The Jets have gone from cocky to crisis in less than a month.
Three consecutive defeats have the Jets teetering on the edge of complete collapse, but coach Rex Ryan still believes in his team.
“I don’t see us losing our confidence,” he said yesterday. “I think maybe people outside of that [locker] room are going to lose confidence. We’re not. I’m confident in the fact that I see signs of us getting better. We have to, obviously.”
A day after their 30-21 loss to the Patriots, Ryan fielded a variety of questions on his team’s mental state and possible chemistry problems. The Jets had failures on both sides of the ball in New England, after the defense and offense alternated poor performances in the two previous weeks. The three-game skid is the first for the Jets since 2009, Ryan’s first year with the team.
“Each team is going to have to deal with adversity and this is our opportunity,” Ryan said. “We’ve been resilient in the past and we’ve overcome some things, and I think we’ll overcome it now.”
All eyes will be on the Jets as they prepare to face the winless Dolphins, a Monday night game that suddenly feels like a must-win for the Jets. Players admit they are frustrated with their 2-3 record, but swear there is no locker-room revolution brewing.
“You look at a three-game losing streak and things could for a lot of teams fall apart, but not with this team,” tight end Dustin Keller said. “We’re a real tight-knit group. Everybody has each other’s back. We know we haven’t played our best football.”
That is undeniable. Ryan spent yesterday watching video of the Patriots game and then trying to explain what went wrong on both sides of the ball. The offense had seven three-and-outs on 11 possessions, and the defense committed horrible penalties, failed to get a stop in the fourth quarter, and gave up a few big plays.
Ryan attributed the mistakes to “alignment, assignment and technique.” Without getting specific, he said the Jets had several breakdowns in those three areas that helped the Patriots — a team that needs no help, he pointed out.
Safety Eric Smith was victimized on Wes Welker’s 73-yard catch to start the second half. Smith said some players are trying to do too much.
“It is a little surprising because we know everybody on our team can do their job and take care of their responsibilities,” he said. “I think we have some guys that may try to do some other things outside their job and it might end up leading to some bigger plays or bigger gains than they should be.”
On offense, the Jets were criticized for trying to re-establish their run game against the Patriots, who entered the game dead last against the pass. But Ryan said the plan was to keep the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands.
“We were running the ball not just because it helps our offense, but it helps our football team,” Ryan said.
That plan didn’t work because the Jets failed to get a first down in the first quarter, and the Patriots grabbed a 10-0 lead.
Another problem for the Jets was penalties. They committed eight, four that gave the Patriots a first down. On offense they took themselves out of manageable distances for first downs with penalties and also had a rash of dropped passes.
“It’s just mental mistakes that are killing us,” center Nick Mangold said. “You have 10 guys doing the right thing and one guy who’s not. That ruins a play. If we can clean those up I think we’re right there where we want to be.”
brian.costello@nypost.com