New York Jets Defense Falling Short of Playoff Expectations in 2 Straight Losses

It all started with 3rd-and-17.

Up until that fateful play, with 10:46 left in the fourth quarter of the New York Jets' Week 7 loss to the New England Patriots, the Jets defense had been a suffocating unit. Two Tom Brady touchdown drives later, the Jets were handed their second loss of the season and were handed a new job: prove they could still play a dominant level of defense.

In losing 34-20 to the Oakland Raiders in Week 8, it would be an understatement to say that they fell short of that task.

Make no mistake, the Jets defense still has the talent to get back on track. In Weeks 1 thru 7, the Jets lived up to the hype that's expected of a talent-laden defense. They spent exorbitant amounts of money to replenish their talent pool in the secondary and used a first-round pick to draft another stud defensive lineman. This is a defense that already had one of—if not—the best defensive lines in football.

You can imagine the surprise, then, when the Raiders marched down the field with one long drive after another. Ten plays, 68 yards. Ten plays, 76 yards. Five play, 78 yards. And that's just the Raiders' first three drives of the game. Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News noted how poorly the Jets' defense played:

You can imagine the consternation when Raiders running back Latavius Murray ran the ball down the Jets' throat on 20 carries for 113 yards, more than one-third of the Jets' six-game defensive rushing total in one game.

You can imagine the shock when Raiders quarterback Derek Carr looked like the second coming of Jim Plunkett in the first half, with 14 completions on 18 throws for 178 yards, three touchdowns and a 147.5 passer rating. The second-year quarterback finished with 23 completions on 36 throws for 333 yards, four touchdowns and a 130.9 passer rating.

Games	Per game average, Weeks 1-7	Week 8 vs. Raiders
Points	17.5	34
Yards	283.2	451
Pass yards	211.7	333
Yards/attempt	5.6	9.3
Rush yards	71.5	118
Yards/attempt	3.4	4.7
First downs	16.8	21
Touchdowns	1.7	4

The Raiders offense had 13 first downs in the first half and finished with 21 first downs in the game. 

All of those numbers add up to the worst performance by the Jets defense this season. That's the highest passer rating and the most first downs the Jets have given up in a game all season long. 

Just when it didn't seem it could get any worse than 3rd-and-17, it just got a whole lot worse. At least last week was just one quarter's worth of a bad performance by the Jets defense; this week was nearly a full 60 minutes worth of bad performances. 

The Raiders' first punt of the game was with 7:44 remaining in the fourth quarter. That's what happens when a combination of a lack of pressure and bad coverage meet poor tackling. And speaking of bad coverage and poor tackling, the Taiwan Jones TD catch—highlights courtesy of the NFL—was a great illustration:

Thus, head coach Todd Bowles had no choice but to be very matter-of-fact with regard to his defense's performance.

"We didn't do anything right," he postulated.

"They didn't play good," he added.

There just isn't much else to say. 

Sure, we'll learn more about what exactly went wrong when the Jets get an opportunity to review the film, but much of the problem was plainly seen on the field on Sunday. A lack of fundamentals led to a lack of execution. The Jets were sloppy in their tackling, they didn't play with good technique at the line of scrimmage to get pressure and close gaps up front and their coverage unit was injury-depleted.

The Jets squandered an opportunity to prove that they have what it takes to respond to adversity on a consistent basis, but if there was ever an opportunity to get right, it will be next week in the comfort of MetLife Stadium against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

There isn't much time for the Jets to square it all away, and they'll have to do it on the fly. They don't have the comfort of a bye week to help them secure all the leaks in their ship. 

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release.