Jets coach Todd Bowles has no pity for the Falcons, who are reeling from a three-game losing streak.
“We can’t worry about what the opponent is going through,” Bowles said during his conference call on Monday. “We try to correct our mistakes and move on from there.”
The Jets (3-4) have loss two-straight and are coming off a tough 31-28 loss to Miami. The Jets blew a 14-point lead against the Dolphins in the same fashion that the Falcons blew a 17-point lead to the Dolphins.
The Jets revamped their roster over the offseason by releasing several key veteran players like wide receiver Eric Decker, linebacker David Harris, wide receiver Brandon Marshall, center Nick Mangold and cornerback Darrelle Revis.
The front office was accuse of tanking the 2017 season in order to get into position to draft a franchise quarterback.
The Jets dropped their first two games to Buffalo and Oakland on the road. They won three straight against Miami, Jacksonville and Cleveland before dropping their last two games to New England and Miami.
Bowles, who was also a candidate for the Falcons head job after the 2014 season, was being commended for getting the Jets to play tough after management stripped the team down to a rebuilding effort with veteran journeyman Josh McCown at quarterback.
The Jets’ major problems has been penalties.
The Jets have committed 67 penalties for 546 yards. They are fourth in the league. Only Seattle (70), San Francisco (68) and Kansas City (68) have more.
The Falcons have 46 penalties for 333 yards.
The Jets have been called for 13 offensive holding penalties, 10 defensive holding penalties. They has 12 penalties for 124 yards in the loss to Miami. The Jets have had 10 or more penalties in three games this season.
“The penalties are very frustrating,” Bowles said. “The guys understand it’s important. We’ve got to have more poise under pressure.”
Defensive back Buster Skrine, who played at Etowah High and Tennessee-Chattanooga, is second on the Jets with six penalties for 71 yards and struggled in coverage against Miami’s Jarvis Landry last week.
“He had some technique errors,” Bowles said. “There are some things we can work on.”
The Falcons’ run defense continues to slide in the league rankings and will get tested against by the Jets.
After giving up 162 yards to New England, the Falcons dropped from 11th in the league to 16th. They are now giving up 112 yards a game.
Over the past three games, all losses, the Falcons have given up 117, 138 and 162 yards to drop from ninth in the rankings to 16th.
The New York Jets, who feature running backs Bilal Powell (4.7 per carry), Matt Forte (4.4 per carry) and Elijah McGuire (4.0 per carry), average 103.3 yards per game, which ranks 19th in the league.
“Like a lot of runs that happen, somebody is in the wrong spot, in the wrong gap,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said.
He means they got blocked out of their spot. They aren’t trying to give up their spot. The players must defeat the blocker to stay in their gap.
“That’s usually what takes place when a run gets manufactured, especially an explosive one,” Quinn said. “We’re more of an eight-man front team. When you get out of the gap, there are going to be consequences to that. When we get to playing, it’s better to be on third down, but also stop some drives too. Then they get another shot at it, another shot at it, and another shot at it.”
The Bills were led by LeSean McCoy and quarterback Tyrod Taylor as they rushed for 117 yards.
Against Miami, Jay Ajayi had 130 of the 138 yards.
Against New England, running backs Dion Lewis (76), Rex Burkhead (31), Mike Gillislee (31) and James White (19) all did some damage against the Falcons’ run defense.
The Jets will try to follow the New England approach and go with the hot hand.
Quinn doesn’t believe its an issue of not being physical enough up front on defense.
“I know you certainly could see it that way when you look at just a stat number as it goes,” Quinn said. “But I thought Ish (Kemal Ishmael) really tackled well, and I thought Keke (Keanu Neal) really tackled well.
“Inside, I thought Grady (Jarrett) and (Dontari) Poe were square and strong inside. So those things are what I was looking for in the game. At the end, no, I’m not happy with the result of the numbers of rushes and the yards, but the tackling was improved.”
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