The New York Jets are a bad football team.
This isn’t a hot take or anything new to football fans. Gang Green is Gang Gag and that’s just the way it is going to be this season until they have the resources to rebuild.
However, most of the struggles were expected to come from the offense considering a 38-year-old veteran quarterback in Josh McCown with a career winning percentage of .290.
Granted, New York ranks 26th in the league in total offensive yards gained after two games this season. So there are some things that are true to form.
But the defense was expected to be a tick better than the offense in 2017, though not by leaps and bounds.
Defensive ends Leonard Williams and Muhammad Wilkerson could at least bring pressure around the edge to anchor a somewhat imposing defensive line that also features nose tackle Steve McLendon.
It appeared as though the team also drafted the cornerstone of its secondary in safety Jalen Adams out of LSU. Of course, that might still be the case, but the early returns for this entire unit have been awful.
So awful that the offense is actually the least of their problems.
Head coach Todd Bowles called out the Jets’ defensive line after they surrendered 190 rushing yards to the Buffalo Bills in Week 1. It didn’t do much.
On Sunday against the Oakland Raiders, New York surrendered another 180 on the ground in a 45-20 beatdown that included rushing touchdowns of 43 and 52 yards.
“We’re supposed to be a run-stopping defense,” linebacker Jordan Jenkins said (h/t ESPN.com). “We have to find ways to eliminate that. It’s getting to the point where it’s out of hand.”
The 370 yards and four rushing touchdowns allowed in the first two weeks are both the most in the NFL. It’s not going to get much easier for them either as their Week 3 opponents, the Miami Dolphins, features Jay Ajayi, who rushed for 122 yards in his season debut on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.
While the pass defense has fared somewhat better with 448 yards allowed through the air, the five passing touchdowns given up is tied for third-worst in the league. They haven’t gotten much help from that defensive line though as the pass rush has collected just a pair of sacks so far.
Once the defensive line wakes up, maybe the Jets have a chance to start keeping their opponents off the scoreboard more.
