First, let’s state the obvious: every team needs an aggressive defense. But more than most the Jets need that side of the ball to come up big for them. Why? Well, what else do they have?
Granted, eight games into the Geno Smith era, the Jets have found an upgrade at the quarterback position over Mark Sanchez—just not a consistent one.
The rookie Smith shows flashes of a great deep ball, good scrambling ability, and some great overall crunch-time toughness. After all, three of the team’s four wins are courtesy last-minute drives engineered by Smith.
But Smith also showed in last week’s 49–9 loss to the Bengals that sometimes, for whatever reason, he just doesn’t have it—at all.
Meanwhile the running game with Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell is a bit of an upgrade over last year’s backs Shonn Greene and Joe McKnight, but is unable to carry an offense—especially if the team is in a hole.
A hole is where they’ll be Sunday if they don’t stop Drew Brees and the Saints offense early and often.
New Orleans is fifth in the NFL in scoring at 28.0 points per game. To put that in perspective the Jets have scored 28 points in regulation a whopping one time this season.
To win, the defense (and especially their talented D-line) is going to have to pressure, pressure, and pressure again Drew Brees to keep the game close enough for Smith to work his late-game magic.
That has to be their game plan. It’s the only thing that’s worked this season.
Now, is that kind of plan (lopsided toward the defense) fair to the defense? Of course it is. That side of the ball is where the team has spent a lot of their draft resources.
The Jets have spent their last five first-round draft picks on defensive players and their head coach may be the best defensive mind in the game. This is their plan. And at 4–4 with a rookie quarterback, it’s actually working out.
While 2010 first-round pick Kyle Wilson has yet to turn any heads at the cornerback position, several first-round-picked defensive linemen are.
In the first round of 2011, the Jets took Muhammad Wilkerson who has seven sacks through eight games this season and is well on his way to his first Pro Bowl.
The team’s 2012 first-rounder, Quinton Coples, led the Jets in sacks last season (5.5) though he has yet to be the same impact thus far in 2013.
In the 2013 draft the team hit the jackpot again getting defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson 13th overall. Richardson has 37 total tackles, including 2.5 sacks and has been a menace on run-defense. He and Wilkerson are the biggest reasons why the Jets are fifth in total defense at 305 yards per game, despite the loss of game-changing cornerback Darrelle Revis.
While Revis’s replacement, 2013 first-round pick Dee Milliner, has yet to get untracked thanks to some injuries, his future still looks bright.
In short, defense is where the talent lies on the Jets. That is how they have to win.
