Turnovers, Jets coach Todd Bowles likes to say, come in bunches.
But this season, especially recently, Bowles and the Jets’ defense would be thrilled if they could get takeaways to come even in solitary fashion.
“Takeaways win games, and we haven’t been getting them,” cornerback Buster Skrine said. “That’s part of the reason we haven’t won.”
We won’t count all the reasons, but for the past three games, the Jets have not managed a single takeaway. For the season, they have forced nine turnovers, which ranks 29th in the league.
Add 22 giveaways, tied for 30th in the league, and you have another part of the reason the 3-8 Jets are, well, 3-8 as they prepare for the Colts on Monday at MetLife Stadium.
“You practice takeaways, you practice strips, you practice turnover drills. You can do all that stuff. You try to get them in games. We swipe at the balls. We just haven’t gotten them,” Bowles said after practice Wednesday in Florham Park. “Yeah, it’s frustrating because we’ve got to get takeaways, and that’s the biggest difference between this year and last year defensively: not many takeaways.”
Last season, the Jets went 10-6 and had 30 takeaways, tied for the third-best total in the NFL.
“This year it just hasn’t happened like last. Last year we had a whole lot of turnovers,” Skrine said.
In franchise history, the fewest number of takeaways in any season was 13 during 2014, when the Jets went a dismal 4-12. That is one team mark that seems breakable if the past three games — losses to the Patriots, Rams and Dolphins that didn’t contain a single takeaway — are indications.
“Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way,” said safety Rontez Miles, who is expected to start for Calvin Pryor (concussion) against the Colts. “It’s one of those things. Everybody in this game, you’re going to get their best. They get paid, too.
“So it’s not about us not playing hard, it’s not about us not working. … It’s maybe that one bounce. That one turnover that doesn’t go our way,” Miles said. “We’re not what our record says. … We know we’re not going to the playoffs — you never know stranger things have happened — but we plan on going through the rest of the schedule to get wins.”
Just twice this season have the Jets managed multiple takeaways in a game. They had two interceptions against the Ravens and two interceptions against the Browns. And they won those games on back-to-back weeks.
“It’s frustrating when you know it’s the key to victory. We see games where if we win the turnover battle, we win games,” said cornerback Marcus Williams, who has two of the Jets’ six interceptions. “We know us in the back end have to do a better job getting our hands on balls, just disrupting the quarterback as well, covering our guy so we can get those turnovers.
“We did all that in practice, turnover drills, interception drills, fumble drills taking the ball out. Sometimes, it just doesn’t go your way.”
One time it did go their way last year was against the Colts. The Jets amassed five takeaways against Indianapolis. Andrew Luck threw three interceptions and fumbled away the ball another time.
“You can try to scheme them. They’ve got to throw the ball and we’ve got to punch the ball up nevertheless. They come in bunches. We’re trying everything we can to get them,” Bowles said. “If you can get turnovers, that gives the offense extra possessions and keeps you off the field more. That’s a big thing for us that we try to harp on.”
But the harping hasn’t gotten opponents to fumble or to underthrow or to simply throw lousy enough.
“It’s frustrating because you put the time in in the offseason, during the season and those are the plays you want to make and you need to make and they just haven’t been coming,” said safety Marcus Gilchrist, another two-interception guy. “We have five games left and there’s still time to generate some type of turnovers.”