The Jets defense did everything in their power to ensure that the team did not lose to Drew Brees and his high powered Saints offense. Brees faced constant pressure from the Jets front four which wreaked havoc in the backfield despite only two total sacks on the day. Young guns Quinton Coples, Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson and Damon Harrison lead the charge with help from veteran outside linebacker Calvin Pace to throw in six quarterback hits to go along with their couple of sacks.
This comes a week after the Jets defense got spread out and torched by Andy Dalton, but the secondary certainly came to play, forcing two turnovers despite giving up 382 total passing yards to Brees. After knocking out Darren Sproles early in the game, Dee Milliner and Antonio Cromartie played physical football draping themselves all over the Saints receivers. A phantom roughing the passer call on Josh Bush kept a late 4th quarter Saints drive alive only to get stuffed on a fourth and inches by Quntion Coples on a questionable tight end reverse call.
Geno Smith played mistake free football as the Jets decided to utilized the more healthy part of their offense which happened to be the running game. Chris Ivory had a huge game totaling 139 yards on only 18 carries which included a 52 yard run. All in all the running game tallied nearly 200 yards good for a 5.5 yards per carry. They whipped out a trick play which allowed former college quarterback Josh Cribbs to complete a 25 yard pass to Zach Sudfeld out of the wildcat formation.
The formula on offense was again simplified for Geno Smith who lost Jeremy Kerley early in the game leaving him with barely any professional receivers that have been able to stick to a team in their careers. It's easy to understand why several quick passes were called as opposing defensive coordinator Rob Ryan dialed up a bunch of blitzes which lead to constant pressure on young Geno. This offense needs to put Geno into good position to succeed by mixing in quick passes early to get him into a rhythm before they allow him to start firing downfield later in games. Without a running game, nearly any rookie quarterback will be left out to dry, which is why he was able to remain calm and collected despite only completing 8 passes.
The future seems very promising for this entire team, as they are in good position to make a playoff push despite being in a complete rebuilding year. The defense is immensely talented and the front four could be one of the best in football, with a good complement of linebackers to go with them. Antonio Allen is a young attacking safety that should progress in the pass game, with rookie Dee Milliner completing his first solid performance as a pro player. If the upper management is able to keep this coaching staff together, lock up the defensive line and continue to put playmakers around Geno, the future should be very good for this team as a whole.