The Jets’ defense fancies itself as one of the best in the NFL.
Here’s the thing, though: Top defenses don’t allow 16-play, 96-yard drives that swallow 8:15 off the clock in games the team absolutely, positively needs to win.
Top defenses also don’t allow 251 yards of offense in the first half. They don’t allow 13 first downs and 41 plays and 20:11 in time of possession.
Thursday night’s moribund 19-3 loss to the Jaguars at MetLife Stadium was a sobering blow to the Jets’ defense, which was on the back foot all night thanks to some dynamic and creative play-calling by Jacksonville head coach Doug Pederson, who put on a clinic.
That 96-yard drive was a body blow from which the Jets never recovered.
How dominant was it?
The first third down the Jaguars faced on the drive was third-and-goal from the Jets 1-yard line — the 16th and final play of the possession.
The Jaguars’ 6-foot-6 quarterback Trevor Lawrence dove over the goal line for a TD on the play for a 10-3 Jacksonville lead it would never relinquish.
On that long drive, the Jaguars bled the Jets’ defense to death with a series of paper cuts.
Running back Travis Etienne got it started with a 7-yard run from the 4-yard line to give the Jaguars breathing room. Lawrence hit JaMycal Hasty with an 11-yard pass on second-and-10. Then came a 14-yard completion to tight end Evan Engram and a 17-yard pass to tight end Dan Arnold into Jets territory to the 38.
Lawrence burned the Jets on a 9-yard scramble for a first down on second-and-9. Jets safety Will Parks made a great tackle to save a TD on an Etienne 9-yard run to the 2-yard line. Then Jets linebacker Jamien Sherwood saved an Etienne TD at the 1-yard line.
Eventually, the defense would break, and it did with the Lawrence TD for the 10-3 lead.
The Jaguars’ offense would gash the defense again late in the second quarter, taking a 13-3 lead on a 45-yard field goal that was set up by a 36-yard Lawrence pass play to Engram at the Jets’ 34-yard line. .
The Jets’ defense had no answer for anything the Jags threw at it, starting with Etienne, who ran 17 times for 64 yards in the first half.
Lawrence constantly hurt the Jets with his running ability. He rushed for 41 yards and the TD on five carries in the first half as the Jaguars dismantled the Jets’ playoff dreams. The Jets’ defense played as if it had no idea Lawrence was a threat to run with the ball.
Engram, the former Giant who never reached his potential in blue after being drafted in the first round, played like he thought the Giants were on the other side of the ball Thursday night and he wanted to prove a point.
Engram looked uncoverable, catching six passes for 106 yards.
The Jets’ offense, which was anemic all night, gave the defense no help.
But what made Thursday so alarming is that this, the fourth consecutive loss for the 7-8 Jets and their fifth in the past six games, was another in a string of defensive failures.
Four days earlier, the Jets’ defense failed to hold a 17-13 lead late in the game, allowing the Lions to march down the MetLife Stadium turf and score the game-winning TD with 1:49 remaining.
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