New York Jets: What You Need to Know Heading into Week 12

It's back to the drawing board for the New York Jets, who have set a new standard for inconsistency following a blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Geno Smith and the secondary will get most of the blame for the turnovers and big plays allowed, but just about every player had at least a small hand in this loss.

Heck, even Nick Folk had an "off" day after missing his first field-goal kick of the season.

As bad as the loss was, the Jets are still in control of their own destiny and have shown the ability to rebound nicely after blowout losses. The troubling fact for the Jets is that no one knows if they are more like the gritty team that has pulled out close wins or the squad that has been blown out by mediocre teams.

Division Standings

Losing a division game is never a good result for a team in the middle of a playoff push, but all things considered, the Jets came out of this loss with their playoff odds relatively unscathed.

Team	Wins	Losses	Points For	Points Against
New England Patriots	7	3	254	199
New York Jets	5	5	183	268
Miami Dolphins	5	5	213	225
Buffalo Bills	4	7	236	273

Outside of their own loss to the Bills, the biggest negative to come out of this week was that the Miami Dolphins won—but it was over the San Diego Chargers, who are in the middle of the race with the Jets for the final AFC wild-card spot.

The Indianapolis Colts gave the Jets some added help by knocking off the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football.

Despite the New England Patriots' loss to the Carolina Panthers on Monday night, given their track record and the Jets' inability to string together wins, they are still the heavy favorites to win the division with two games on the Jets. 

This week's results, however, make next week's meeting with the Baltimore Ravens as important as ever. At 4-6, the desperate Ravens would push themselves right back into the playoff hunt with a win over the Jets, drawing themselves tied with the current leader for the wild-card spot. 

For the Jets, on the other hand, a win would not only put them one win closer to the playoffs, but it would virtually knock out a potential contender by sending the Ravens to 4-7.

Injury Report

Player	Injury	Did They Play vs. Bills?
Santonio Holmes	Hamstring	Yes
Jeremy Kerley	Elbow	No
Jeff Cumberland	Concussion	Yes
Garrett McIntyre	Knee	No

Perhaps the only positive the Jets can take away from this game is the fact that they walked out of Ralph Wilson stadium with their health intact. 

There was a scary moment early in the game in which Geno Smith took a nasty hit to the rib area, but he missed just one play and finished the game. 

However, based on his play after that point, it may be a safe assumption that the hit he took had a rippling effect on his performance for the rest of the game. Smith simply did not look comfortable and was a bit more timid than usual, which contributed to the turnovers he committed.

Otherwise, the Jets had a clean sheet in the health department following this week. Santonio Holmes, who was a question mark leading up to the game with a hamstring injury, suffered no setbacks and should continue to get healthier with each passing week.

What Must Improve: Pass Protection

Geno Smith is on thin ice after his turnover-laced performance but was given horrid pass protection all afternoon.

The Jets were beaten on everything from exotic blitzes to simple defensive line stunts. Other times, they were simply beaten in winnable one-on-one situations. 

The Bills defensive line is very talented with players like Marcell Dareus, Kyle Williams and Mario Williams, but allowing free rushers on seemingly every passing down is simply inexcusable. Another team's talent is no excuse for mental mistakes. 

Here, the Bills will blitz a defensive back that is disguising his coverage as a slot receiver. The Jets, not recognizing the disguise, will block defensive tackle Kyle Williams with right guard Willie Colon and use Bilal Powell to give left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson extra help.

The Jets, however, need Powell to pick up the blitz coming from the defensive back, who now has a clear shot at Geno Smith to generate the eventual sack.

It is difficult to pin this type of play on any one person without explicit knowledge of the Jets' protection assignments. It could have been Smith's fault for not changing the protection (most likely), Powell's fault for not seeing the blitz come or even the guard's fault for picking up the wrong player.

Either way, these are the type of breakdowns that were the root of their offensive woes.

What Must Improve: Stephen Hill

After a hot start to the season, second-year receiver Stephen Hill has completely fallen off the map.

The four catches he made against the Cincinnati Bengals came in garbage time. Hill has not caught more than four passes in a game since Week 1.

Prior to last week, it was at least plausible to blame Hill's quiet stretch on the absence of a viable threat opposite him, but his continued disappearance with Santonio Holmes back in the lineup has made it abundantly clear that Hill may never develop into the player the Jets hoped he would become.

Stephen Hill is a speedy athlete that can be dangerous down the field, but opposing teams have clearly figured him out to the point where he is completely ineffective. Hill is simply incapable of running effective shallower routes that eventually open things up down the field, making him as easy to defend as ever.

The good news is, it appears as if the Jets are finally catching on to Hill's ineffectiveness. Rex Ryan did not rule out the possibility of him being benched in his Monday press conference:

Since the current general manager had no business in drafting Hill, Rex has no motivation to leave him in the game if he continues to be unproductive.

Even if Hill is not starting, look for the Jets to use a lot more of a committee approach when filling the wide receiver spot opposite Santonio Holmes.

What Must Improve: Pass Rush

With so many glaring weaknesses in the secondary, the blueprint to beating the Jets is to find a way to slow down their pass rush. 

While this may not be the easiest of tasks, Sunday's game (as well as the game against the Bengals) has made it clear that the Jets are too reliant on their defensive line to blow up plays before they have a chance to feast on the Jets secondary.

Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson were stellar when defending the run, but they underwhelmed when trying to apply a pass rush on EJ Manuel. Neither player recorded a sack, and they were hardly in EJ Manuel's face all game long:

Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the Jets pass rush last week was the ineffectiveness of Quinton Coples. Outside of a few random splash plays, Coples has not been a consistent rusher. His only sack of the season came on a strip sack of Tom Brady that was as much a result of good fortune as it was skill.

With Antwan Barnes out for the season, the Jets need Coples to step up as an edge pass-rusher to give opposing offenses more players to worry about than they can handle.

It may not make a ton of sense to blame the strength of the team for the loss, but the truth is that the Jets need their defensive line to remain dominant while the secondary tries to fix their horrible mess. After all, the Jets have a much better chance of getting a good performanceout of their defensive line than their secondary.