New York Jets: What We Learned from Their 31-27 Loss on Monday

(Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)

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.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?