Rex Ryan’s defense couldn’t stop a backup quarterback yesterday.
Forget elite for the once-proud unit. Average may be more like it.
Less than halfway into the first quarter of Sunday’s showdown with the Jets, the Dolphins lost starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill to left knee and quadriceps injuries following a Calvin Pace sack, yet Matt Moore made the entire Jets defense look like backups, shredding them in Miami’s 30-9 rout at MetLife Stadium.
Moore completed 11-of-19 passes for 131 yards, including a four-yard touchdown pass to tight end Anthony Fasano, and it could have been worse had a few receivers not dropped long passes.
“He did a phenomenal job,” hard-hitting Jets safety LaRon Landry said. “He finished the game, obviously they got a ‘W.’ ”
Much of the focus leading up to the AFC East matchup centered around the Jets defense going up against electric running back Reggie Bush. In the first encounter, a 23-20 Jets win in overtime in Miami, Bush suffered a knee injury early on after absorbing a big hit from Landry. The two sides traded verbal jabs leading up to the game and the blowout was contentious, full of pushing, shoving and trash talk.
Miami had the last laugh — in fact they spent most of the afternoon chuckling after racing out to a 20-0 advantage.
Bush didn’t make much of an impact, rushing for 59 yards on 14 carries. Moore, however, picked the Jets secondary apart. Given plenty of time to throw, the fifth-year pro out of Oregon State was accurate with his passes and smart on his reads. He even elevated his teammates’ play.
“You feel like you’re not missing a beat at all,” Bush said.
Fasano’s touchdown reception, which made it 27-3 early in the third quarter and started the crowd’s exodus, was set up by Moore’s 30-yard completion to Jabar Gaffney on third-and-long.
After inspired play in a hard-luck loss to the Texans and a rout of the Colts, the Jets defense is again struggling. It failed to protect a 3-point lead in the final minute of regulation last weekend against the Patriots and was again exposed by the Dolphins.
Although Landry did admit the absence of All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis has played a role in the defense’s up and down play, he placed the onus on his healthy teammates.
“We didn’t finish,” Landry said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow, division game. It stinks, man.”
Cromartie was unwilling to say the defense played poorly, at one point saying it was one of the unit’s better performances of the year because it allowed just 236 total yards, before being reminded the Dolphins did much of their damage with their backup quarterback.
He still felt they played well — even though the defense was called for as many late hits (two) as sacks (one) — but made a few mistakes that proved costly.
“We can’t have mental lapses in the game, and that’s what really hurt us in the back end,” Cromartie said. “If you take away some of those big plays from having mental lapses on back end, it’s a totally different ball game from there.”