I wouldn't put too much stock in power rankings of any kind, let alone rankings in the pre-season. IMO our defense is every bit as good if not better than it was last year. Not sure if many of the teams near the top of the list (i.e. Baltimore minus Suggs) can claim the same.
Don't forget that the Jet's offense had a LOT of drives that ended very quickly - in other words, they sucked. The stats ended being respectable b/c they did very well in the red zone. The fact remains that the Jets D spend a lot of time on the field and had to be exhausted by the 4th qtr in many games. Are there any stats that show points scored against the Jets D by qtr last year?
Don't forget the crippling fumbles on special teams. Seemed like there was one every game with opponent starting a drive in the red zone.
Or the average field position when they took the field...I would be interested in knowing that as well. If we're having a lot of three and outs, fumbles, etc. then unless our special teams is exceptional we're probably give up pretty bad field position fairly frequently.
All I was doing was posting the adjusted DVOA. Its a pretty good snapshot of how good the defense is. The offense was just saw incredibly putrid last year it made the defense look worse. When you step back and look at the stats the defense did a nice job last year...especially with how bad our safeties were.
shhh don't use big fancy-sounding stats. it will cause his tiny peanut brain to blow up from all the overload.
And why is yardage so important? Last year the Pats gave up less points than the Jets, created more turnovers and had a better red zone defense. If the Jets so-called elite defense made a few stops/big plays against the Pats (1st game), Broncos, Giants and Phins they easily would have made the playoffs last year.
I don't care what those #s said, I use my eyes. I have posted about it all offseason, our O was obviously not very good and put the d in some bad spots but that doesn't absolve the D from playing as poorly as they did.
You are right and I don't think there was much difference btw our Ds last year despite the huge difference in yds allowed ranking(people want to use the excuse about Tos from the O skewing pts allowed but what about those TOs meaning less plays for opposing Os skewing our yardage #?)
When you have a QB turning the ball over like he did and giving up points, its tough to blame the defense If you think the D was poor last year, then what was the offense? DVOA is a good stat. Im sorry you dont want to hear it.
The Jets aren't an elite defense if you look at the talent. They basically have two star cornerbacks and a very good inside linebacker and then everybody else is on the cusp of becoming a good player or a solid journeyman or a young player who is still in the question. The safeties this year are a huge wildcard in determining where the Jets stand. If LaRon Landry can stay healthy the Jets have a real chance to be an elite defense. If Yeremiah Bell can manage the transition to being an over the top safety and play well in his early 30's then the Jets have a chance to be an elite defense. As it stands I expect the Jets to drop again to maybe 8th or 9th in the NFL in total defense. That would be right about where the list above puts them.
I don't need stats to tell me what my eyes saw. Sure the O put them in some bad spots but they played poorly a majority of the season and had a couple of great games(Jax, KC) to skew the #s. at oak: blew 17-7 lead, after O cut deficit to 7 w/ 5 1/2 to play D allowed Oak's O to go on 3 min drive and kick FG to stretch lead to 10 and end game. at NE: O cuts deficit to 6 w/ 7 mins left D allows NE O to control ball for 6 mins and kick FG to end game. vs. NE: w/ 9-6 lead NE gets ball at their 20 w/ just over a min in 1st half, D allows NE to go 80 yds in less than a minute to score TD. We pull w/in a TD early in 4th qtr, what does the D do? allows NE to go on 7 min TD drive to make it 14 pt game. at den: after shutting Den down all game allows Tim tebow to go 95 yds in final minutes- couldn't even hold them to a FG to send it to OT. NYG: Up 703, 3rd and 10 from 1 yd line allows 99 yd TD pass to change the game and seasons for both teams. at Mia: allows matt Moore to lead 20+ play drive running off almost 13 minutes. The O was worse than the D but the D was not good.
I also love when people demand that you must take away the points off of offensive turnovers to fix the Jets defensive ranking in PPG but don't do the same for the rest of the league. The Jets offense isn't the only one that scored for the wrong team. NE did too. Same goes for offensive PPG, I know my team had at least 2 pick 6's and a FF returned for TD as well as a punt return that all counts in favor of scoring "offense". ...but almost every other team can say they scored on D/ST as well so you can't simply adjust one team and ignore everyone else. I don't think the Jets would remain at 20th in defensive PPG once adjusted along with the rest of the league, but I don't think they'd jump as many spots as most of you believe they would.
QFT- The Jets defense is better than the stats show IMO. The offense did not control the clock at all. The Ground and Pound is the way the Jets return to getting 10+ wins.
Agree. no way this is an elite defense - even during 09-10, it was a very good defense but not elite. we need them back to 09/10 style for team success.
Defense will be much better this year. Ryan is focusing a lot more on the D this summer compared to last summer.
I think that from a public opinion standpoint, the Jets are right where we'd like them to be. Let them be underrated and underestimated. Its much better than the alternative. History shows us that in the NFL, (where public opinion basically runs from "jump on the band-wagon" when you're up and "kick 'em" when you're down) its a curse, especially for the Jets, to be regarded highly. The D will surprise the writer of the story in the OP (and his ilk) at least early on.
Time consuming drives at the most inopportune point of the game killed the Jets in '11. Let's hope that the speed & age upgrade from the draft will pay off.
