NFL

Jets defense determined to make big amends

Toward the end of the Jets’ first mini-camp practice Tuesday, their starting offense and defense were matched up in a two-minute drill. The offense moved the ball to the 5-yard line and had four seconds left on the clock.

Quarterback Mark Sanchez looked to his right and found wide receiver Jeremy Kerley on a short out inches from the goal line, where he was met by Darrelle Revis and stopped from crossing into the end zone.

End of drill. Score another “W” for the defense.

The offseason talk around the Jets has centered around their new-look offense with coordinator Tony Sparano and Tim Tebow. But watching practice serves as a reminder that defense still rules when it comes to Rex Ryan’s team, and the Jets defense is practicing as if it has something to prove.

“We’re definitely more motivated than we were last year because we feel like we didn’t have the year we should have,” safety Eric Smith said. “Even though we were fifth in the league, we still were disappointed in some of the plays we gave up. We were making mistakes on our part that were giving up big plays to the offense.”

No Jets fan needs to be reminded of Victor Cruz’s 99-yard touchdown in the Giants game or Tebow’s 20-yard run for the Broncos. The defense was good enough to finish No. 5 overall in the NFL, but it made mistakes not seen in Ryan’s first two years with the Jets.

“I think a lot of guys on defense felt we failed as a defense a little bit in terms of accomplishing what we wanted to accomplish last year,” Revis said.

That led to the Jets defense turning to two missions over the offseason — getting faster and going back to basics. “One Step Faster” became the defensive motto, with defensive coordinator Mike Pettine saying the unit had gotten “dinosaurish.” During the offseason program, speed was emphasized.

Ryan also took a bigger role in the defensive meeting room, making sure every player knew the assignments for everyone on the unit, similar to how he did it in 2009 when he first installed the defense. In meetings, Ryan would quiz defensive linemen on what a cornerback’s responsibility was in a certain defense, then ask a linebacker what the defensive end was supposed to do.

“I like the direction that we’re going in,” outside linebacker Calvin Pace said. “We’re kind of getting back to square one as if it was the first day that Rex was here. So we’ve just kind of reinstalled the defense from the ground up. We’re getting some good work.”

The coaches have also emphasized not giving up on pursuit of a play, no matter how far a player is from it. They showed the defense clips from last season when they felt players gave up on plays.

“They pulled up plays where we were lazy in pursuit,” Revis said. “It’s just the point of just finishing. It’s basically, let’s finish through the whistle and focus on the next play.”

Under Ryan, the Jets defense has gone from No. 1 in 2009 to No. 3 in 2010 and No. 5 in 2011. The players are intent on stopping the slide.

“We want to be 1,” Revis said. “We don’t want no team to score. That’s how we try to approach it. Every time we step on the field it’s just stopping opponents as much as we can.”