One number summed up the Jets’ defensive futility last season: 13.
As in, 13 turnovers, the paltry amount the Jets forced during the 4-12 season. It was a franchise low and tied for the third-fewest in NFL history. Despite the defense finishing sixth in total defense, the fact the unit never could get the opponent off the field spelled doom most weeks. There were seven games in which the Jets had zero takeaways.
Now, it is on Todd Bowles to get the 2015 Jets’ defense to improve on that total. The Jets look like an improved defense on paper with the additions of Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie at cornerback, but for this unit to be an elite defense it must turn the opponent over.
“It’s critical because you’re taking away possessions from the offense and you’re getting your offense more possessions,” Bowles said. “It cuts down the time you have to be on the field defensively and helps your offense get an extra possession to score or kick a field goal. It turns ballgames most of the time.”
Turnovers are probably the simplest, yet most telling statistic in football. Usually if you win the turnover battle, you win the game. But can a team do things in training camp and in-season practice to boost those turnover totals or do they just come?
“There’s nothing magical,” said Bowles, a former NFL safety. “You just have to get after the ball. You have to be in the right position. You have to know your job and then when the opportunity comes you have to make a play. I’ve been on teams where we practiced turnovers every day and we didn’t get a lot. I’ve been on teams where we barely practiced it and we got a ton.”
The Jets practiced turnovers a ton last season, but Rex Ryan’s crew seemed snakebitten when it came to the games. The Jets did not record an interception until the fifth game of the season. They dropped several interceptions, from Calvin Pryor in the season opener against Oakland to Kyle Wilson in a key moment against Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Against the Bears, they did recover a Jay Cutler fumble, but the play was whistled dead, nullifying Demario Davis’ return for a touchdown.
Is it luck or preparation?
“I think it’s a combination of both,” said cornerback Darrin Walls, who had two interceptions last year. “We go through the turnover circuit, where we’re stripping the ball and focusing on interceptions and catching them. We were in position to make a few last year and dropped them. I think just putting ourselves in the position to make plays, in practice we do that a lot. Now, we do drills that simulate creating turnovers.”
Safety Marcus Gilchrist came to the Jets this season after four seasons with the Chargers. He agreed with Walls that preparation plays a big part, but so does luck.
“I think there is an element of luck,” said Gilchrist, who has five career interceptions. “I think it’s a combination of luck and preparation and doing the right thing and being where you’re supposed to be at. You get a couple-game stretch where you’re getting picks, getting turnovers, getting forced fumbles and then you have a lull of no turnovers. I don’t think it just happens year by year. It can happen within a stretch of games where it can go either way.”
The Jets’ defense should be able to register more than 13 takeaways this year. With a secondary that looks like one of the best in the league, quarterbacks won’t have easy places to put the ball like they did last season. That will lead to forced throws and possible strip sacks.
“They come in bunches,” Bowles said. “There’s no right or wrong way to talk about it other than to emphasize it every day and when they come, they come. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”
Of course, the Jets added Revis (23 career interceptions) and Cromartie (31 career interceptions) this offseason, so that should automatically boost the number.
“Only if they can catch,” Bowles said with a laugh. “ If they can’t catch, it doesn’t help me any. Hopefully, they get a bunch of them.”