Jets defense has crashed back to earth with critical tests looming

The Jets defense was ranked No.1 in yards allowed after two games this season. That feels like a very long time ago.  Text with Brian Costello all season as he brings Sports+ subscribers the latest Jets intel from on the field and off.

The defense has crumbled since then, culminating with Sunday’s collapse against the Raiders when the Jets became the third team in the last 45 years to score on their first six possessions and still lose, according to ESPN. The Jets wasted a rare 30-point game from their offense because their defense could not slow down Kirk Cousins and Brock Bowers and they allowed four touchdowns, with three coming in the second half (special teams allowed another). “Defensively, we got to do a way better job than what we did,” Jets coach Aaron Glenn said Monday, “but when you really look at this game, and see what it came down to, it was the third-down penalties that you can’t give any offense a second chance to get a drive on you, and those things happened to our defense.” Glenn pointed to the two penalties, which did lead to the Raiders staying on the field and scoring touchdowns, but the problems feel deeper than that.The penalties both came in the third quarter.

Brandon Stephens was flagged for holding on third down against Raiders tight end Brock Bowers in the end zone on Las Vegas’ first drive of the second half.The Raiders scored moments later. Later in the third quarter, Jarvis Brownlee Jr.

was called for pass interference on third-and-10 when the Jets should have gotten off the field.That extended a drive that ended with another Raiders touchdown. Glenn said the Jets will focus on cutting out those critical penalties this week. “Well you’ll address it, first off, and then you look at the technique part of it,” Glenn said, “and see how do you fix that, so you don’t want that to happen on third down, you don’t want it to happen on second down, or first down, so if you can address that and fix the tech...