The Jets’ run defense has been their heart, their porous pass coverage their Achilles heel. Denver mercilessly attacked that weakness yesterday, shredding Gang Green’s secondary in a 34-17 rout at the rain-soaked Meadowlands.
“Whenever you don’t tackle well, when you give up big plays, you’re going to have problems,” said coach Eric Mangini.
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The Jets’ problems started with a Broncos blueprint of how to beat them: Bubble screens and shallow crosses to defuse a pass rush ranked third in the NFL, and then patiently pick spots to test a vulnerable secondary downfield. It worked perfectly.
“We shot ourselves in the foot with [missed] tackles,” said safety Kerry Rhodes. “They did a lot of quick passes and quick bubbles. We haven’t seen that a lot from them. They like to throw vertically. [Quarterback Jay Cutler] caught us off guard.”
Cutler caught them to the tune of 357 yards and two touchdowns, with safety Abram Elam culpable on both. He was as awful against the Broncos as he was awesome in last week’s upset of Tennessee.
Playing deep in a cover-two, Elam was late getting over, then compounded his gaffe by missing a tackle on wide receiver Eddie Royal, who tiptoed down the right sideline for a 59-yard TD and 14-7 Broncos lead.
“Missed tackle. They made a good play and were able to get in the end zone,” Elam said. “They just executed well and we didn’t play our best game. It’s a tough loss.”
Elam also let running back Peyton Hillis run through his tackle attempt for a 19-yard gain, eventually setting up a 1-yard TD plunge for a 24-14 Broncos lead.
It was 27-17 with 9:36 left, when Cutler iced it with a 36-yard TD pass to Brandon Stokley. Again, it was Elam who lost the possession receiver.