Following a lopsided 31-6 loss to the Arizona Cardinals as 1.5-point road favorites, the New York Jets travel back home to host Anthony Richardson and the 4-6 Indianapolis Colts for their Week 11 clash.
While speaking to the media ahead of Sunday’s contest, offensive play-caller Todd Downing admitted the Jets’ offense has had a “little bit of a lull” in their “attitude or approach” when things have not gone their way.
“I think there can be just the natural human instinct that if things aren’t going your way, that you have a little bit of a lull in your attitude or approach,” Downing said. “And so, we’re always fighting that thing. The guys would tell you I’m obnoxiously enthusiastic and positive throughout the week. I really believe that you can talk yourself into some success, and we certainly have the talent. We just need to get out there and have the mindset that things will eventually go our way and not have that feeling of here we go again. Or, man, we’re snakebitten or cursed or something like that. We just need to go out there with the joy of a kid playing this game and believe that it’s going to turn on.”
Downing talked about the X’s-and-O’s of why New York was held without a touchdown in Arizona.
“I don’t think we were effectively able to get them [the Cardinals] out of their soft zone coverages by making them pay with some underneath stuff that would have produced some catchy runs and things of that nature,” Downing added. “So, they were really playing an umbrella defense. And then second, we did a decent job, I would say, on first and second down, of sustaining the early part of drives, but we didn’t make them pay for it. And so it became a recipe for them that the bend doesn’t break was effective, and we’ve got to chase them out of that.”
Looking forward to Week 11, Downing broke down what he sees from the Indianapolis Colts’ defense on film.
“The thing that jumps off the tape is just a great discipline of their scheme,” said Downing. “They understand the ins and outs of their system, and they do a great job of trying to take away the things that you would try to design to beat it. So we’re going to have to be on our p’s and q’s. We’re going to have to be on our timing and spacing. They do a great job in the run game, taking you off double teams. They do a great job of taking away windows in the play pass game. So we’re going to have to be on our details to be successful.”
During last Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals, the Jets offense posted multiple long drives, marching the ball 40+ yards on four of their six drives and 60+ yards on three of the six. However, they converted those four drives into just six points and zero touchdowns.
Downing and the Jets return home for the 4-6 Colts, hopeful that renewed energy and attention to detail can spark success on Sunday against an Indianapolis defense allowing the fourth-most yards per game in the NFL.
