NFL

Jets defense looks to maintain focus

The Jets defense has raised its game over the past month only to watch their offensive counterparts sink to new depths.

That has led to a lot of frustration among defensive players, some of it boiling over after last week’s 14-10 loss to the Titans. A few Jets defenders made remarks that clearly were critical of the offense.

“I know some guys have made some comments,” defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said. “I know it’s frustrating that they feel like they have to do it. In the past maybe it affected me as a play caller where you felt like, ‘Hey listen, I can’t go too much risk reward here because if we go down a certain amount there’s a reasonable chance we’re not going to get back in it.’ I think I changed that way where if we just stayed aggressive maybe in times I wouldn’t have.”

Pettine said he has stressed to his players to only worry about what they can control.

“I think it wears on our guys,” Pettine said. “They are competitive. They want to win. They want to do everything they can to help the team win. They feel when there’s nothing they can do to help the other side except go out and do our job and we just preach that to our guys. Stay the course.

“We get out there, more TV time. We get out there and get a stop on the field and then we go back out there and do it again. The loss I think boiled over, those emotions with some of our guys. Again, I think we’ve been playing well and that needs to continue. Just because we’re out of the playoff chase our standards aren’t going to change in our room.”

The Jets defense is going to look different next year, with several players set to become free agents and others sure to be salary cap casualties.

“There’s a lot of guys in here with a lot of uncertainty, their future with this organization whether it be age or contracts being up,” linebacker Calvin Pace said after the game last week. “I know a lot of guys really enjoy being around each other, enjoy the organization. That’s a bad thing because we had opportunities. We don’t have anyone to blame but ourselves.”

* RB Shonn Greene needs 49 yards to hit 1,000 yards for the second straight season. It would be the second straight season he has rushed for 1,000 yards…. The Jets have had 20 players catch a pass this season — eight wide receivers, six running backs, four tight ends and two defensive players.— a sign of how much turnover there has been at the skill positions.