His dissection of the Jets’ 24-6 victory over Miami on Monday night complete, Ryan professed that the Dolphins were “much better than their record,” which is 0-5 and falling as if freighted by an anvil. Not a minute earlier, Ryan wondered why, oh why, would the Jets be home underdogs in Sunday’s matchup against the San Diego Chargers, who lead the A.F.C. West.
“Seems really odd to me,” he said.
Such is the Jets’ paradox: they respect the 31 other N.F.L. teams, all but hailing each as modern versions of the Lombardi-era Packers. And yet it is they who feel disrespected after looking vulnerable in an uneven victory against the worst team in the league.
The Jets did several things well against Miami. Their pass protection excelled; on his 38-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes, Mark Sanchez said he had “about an hour and a half” to find him. Their defense rebounded after a shaky first two quarters to hold Miami scoreless after halftime. The Jets also forced three turnovers, including the 100-yard interception return for a touchdown by Darrelle Revis that warded off a revolt from the MetLife Stadium crowd.
“It doesn’t have to be pretty all the time,” Sanchez said after the game. “It doesn’t really matter.”
Soon, it will. The Jets failed to inspire confidence against the Dolphins, hence that expected revolt, hence the cause for concern with better teams looming on their schedule — San Diego, Buffalo and New England, with a Thursday night game at Denver after that. On Monday, the Jets’ initial first down came with six minutes remaining in the second quarter. Their first-quarter struggles — a season-long theme — continued, with the offense gaining all of 10 yards and the defense yielding 173. At times, Ryan said, the Jets deployed incorrect personnel groupings.
“There’s been a little bit more bending than we really want to do,” safety Jim Leonhard said.
A savvier quarterback than Matt Moore could have capitalized on the Jets’ coverage breakdowns, which were glaring and plentiful. On a 36-yard run by Reggie Bush that opened the Dolphins’ first drive, the Jets failed to protect the right edge.
On second-and-goal, they lost track of Charles Clay in the end zone. He seemingly had time to recite the poem “Ozymandias” — backward, in Ukrainian — before the play devolved into an incompletion on the other side of the field. On a third-and-1, they failed to cover fullback Lex Hilliard, who scampered out of the backfield to find himself open and with space to run only to watch in despair as Moore targeted Edmond Gates, blanketed by Revis, about 10 yards away.
“We just haven’t been flying out of the gates like you’d expect,” Ryan said. “I think the emotion’s there, the intensity’s there. We just don’t seem as sharp as we do in, say, the second quarter and moving forward.”
Ryan has invested much time pondering the nature of that very problem. It will continue to vex him until the offense can score in the first 15 minutes — the defense and the special teams have scored two of the team’s three first-quarter touchdowns — just as it will challenge him to find more varied responsibilities than downfield blocking for Plaxico Burress, who has 14 receptions in six games. Ryan said Burress’s chemistry with Sanchez was “a little off,” but that he thought Burress was capable of catching 10 passes. In a game, not the remainder of the season.
His powers of persuasion may be better served arguing why the Jets are better than average, which is what their 3-3 record indicates they are. In their three victories, the Jets defeated teams that are a combined 3-13, and in two of those wins they overwhelmed overmatched quarterbacks (Moore and Luke McCown of Jacksonville). Their three losses have come against teams — Oakland, Baltimore and New England — that are a combined 13-4.
“I think we can beat a good team,” Ryan said.
By Ryan’s standards, the Jets did that Monday night. By N.F.L. standards, the Jets will have to defeat the 4-1 Chargers to re-establish themselves as playoff contenders.
Presumably, Philip Rivers, San Diego’s talented quarterback, will think it unwise to do what Moore did, throw 14 times toward Revis — as much action as Revis saw in the previous five games, according to ProFootballFocus.com.
The Chargers’ offense is more explosive than the Dolphins’. Their defense is more imposing. They, too, could be better than their record. But even if San Diego is not, the Jets might as well convince themselves that it is, so that a victory would represent a tremendous achievement. At this stage, that is a definite possibility.
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