Winning cures all ills, but after a week of celebrating a huge comeback 31-30 win in Cleveland, the Jets’ putrid 27-12 loss to Cincinnati Sunday proved two things: the mistakes Robert Saleh has preached about preventing not only continue, but keep getting worse, and something has to change – and quickly – on a defense that has given up 24, 31, and now 27 points.
“When we watch this tape tomorrow, we have to understand it’s not personal – things have to be fixed, because we’re too talented a team to be having these things happen,” defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins said after the loss.
On the former, well, four turnovers including two fumbles by the quarterback is a line that’s going to happen sometimes, but in a game where the Jets kicked four field goals, they still went 7-for-18 on third down and 0-for-3 on fourth downs that weren’t kicks – and perhaps the worst of the bunch were the multiple turnovers (and one recovered fumble) that happened on third down.
"It is frustrating as hell…any time you turn the ball over four times and get only one takeaway, obviously you're never going to win the game,” Saleh said. “We had opportunities in the second half to try and change momentum, and we've got to be able to take advantage of those."
The Jets also were called for two big penalties that swung the tide: a first-quarter roughing the passer call on John Franklin-Myers that kept a drive alive and led to a Cincinnati touchdown, and then an unsportsmanlike conduct call on Corey Davis in the fourth quarter, which turned what would’ve been third-and-6 at the Bengals 14 into third-and-21 at the 29 (and a drive that ended with Flacco being sacked and fumbling the ball away).
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“Our vets made critical mistakes at critical times," Saleh said. "John Franklin-Myers had a third down personal foul. Ticky-tack or not, he just doesn't have to do that. Then Corey with the penalty he had…it’s got to get fixed.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose, but I just lost my cool,” Davis added. “It hurts. I know I can’t let that happen.”
In terms of Franklin-Myers’ mistake, it was one blemish on a night where the defense wasn’t great on the whole, but it kept a drive alive and led to the 56-yard Tyler Boyd TD that caused Quinnen Williams to blow up at defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton on the sideline.
"I thought I got there in time, but we both fell together. We were both surprised when they called that," Franklin-Myers said of the penalty. "It was a bang-bang play. They shouldn't have called that, but they did. A mistake on my part, and I have to be better about it. Completely my fault.”
What was worse for the Jets’ defense was that as bad as the offense was on third downs, the D was worse. Cincinnati converted 7-of-14, not counting the JFM penalty, and two of those third down conversions were plays where Joe Burrow Houdini’d out of certain sacks and threw his TD passes to Samaje Perine and Tyler Boyd.
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"I was disappointed just from allowing him to get out of the pocket when he did," Saleh said. "We were surrounding him and he finds a way to slip out in the first half and create off-schedule opportunities. Those are the ones we've got to finish…it could've been a big day from our defense if we finished those third downs, but we didn't finish."
The Boyd TD was the play that led Quinnen Williams to blow up at the coaching staff and challenge them to let the defensive line do more four-man rushing – which they did, and were successful with, after that point.
“This defense is going to go as this defensive line goes, so we want to be able to take on that challenge,” Williams said. “It’s all about executing, and the guys we have in that room, we can handle it.”
That all depends on the back seven picking up the slack, because it takes all 11.
“We have to be able to communicate and execute collectively on defensive,” Sauce Gardner said. “We have to come together more; we’re already a brotherhood, but when you go through adversity, that’s the time for the team to get closer. We need to stick together and push each other.”
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The communication is so rough apparently that defensive back D.J. Reed, who made headlines earlier in the year for an emotional tribute to his dad, said the defense may need to have a meeting between players and coaches to “get it straightened out.”
“The mistakes we can’t have are those penalties and mental errors where we beat ourselves. We play complementary football and play to our standard,” Reed said. “We’re in the NFL teams are too good to be doing that and we have to clean that up and get that fixed ASAP to see what we can be. This is unacceptable, and we have to talk about what we’re doing.”
Reed is also confident that it’s early enough for the Jets to get it together, and Rankins believes that the team still believes.
“The overall arching thing is that we’re not losing hope; this isn’t something to get down on ourselves about,” Rankins said. “There are things to fix, and we have to watch the tape and get those things fixed.”
Added Gardner: “Just like one win can’t change the organization, one loss can’t either, so we should be able to bounce back. I promise you, we’re so close to being great, but we have to clean up the small things.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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