NFL

Jets need defense to lead way against Dolphins

Calling a game a “must-win” might sound premature entering the third game of the season, but the Jets should listen to their All-Pro cornerback who speaks the truth when talking about the urgency surrounding Sunday’s game against the Dolphins.

“We want to come down there and win,” Darrelle Revis said after taking part in his first full-contact practice yesterday. “It’s a must win for us. We need this win.”

He said that with a clear head. There were no linger effects of a concussion that kept him out of last Sunday’s loss in Pittsburgh. In fact, Revis is probably thinking clearer than a lot of his teammates.

The rest of the Jets have stuck to the traditional theme of every game is important when discussing Sunday’s game. They recognize it’s against an AFC East opponent and there’s the need to gain their second victory in three games.

But all that sounds a little corporate. After losing to 27-10 to the Steelers last week in Pittsburgh, the Jets are 1-1, which matches everyone else in the division. But after Sunday’s game, the Jets have home games against the 49ers and the Texans, who both carry 2-0 records into Week 3. A loss to the Dolphins could put the Jets in danger of a 1-4 start that could severely hamper their chances of making the playoffs.

Football players aren’t taught to think that far ahead. But Revis is smart enough to know the Jets need to leave Florida not only with a win, but also with the kind of confidence that will send them against the 49ers and Texans feeling good about their football team.

Through two games, the Jets haven’t been the kind of dominant defensive team they want to be. They’ve allowed an average of 27.5 points per game. The Bills and the Steelers also gained an average of 360.5 yards on offense. Those numbers are atypical of a Rex Ryan defense.

The Jets largely shrug off the points they allowed in the 48-28 season-opening win over the Bills, though defense coordinator Mike Pettine called it a learning experience. “You can’t relax in this league,” he said.

But the Steelers game was a disappointment as Ben Roethlisberger completed 24 of 31 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns and the Jets were outscored 14-0 in the second half.

“We need to play better,” Pettine said. “We’ve played at times to our expectations and too often we’ve played below our expectations.”

Ryan admitted the Jets have prepared essentially two defensive game plans for the Dolphins: one with Revis and one without. “Having a special player like Darrelle, we ask him to do a lot different things,” Ryan said. “A lot of times we put him one-on-one with a guy on the team’s best receiver and roll coverage away from him. He’s just that kind of guy, so sometimes you’ll see a different type of game plan.”

The Jets offense isn’t reliable enough to spot the opponent nearly 28 points, which means the defense will have to start living up to Ryan’s expectations and be the kind of dominant defense he annually envisions.

“The biggest thing we need to clean up is to make sure that we make tackles when we have the sure tackles,” cornerback Antonio Cromartie said. “We need to continue to be the group we can be and be a lot more physical and when we have a chance to make a tackle, we make the tackle.”

Safety LaRon Landry says it’s a matter of putting four good quarters together. “We’ve just got to come out there and redeem ourselves and finish,” he said. “Last week we didn’t finish. We didn’t execute. That’s all we need to do and we control our own destiny. We’re not trying to allow them to dictate what our defense does.”

However the Jets get it done, they need to leave Miami with a win: a must-win.