The improvement in the Jets' pass defense is obvious.
They signed cornerback D.J. Free agency lead and safety Jordan Whitehead, 4th overall draft corner source Gardner, select pass rusher Jermaine Johnson late in the first round, and bring Carl Lawson back to the edge. Defense against passes should be much improved.
But what about running?
The Jets rank 29th in his rushing yards per game in the NFL, giving up an average of 138.3 yards. did. The Lashers were averaging 4.48 yards per carry against the Jets, 24th in the league.
This offseason, the Jets lost his best-run his staffer, his defensive tackle Forolunso his Fatukasi, and never spent a premium of his resources on indoor defensive lines or linebackers. The NFL is now a passing league, but it feels as though the Jets are vulnerable to runs.
But head coach Robert Saleh said his team has beaten the numbers to concede goals in 2021.
Defense in terms of rejecting explosives. For a single high [safety] team like ours, can you get to the second level with a crease and bring it down before you break at 80? 60 breaks and how many big long runs you gave up So from an efficiency standpoint just study it through analysis and all the different stats out there and from an efficiency standpoint we were in the top half of the league in the run game. We gave up, we're one of the worst in terms of explosives over 12 yards.
According to Jets internal stats, they were 22nd in the league for explosive play percentage in runs called (no quarterback scrambles). 10th in tackle for loss, 18th in EPA per play average (expected additional points).
Surrey pointed to explosive play (over 12 yards) as the biggest problem. The Jets only won one game, the Bengals, who didn't give up their explosive play in a run game. They gave up three more and he had seven games.
Their worst performance came against the Colts when they gave up 260 yards rushing, including touchdown runs of 78, 34 and 21 yards.
Saleh said a collective effort was needed in all his three levels of defense to avoid big runs.
"Everyone," said Saleh. "You wrinkle. The crease in the run game is under the secondary, so the last line of defense saves it and keeps it within 12 yards. Once you get past it, you get there. For example, In the Indianapolis game, we gapped out, we missed the gap, we hit at the B gap, we got to the second level and [the secondary] has to save it. I think it's one of the most underrated things to look for in a secondary, great players can keep them under 12, but if you can keep them under 12, run games are always good
The Jets' run defense was Lamar Jackson in Week 1. And the Ravens are one of the hottest teams in the NFL. Jet has some additional features that should come in handy. Whitehead is an active safety around his line of scrimmage, and already in training he's blowing up runs with some big plays in camp. The Jets bolstered their linebacker corps by adding Kwon Alexander to camp.
"I think the big thing is everybody's just doing their job," said defensive tackle Sheldon his Rankins. "It sounds easy, but sadly in some games we go down early and put pressure on our players to play, or our players try to go too far or play not there. There have been many times where I've tried or tried to make a play that I expect them to be there, and then when I get out of the gap it's an 18-yard run or a 30-yard run. is added up over the course of the game.I think it's as easy as a man doing what he's supposed to do.It's not a big secret.It's not a big formula."
