It was quite evident in Thursday’s loss to the New England Patriots that the New York Jets’ torn-down defense is outmatched against their AFC East rivals.
After watching their offense begin the game on a 14-play, 72-yard touchdown drive that lasted over eight minutes of game action, Gang Green’s defense struggled to get off the field for the rest of the night.
New England scored points on five of nine possessions (with one ending in a missed field goal), went 6-for-12 on third down, and never turned the ball over. Following the opening drive, New York was outscored 27-7 for the remainder of the game against the AFC leaders.
There were many reasons why the Jets struggled on the road Thursday night. Chief among them, though, was a defense that couldn’t get off the field and made things too easy for the Patriots’ young signal-caller.
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New England’s 2025 rookie class dominated New York’s once-vaunted defense. Running back TreVeyon Henderson scored three times, and first-round rookie tackle Will Campbell shut down the Jets’ pass rush.
The worst sign of the Jets’ struggles on Thursday, though, came through the secondary. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye completed his first 11 passes on his way to 281 yards and a 107.6 passer rating.
To head coach Aaron Glenn, the worst part of his defense’s performance was the lack of communication. On several occasions, Patriots receivers were left wide open over the middle of the field against New York’s zone scheme.
Glenn wasn’t thrilled.
“It was a number of plays where guys were running, and that bothers me,” Glenn said. “That can’t be a part of who we are. It was unacceptable.”
New York’s secondary was torched on Thursday, but an underrated part of the concern was the pass rush. Less than five days after recording six sacks in a win over Cleveland, the Jets failed to get consistent pressure against Maye and New England’s offense.
It was a key reason why the entire unit struggled.
“We were back there a couple times to make it and just missed the plays,” Glenn said. “That’s something we got to do a better job of is finishing.”
READ MORE: In Jets’ loss to Pats, we learned what we already knewAll three levels of New York’s defense struggled on Thursday. There aren’t many easy solutions to their troubles. At the top of the list, though, figuring out how to force turnovers could shift how the unit looks from a long-term perspective.
Philosophical changes
Despite the loss, there were some good things the Jets defense put forth on tape. They held the Patriots’ rushing offense to under three yards per attempt and limited New England to 3-for-5 in the red zone.
But there are philosophical issues plaguing the unit heading into their mini-bye week.
Through 10 games to start their season, the Jets have just a single takeaway. They do not have an interception, which would be unheard of in NFL history if maintained for the full season.
In order to fix that, Jets linebacker Quincy Williams pushed for a full change in how the unit operates.
“It’s not good enough,” Williams said. “I am going be honest with you, having our mindset now on takeaways is going to be the way we win. Also, scoring on defense, and then getting the ball to the offense as many times as possible.”
Forcing turnovers has been an issue for the Jets over the last few years, even when the group was rated as one of the best total defenses in the league through 2022 and 2023. Until that changes, New York’s defensive unit will continue to be capped in its potential when compared to some of the elite units in the game.
New York is no longer talented enough to be successful on defense without forcing turnovers. Until they start making opponents struggle with mistakes, Thursday’s loss to the Patriots will continue to happen moving forward.
