It’s high time we gave the New York Jets their just due. This is a very good football team under new head coach Todd Bowles, and it has a great chance of challenging for a playoff berth come season’s end if the offensive weapons can stay healthy. What really sets the Jets apart from their competitors is their defense.
New York Jets Defense Could Make Them Champions
Thus far, in two games, the Jets have easily handled both opponents. In Week 1, it was the Cleveland Browns succumbing to New York’s excellence by a score of 31-10. With the score just 14-10 at halftime, the Jets outscored Cleveland 17-0 in the second half, cruising to victory.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick led a quality attack, but it was the Jets defense that dismantled the Browns. After knocking out Cleveland starting quarterback Josh McCown after just eight passes attempted, Johnny Manziel came in off the bench. He completed just 13 of his 24 attempts, although he did connect on a long touchdown to Travis Benjamin. Outside of the Benjamin bomb, the Browns barely cracked 260 total yards from scrimmage.
The defense also went to work in more prominent areas, registering three sacks, four forced fumbles and an interception. If not for an injury to cornerback Antonio Cromartie, it would have been an all-around satisfying performance.
On the offensive end, Fitzpatrick was good but not great. He was as good as he needed to be to win this one, which is all the Jets need from their quarterback week to week. Fitzpatrick threw two touchdowns, one to each of his big-play receivers, Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. On the ground for NY, Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell combined to rush it 32 times for 153 yards, nearly 4.8 yards per carry.
Not much was expected of the Browns this season though. How much value could really be put in that Jets win? The real test came in Week 2, when New York traveled to Indianapolis to face the Super Bowl-hopeful Colts.
In this one, Fitzpatrick and the offense were again good enough because the defense was peerless. The Jets had the Colts’ number at all three levels. The front four created havoc in the backfield and stunted runners. The linebackers disrupted everything in the middle. The secondary gave no space to any receivers all game long. It was a trouncing.
Winning 20-7 in this league is impressive enough with the way the rules favor offensive production. Doing so against Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton and what was supposed to be perhaps the best offense in football is a whole other story. Luck was poor, although he rarely had time and his receivers failed to create space. The ground game was even worse behind Frank Gore and company. The crowd was waiting all game for the Colts to get their act together and start putting up points; it simply never happened.
The Jets defense recovered two more fumbles and picked off Luck three times. Through two games now, New York has an uncanny ten turnovers. No other team has forced more than seven, and NY’s plus-8 turnover margin is also first in football and three more than any other squad.
This is all happening without the services of Pro Bowl defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson. But even if Richardson never plays another down of football for the Jets (which seems plausible, even likely), the team is in great shape. Up front, the attack is led by Muhammad Wilkerson, Damon Harrison and rookie Leonard Williams. The linebacker corps is anchored by David Harris and Demario Davis. The secondary has unparalleled depth with Darrelle Revis, Cromartie and Buster Skrine each capable of covering top-flight receivers one-on-one.
It’s all there for New York, at least on the defensive side. On offense, it still remains to be seen if this team can generate scoring drives when a game is on the line. Fitzpatrick was once again okay in the season’s second week. He was aided by a decimated Indianapolis secondary. The Jets’ ground attack scuffled though in Week 2 and receiver Eric Decker exited the game with an injury.
If Decker misses any length of time, the onus falls on a number of very inexperienced wide receivers to pick up the slack. They won’t have a franchise quarterback to lean on either. The good thing for New York is, thanks to its schedule, an elite defense and competent offense may be enough to make the playoffs in 2015.
The Jets begin to face the members of the NFC East beginning this week against Philadelphia. That division is crumbling into perhaps the worst division in football. In addition, NY faces the weaker members of the other AFC divisions in the Raiders, Jaguars, Texans and Titans (having already played Cleveland). Outside of rivalry games against its AFC East foes, there are no dreadfully tough games on the entire calendar.
We still need to see more before anointing New York as one of the conference’s better clubs. But through two weeks, few teams have looked better and no one has a better defense than what the Jets are throwing out there.
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