Evan wonders if he was being naïve after watching the Jets overwhelm Josh Allen and the Bills in Week 1, when he believed Gang Green’s defense could be elite.
Fast forward one week, and after a 30-10 loss to the Cowboys, Evan was feeling a lot different about the defensive unit.
“Yesterday took a lot out of my soul. Where the hell was the ’85 Bears defense?” Evan said, referencing D.J. Reed’s preseason comments about the Jets potentially being among the best defenses ever. “Where was it?
“You want to be the ’85 Bears defense? You don’t drop pick-sixes, and you recover balls on the ground put down by CeeDee Lamb. This can’t happen if you’re the ’85 Bears defense…when the second half starts, you can’t let CeeDee Lamb convert on a 3rd and 14…I don’t want to hear anything about Zach Wilson. He sucks, I get it…how about this defense? They sucked yesterday. They could not force a turnover. They could not get a stop on third down. They couldn’t do anything.”
Sure, Wilson’s struggles and the offensive line’s lack of protection were weak spots that were widely expected, but Evan expected to watch a defense that would consistently keep the team in games, not get run through by the Cowboys offense for four quarters.
“I was disgusted by that,” Evan said. “Maybe I’m a moron for believing this defense would build off of what was statistically a very good defense last year. But they forced zero turnovers. Didn’t Dak Prescott lead the league in interceptions last year?”