It was a bitter pill for the Jets and their fans in the drizzle over MetLife Stadium on Sunday. They went from 10 points ahead with 11 minutes to play to a 3-point overtime defeat against the Packers. But was all the work and focus and talent they put into their plan to go to 2-0 with a glorious home-opening win over Green Bay all for naught.
Not at all. As LB Demario Davis said: "That's a good football team, but we're on our way, and we have to go right back to work, dust ourselves off and back to work."
It may not have been visible in those 13 late points the Pack put on the board. But a number of metrics and rankings over the first two weeks suggest that the Jets defense is still on its way.
Top-Ranked Unit
The Jets on Monday are No. 1 in the NFL. That's first as in total defense. With Green Bay netting 199 yards, the Jets' D has allowed 197 yards/game and Tuesday morning may claim the top spot as the league's No. 1 defense after two weeks. (The Giants' No. 3 defense may have something to say about that against the Rams on Monday Night Football.
This is the first time in franchise history that the Green & White have held each of their first two opponents to fewer than 200 yards. It's also their first time being top-ranked in total D after two weeks since the 2009 team, which also finished the season as No. 1 in the league. Since then, they spent time at the top for only a week in 2014 and again in '15.
The Jets are also a top-10 team in three other major defensive categories as well, only the fourth time they can say that after Week 2 in the last 33 seasons, or since 1994. The four Jets teams so ranked (*before MNF):
| Season | Tot Def | Run Def | Pass Def | Score Def |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| 2009 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 2 |
| 2013 | 2 | t-4 | 6 | t-3 |
| 2026* | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
Further, the Jets are second in yards allowed/pass play, second in opponents' third-down conversion rate after holding the Packers to 1-of-9 on third down, and first in time-of-possession differential at 36:48-23:12.
Eliminating Explosives
The Packers had just one explosive play, defined here as a scrimmage play of 20-plus yards. That was Jordan Love's 20-yard connection with WR Christian Watson early in the second quarter, moving the visitors into plus territory for the first time in the game en route to their opening touchdown.
That's impressive on two counts. Love and the Pack had 7 such explosives in last week's loss at Minnesota. And the Jets didn't allow a play of longer than 16 yards to the Titans on opening day. One 20-plus play by the opponents is the fewest allowed in back-to-back games by the Jets in their last 7 seasons. The last time it happened, Oakland and Cincinnati had no explosives in successive games in 2019.
Forcing the Issue
S Andre Cisco and edge David Bailey forced fumbles on back-to-back second-quarter plays, Jowon Briggs got the defense's first strip sack of the season in the third, and former Packer Kingsley Enagbare deleathered RB MarShawn Lloyd early in the fourth. The last was the only forced fumble that the Jets recovered, with Harrison Phillips falling on the ball to set the Jets up in the red zone for their final points of the day on Jason Sanders' short FG.
Four FFs are tied for fourth-most in a game by the Jets since the NFL began tracking forced fumbles in 1991. Their previous 5 games of 4-plus forces:
| Opponent | Year-Game | Forced FUMs | FUMs Recov | Jets Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs DAL | 1993-14 | 5 | 2 | Loss, 28-7 |
| @ BUF | 2001- 4 | 4 | 3 | Win, 42-36 |
| vs ARZ | 2008- 4 | 5 | 4 | Win, 56-35 |
| vs MIA | 2011- 6 | 5 | 1 | Win, 24-6 |
| vs MIA | 2020-11 | 4 | 2 | Lose, 20-3 |
Are 4 forces in a game enough to ensure victory? One 20-yard play given up in the first two games? A No. 1 defensive ranking after a couple of weeks? In the Jets' case this season, it's a 50/50 proposition.
But these takeaways, taken together, still bode well for the Green & White defense (although they'll certainly have to be on point at Detroit on Sunday with the Lions averaging 31 points/game) is getting the message.
"I think we know our character, which is good," Cisco said. "I think we know who we are, and this doesn't feel like it's going to rattle us at all. I think it's just going to continue to raise our level of preparation and our trust in what we're doing."
