There problems on defense, but it wasn't all bad

The breakdowns on the Jets defense were plentiful, especially in the passing game.

Although the Jets defense got picked on by Chad Henne and Brandon Marshall, it held on in the end and made the plays necessary to get the win. Chief among the good things for the Jets was stopping the Dolphins' wildcat offense. 

"We studied the wildcat a lot from last year's Monday night game," said defensive end Bryan Thomas. "They tried the wildcat, not as much as they did in the previous games, but we were prepared for it."

The Dolphins finished with just 84 yards rushing, a far cry from the 255 rushing yards the Fins piled up in two games against the Jets last year.

The pass defense was an entirely different story. The Jets were repeatedly beat by Marshall (166 yards), Davone Best (86) and  Brian Hartline (84). Those three combined for 336 yards receiving. 

Thomas attributed some of the breakdowns to a lack of communication.

"A lot of things were just getting the communication down on a lot of the pass defense. You have to give Miami credit, those guys were moving up and down the field. We just have to get the communication down right."

In the end, the Jets made the plays necessary, including Eric Smith's blocked punt that led to a field goal and Drew Coleman's interception in the end zone to halt the Dolphins' final drive.

"They were moving the ball pretty well on us, like they were doing the whole second half," Smith said of the Dolphins' final drive. "To get down there inside the five, take a stand on fourth down and keep them out of the end zone and win the game...It was a big play for us and we felt good about it."

The win felt great, but no one was ready to start ordering any Super Bowl rings yet.

"Overall the defense felt like we played pretty lousy," said Smith. 

Darrelle Revis' absence? Was that a factor?

"It's hard to say if it would've been any different is Revis was there, because we weren't necessarily executing the defense the way we wanted to," Smith said. "We would've loved to have had him, but the guys we had out there played well, we just didn't necessarily make the plays we needed to all the time."