YES, the Jets’ defense has had a handful of aggravating hiccups this season.
The three fourth-quarter touchdowns allowed in Miami and the meltdown on the Jaguars’ final drive are the two biggest sins.
But it’s time we appreciate the defense Rex Ryan has brought here and the way his players have bought in and performed in their first year in the system.
Through 13 games, the Jets own the NFL’s top-ranked defense — the deepest into a season they’ve had that distinction since their Super Bowl III year.
The 211 points the Jets have allowed are the fewest in the NFL, which is saying something considering it’s better than the likes of the 13-0 Colts and Saints as well as the 11-2 Vikings and 10-3 Chargers.
It’s also saying something considering those 211 points include the seven TDs they’ve allowed on returns, which means the defense has yielded only 162 points in 13 games, an average of just 12.46 points per game.
Here’s a deeper look into just how good this Jets defense has been this season:
* The Jets rank first in pass defense (160.4 yards per game), with the next-best team, the Broncos, allowing 23 more yards per game.
* They’ve allowed the fewest first downs in the league (202), with the Steelers second at 216.
* They’ve allowed the fewest yards per play (4.3).
* They lead the NFL in forcing three-and-out series (52).
* They’re now ranked second in the NFL in third-down defense, allowing opponents just a 33 percent conversion rate. In the last two games, opponents have converted just 1 of 25 third downs against the Jets.
“Pretty much the plan’s in place,” Ryan said. “I thought we’d be kind of in a groove here defensively as the year went on, with people being familiar with our system, understanding this is their defense now. It’s not Baltimore’s defense. It’s the New York Jets’ defense.
“Our guys are getting a great grasp of it. I think we [the coaches] have a great grasp of what our players can do, maybe what the limitations are, but what the strengths are as well. We’re really playing to the strengths of our players right now.”
All the above-mentioned kudos to the defense and what it’s accomplished so far, however, are a sobering reminder of how much better the Jets’ record should be than 7-6, that they should not be in a life struggle to snatch one of the two wild-card spots in the AFC.
“We should be 10-3 or 9-4 right now, but we’re not,” safety Kerry Rhodes said. “We can’t think about that now.”
Indeed, for the Jets, regrets? They’ve had a few this season. Let us recount them:
* Mark Sanchez’s four INTs (one returned for a TD) and lost fumble in the end zone for another TD wasted what has been, to date this season, the best job any defense has done against the Saints. The result was a 24-10 loss in which the Jets’ defense allowed only 10 points to the high-voltage Saints’ offense.
* Then came the Monday nighter at Miami, where the Jets’ defense, after having allowed only three TDs in the first three games, gave up three to the Dolphins in the fourth quarter en route to a 31-27 loss that featured a Ronnie Brown game-winning TD with just seconds remaining in the game.
* Then there was the exasperating 16-13 overtime loss at home against the Bills, with Sanchez throwing five INTs, including one in OT. Added to that was a Ben Hartsock holding penalty in overtime deep in Buffalo territory that took the Jets out of chip-shot, game-winning FG territory.
* The second loss to Miami, a 30-25 defeat at home, was as mind-numbing as the first one thanks to two 100-plus-yard Ted Ginn Jr. kickoff returns for TDs yielded by a Jets’ special-teams unit that is perennially among the best in the league.
* Finally, there was the 24-22 loss to Jacksonville at home, in which, after yielding only 18 yards of offense in the second half, the Jets’ defense allowed David Garrard to take over possession with 5:04 remaining and march the Jaguars down the field for the game-winning points on the final play of the game.
If the Jets win two of those five blown games, they’re sitting atop the AFC East with a 9-4 record, poised to win the division and host a playoff game.
“Satchel Paige once said, ‘Don’t look back, something could be gaining on you,’ ” Ryan said. “All, we can do is affect the present and the future, so that’s all we’re doing right now.”
‘Feel’ good story
Kicker Jay Feely has been an absolute gem for the Jets since he was signed after Week 1 last season when Mike Nugent was injured.
Feely has become more than just a stop-gap kicker, and his consistency makes you appreciate how crucial it is for a team to have such a dependable foot on its roster.
Feely was a big difference in the Jets’ 26-3 win over the Bucs, kicking four first-half field goals to bail out Kellen Clemens and the sputtering offense. The only FG he missed, a 49-yarder in the second half, came after a high snap by James Dearth.
Feely is 25 of 29 on FGs this season, one year after going 24 of 28, so he’s 49 of 57 (86 percent) in the last two seasons.
Oh, yes, and he’s one of the most sure tacklers on the kick-coverage unit, not afraid to deliver a big hit.
“I love the fact that he’s a football player,” Rex Ryan said of the 5-foot-10, 205-pounder.
It all makes it curious why the Dolphins wouldn’t bring him back after he made 21 of 23 FG attempts for them in 2007. Dolphins’ head honcho, Bill Parcells, never a big fan of kickers, didn’t like the fact the outspoken Feely was a team-leader type, and he let him go.
The Jets and Feely thank Parcells for that decision.
G
holston or ghost?
What has happened to Vernon Gholston?
The sixth-overall draft pick in 2008, who’s essentially used on special teams, can barely get onto the field on defense. Gholston, who was a terror as a pass rusher at Ohio State, has played in 28 NFL games and is still seeking his first career sack. That’s preposterous.
You have to wonder if, despite the fact that the Jets gave him $21 million in guaranteed money, they might simply cut bait after this season and admit to their mistake.
➤ With a roster spot open, the Jets yesterday filled it by signing running back Chauncey Washington from the Cowboys practice squad.