There is a potential problem facing the Jets on Monday night when they play the Cardinals: themselves.
The Jets, 1-4 and losers of three straight, have spent more time beating themselves with breakdowns in the secondary than they have doing things to defeat their opponents.
Through five games, there are tread marks all over the backs of every one of the Jets defensive backs, who have had a hand in yielding a league-high eight pass plays of 60 or more yards.
All five quarterback who have faced the Jets? defense, which was supposed to be the team?s strength, have posted a passer rating of 100 or better. This is positively inexcusable ? particularly for a team whose head coach, Todd Bowles, is a former NFL defensive back.
Opposing quarterbacks have looked like they?re playing 9-on-7 drills in practice, completing an astounding 71.7 percent of their passes for 1,599 yards, a robust 9.2 yards per pass attempt, with 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions and a rating of 118.6.
A passer rating of 118.6 not only gets quarterbacks into the Pro Bowl but, if sustained over time, into the Hall of Fame.
The most recent quarterback clinic put on against the Jets defense came from Pittsburgh?s Ben Roethlisberger, who played pitch-and-catch to the tune of 34-of-47 for 380 yards with four TDs and no INTs.
And, had Steelers receiver Sammie Coates not dropped three passes, two of which would have gone for TDs, those numbers would have been even more obscene. Still, Coates set the tone for the 31-13 Jets loss when he torched Jets cornerback Marcus Williams on a 72-yard TD catch-and-run on the third play of the game.
Yet, speaking to reporters on Thursday, defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers said the secondary ?made great strides?? against the Steelers.
(Insert your own punch line here.)
The secondary has bordered on being non-competitive at times. And that is a frightening prospect against the Cardinals, who get back starting quarterback Carson Palmer on Monday after missing last week with a concussion.
Palmer is one of the best deep-ball passers in the game, having completed 66 passes for 20 or more yards and 15 for 40 or more yards in 2015. And, to aggressive Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians, throwing deep is like a drug to him. He cannot get enough.
?They can be a matchup nightmare,? Rodgers said.
Larry Fitzgerald, who has 31 catches and five TDs this season, is the top Cardinals receiver and a beast to cover. But, as good as Fitzgerald is, John Brown (19 catches, 13-yard average) and Michael Floyd (12 catches, 14.2-yard average, two TDs) are bigger deep threats.
What is scary about the Cardinals is that they actually have struggled completing long passes this season, and feel like they?re about to break out. Not good news for the Jets if that happens.
No one from the Cardinals would concede to it publicly, but they have to be licking their collective chops watching Jets film.
?It?s too hard to think it?s going to be easy,?? Palmer said. ?As soon as you do that, [Muhammad] Wilkerson or [Leonard] Williams or one of these guys up front makes a play when you should have taken the check-down and you?re trying to take the big ball.
?This is a very good defense with one of the best defensive coordinators, that?s the head coach [Bowles], that there is in this league, and we know that very well. It?s not going to be easy.?
Fitzgerald said there are ?a lot of different things you can point to?? when examining the Jets? big-play issues.
?But, they?re going to get it together,?? Fitzgerald said, ?Todd?s too good of a coach and they have the personnel not to. We?re just hoping it?s not going to be this week when they figure it out. Hopefully they figure it out next week.??
Both Palmer and Fitzgerald said these things with straight faces and an earnest sound to their voices. But the film does not lie, and neither do the numbers.
The Jets, 1-4 and losers of three straight, have spent more time beating themselves with breakdowns in the secondary than they have doing things to defeat their opponents.
Through five games, there are tread marks all over the backs of every one of the Jets defensive backs, who have had a hand in yielding a league-high eight pass plays of 60 or more yards.
All five quarterback who have faced the Jets? defense, which was supposed to be the team?s strength, have posted a passer rating of 100 or better. This is positively inexcusable ? particularly for a team whose head coach, Todd Bowles, is a former NFL defensive back.
Opposing quarterbacks have looked like they?re playing 9-on-7 drills in practice, completing an astounding 71.7 percent of their passes for 1,599 yards, a robust 9.2 yards per pass attempt, with 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions and a rating of 118.6.
A passer rating of 118.6 not only gets quarterbacks into the Pro Bowl but, if sustained over time, into the Hall of Fame.
The most recent quarterback clinic put on against the Jets defense came from Pittsburgh?s Ben Roethlisberger, who played pitch-and-catch to the tune of 34-of-47 for 380 yards with four TDs and no INTs.
And, had Steelers receiver Sammie Coates not dropped three passes, two of which would have gone for TDs, those numbers would have been even more obscene. Still, Coates set the tone for the 31-13 Jets loss when he torched Jets cornerback Marcus Williams on a 72-yard TD catch-and-run on the third play of the game.
Yet, speaking to reporters on Thursday, defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers said the secondary ?made great strides?? against the Steelers.
(Insert your own punch line here.)
The secondary has bordered on being non-competitive at times. And that is a frightening prospect against the Cardinals, who get back starting quarterback Carson Palmer on Monday after missing last week with a concussion.
Palmer is one of the best deep-ball passers in the game, having completed 66 passes for 20 or more yards and 15 for 40 or more yards in 2015. And, to aggressive Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians, throwing deep is like a drug to him. He cannot get enough.
?They can be a matchup nightmare,? Rodgers said.
Larry Fitzgerald, who has 31 catches and five TDs this season, is the top Cardinals receiver and a beast to cover. But, as good as Fitzgerald is, John Brown (19 catches, 13-yard average) and Michael Floyd (12 catches, 14.2-yard average, two TDs) are bigger deep threats.
What is scary about the Cardinals is that they actually have struggled completing long passes this season, and feel like they?re about to break out. Not good news for the Jets if that happens.
No one from the Cardinals would concede to it publicly, but they have to be licking their collective chops watching Jets film.
?It?s too hard to think it?s going to be easy,?? Palmer said. ?As soon as you do that, [Muhammad] Wilkerson or [Leonard] Williams or one of these guys up front makes a play when you should have taken the check-down and you?re trying to take the big ball.
?This is a very good defense with one of the best defensive coordinators, that?s the head coach [Bowles], that there is in this league, and we know that very well. It?s not going to be easy.?
Fitzgerald said there are ?a lot of different things you can point to?? when examining the Jets? big-play issues.
?But, they?re going to get it together,?? Fitzgerald said, ?Todd?s too good of a coach and they have the personnel not to. We?re just hoping it?s not going to be this week when they figure it out. Hopefully they figure it out next week.??
Both Palmer and Fitzgerald said these things with straight faces and an earnest sound to their voices. But the film does not lie, and neither do the numbers.
