up front, at linebacker and in the back end to address last year’s deficiencies. They could have six new starters on defense in Week 1.

One of the most important additions came from inside their own building. Edge rusher Carl Lawson is back after missing all of last season with a ruptured Achilles and has been causing havoc in practices.

The Jets are being cautious with Lawson, their big signing from 2020, in the preseason. He hasn’t played in either game. The Jets have given Lawson veteran rest days, which he reluctantly takes. He wasn’t happy that he didn’t play in the first preseason game.

Saleh said sometimes the Jets have to “protect Carl from Carl” because he’s full throttle all the time. The Jets want him to be strong and healthy for the regular season.

Based on how he has disrupted the Jets’ offense in practice and the Falcons during last week’s joint practice, Lawson looks as if he should be a force in this 4-3 front. He’s still working out some of the rust from having a year off, but the Jets believe he’ll return to form.

“He’s a guy, you got to kick him out of the building,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. “He’s always working on his game, his pass rush, his timing and all those things. A year off and you’re bound to be a little bit rusty. The timing is bound to be off a little bit. He is starting to find that again.

“As we get closer to the season, he’ll get closer to what he really is.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.