After holding a team to just 25 yards rushing and 158 total yards en route to a season-opening victory, you would think Rex Ryan would be all giggles and gloating. Instead the Jets coach mostly grumbled about his defense after a 19-14 win over the Raiders at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
“We know we can play better,” Ryan said. “We know we have to. The game should have been a rat-kill and it wasn’t.”
It was the unhappiest Ryan has been after a win since he took over as the Jets head coach in 2010. Usually, Ryan can sell you sour milk after a victory. But he clearly wasn’t ready to throw many bouquets at his defense despite its statistical dominance over the Raiders, who averaged just 1.7 yards rushing per carry and converted just 3-of-12 third-down situations.
He pointed to penalties on the Jets (11 for 105 yards), the absence of a Raiders turnover and two dropped chances for interceptions as the main reasons for his displeasure. Ryan said instead of doing “cart wheels” over what transpired the Jets standards are such that “we know we can play better. We have to play better.”
Sure, it wasn’t perfect. Rookie safety Calvin Pryor and nickel back Kyle Wilson both dropped what should have been easy interceptions.
“I just took my eyes off of it,” Pryor said. “It was a clear pick-six. I was looking at the end zone before I caught the ball.”
And yes, there were a number of holding and interference penalties that carried over from the preseason into the regular season, which miffed coaches and players. “Anytime they’re throwing that many penalties on our defense, I just wish they would do the same thing on the other side,” linebacker Demario Davis said.
But the Jets are 1-0, though Ryan thought more of the effort in the stands than on the field.
“I want to compliment our fans,” he said. “They were better than our team today,” he said.
About the only thing Ryan took any joy in was tweaking the Raiders over comments by former Jet Austin Howard who was quoted saying the Raiders could “push them around a little bit,” meaning the Jets’ defense.
“They certainly did that to the tune of 25 yards rushing,” Ryan gloated over the fewest rushing yards allowed in his head-coaching tenure.
The coach’s grumpy mood probably has more to do with what’s coming next week. The Jets travel to Green Bay where they play the Packers on Sunday. Instead of a rookie quarterback as they faced in Derek Carr (20-32 for 151 yards and two touchdowns), the Jets will challenge one of the best quarterbacks in the league in Aaron Rodgers. Make the same mistakes against the Packers, and the Jets could leave Lambeau Field with a loss.
“We need to focus on some things we need to improve on and we will,” Ryan said. “It’s much easier to do that off of a victory than it is a loss.”
Really there wasn’t much not to like about the way the Jets’ defense played. Carr was sacked twice and under constant pressure. A 12-yard TD pass to Rod Streater was set up by an interception thrown by Geno Smith. Carr’s other TD pass came on a terrific 30-yard TD catch by James Jones for the final points with 1:21 to play.
Still, Ryan said, “it got a little too close for comfort.”
There were plenty of good points to build on, such as linebacker Quinton Coples sending running back Maurice Jones-Drew flying head over heels on the first play of the third quarter; defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson batting a pass and nearly intercepting it on the second play of the third quarter; and a patchwork secondary holding up until Jones beat cornerback Darrin Walls for the final touchdown.
But Ryan was more focused on the flaws.
“The negatives are what’s holding this team back,” he said.
It sounds like Ryan wants to push his team forward.