This was ugly.

This was the equivalent of watching "Halloween" movies on a 24-hour loop.

If you are Rex Ryan and the New York Jets on a very long flight home, you might look out the window of the plane, look at the night's sky turning to day, and begin to ask yourself: "What is wrong with this football team?" and "Can I fix this, and fix it fast."

Hence, Ryan's first real challenge as head coach of the NYJ. His Jets were exposed like a baseball player caught for using steroids last night in Miami, as the Dolphins ran all over the Jets "vaunted" defense for 409 yards, with Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, and Chad Henne doing all, if not most, of the damage.

The Dolphins ran a ton of plays out of the wild cat formation, with either Brown or Ricky Williams lined up behind center. When this happened, either Brown or Williams would take himself right down the middle of the Jets defense for chunks of yards, or flip and lateral the ball to someone else, who would streak down through space and stretch for a first down.

Defending the wild cat is no easy task, but there is no reason to not eventually figure it out and put a stop to it. Hence the problem, the Dolphins used max protection on the offensive line. They doubled up Kris Jenkins, sent an extra man, i.e. the fullback to block the outside linebacker, and created slivers of penetration for Brown and Williams.

At times, it looked like a Jets defender would get to either back and tackle them for no gain or a lose, but then Brown and Williams would kick it into a second gear, and, snap, they were gone dancing into the secondary. It doesn't help matters either when the opposing offensive line does a great job in help, by pushing Jet players out of the way at the last second to make a tiny little hole into a gaping one.

Therefore, there is reason for concern.

Any opponent the Jets play for the rest of the year, including the seemingly toothless Buffalo Bills who travel to Giants Stadium next Sunday, will likely use max protection formations on the offensive line.

Not only did max protection allow the Dolphins to run wild all night long, but it allowed Chad Henne to stand in the pocket and deliver one deadly strike after another.

Speaking of Henne, who did a fantastic job leading Miami's offensive surge, he seemed to have figured out the Jets blitz. Most quarterbacks take a seven-step drop in the pocket before delivering the football. Not Henne. At least not last night anyhow. Henne took a lot of three-step drops with quick precise releases to receivers underneath.

Ever hear of the term "Live by the Blitz, Die by the Blitz?"

Well, the Jets were an example of that all night on Monday. At times the Jets sent just about everyone after Henne, who took just a couple a drops back into the pocket and released the ball quickly, i.e. a screen pass to Williams in the first quarter that went for about 50 plus yards to the Jets 17 yard line to set up a Miami field goal and a 10-7 lead. 

Where do the Jets go from here?

Everyone will now use max protection on the offensive line, and instruct their quarterbacks to release the ball as soon as possible against the Jets blitz happy schemes.

Plus, if a team has multiple running backs, like Buffalo does in Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson, then it will be imperative for them to swing their backs to the outside on quick bubble screens, and to perhaps even use the "wild cat" formation against Gang Green. They just can't defend it right now, until they see Miami again in two and a half weeks.

What they should do is blitz a little less. That's right blitz a little less.

Dropping guys back into coverage, and rushing only three or four is not a terrible scheme. It forces the quarterback to look around to all of his reads, and when he can't find anything usually succumbs to the pressure up front.

Secondly, and this is the most disturbing fact about the Jets efforts in Miami last night.

They need the Jet fans' support like a overly dependent teenager.

At many times last night, it seemed that the Jets just couldn't muster up enough energy to beat up on the Dolphins, who not only had a building full of crazed fans, but Gloria Estephan, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Dwayne Wade, and for some strange and odd reason, Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson in the owner's booth cheering the Miami Dolphins on. I guess Ocho Cinco loves the color orange, since the Dolphins decided to dress up like the Miami Hurricanes last night.

The reason I bring this up has to do with a simple statistic. At Giants Stadium, the Jets are 2-0. Away from it the Jets are 1-2.

As a season ticket holder, I have seen how loud Giants Stadium could get when Jet fans back their football team. Against the Patriots, the entire team credited the fans for creating a hostile, loud, and totally obnoxious atmosphere in the building making it impossible for Tom Brady to call plays and communicate with his offensive coordinator. As a result the Jets beat New England 16-9, as the defense harassed Brady throughout the afternoon. 

The following week, the Meadowlands was not as loud as the Patriots game, but when the Jets needed their fans to back them in the fourth quarter against a potential Titans surge, the fans once again stood up, and willed the defense to victory.

This is not exactly a good formula for success. Sure a team wants to win at home, but at some point the Jets have to show some determination on the road, look around see all of the celebrities in the visiting dug out, smirk like an assassin, and say to themselves, "Boy wouldn't it be sweat to shut these people up?"

Instead, the Jets allowed the Dolphins to impose their will against them, and never matched the intensity of the night. They can't rely on Jet fans to push them; the Jets have to push themselves if they want to be a good team.

Offensively, the Jets did a fantastic job. Braylon Edwards is a breath of fresh air that the Jets have not had in a long, long time. He made several acrobatic catches that would not have been made by the typical midget Jets receiver, i.e. his leaping catch at mid field to convert a third down in the second quarter, and his incredible goal line catch that set up a Jets touchdown.

Mark Sanchez looked comfortable in the pocket. He didn't turn the ball over, and protected the football much better than he did a week ago in New Orleans. Still, he completed only 50 percent of his passes, but that figure should go up, so there should be no worries there.

The Jets running game showed some signs of life, as Thomas Jones has 42 yards on just 13 carries with two touchdowns, while Leon Washington appeared to have a head of steam when he touched the football, rushing for 44 yards on 10 carries. The one caveat is that the Jets got away from the run, and decided to fling the ball around the ball park, and play a shoot out, instead of slowing the game down in the fourth quarter, and give their defense a chance to rest.

If the Jets had committed to run, and slowed down this football game, maybe, just maybe they could have prevailed. 

Either way, this will be a big two weeks for Gang Green. They have to take the Bills and Raiders behind the proverbial woodshed, if not, then this is a flawed football team. If the Jets should win their next two games and get to 4-2, expect an all out blood bath at Giants Stadium against the Dolphins, the day after Halloween.