“In a sense, yeah,” said linebacker C.J. Mosley. “We want to do our best to take all the pressure off our quarterback that we can. That’s kind of the things that defenses talk about when we’re going through adversity, with our starting quarterback out.”

If they actually could do that, it sure would take a lot of pressure off White. And it’s not really too much to ask, even of the NFL’s 27th-ranked defense. They certainly should be motivated enough, coming off a 54-13 loss in New England that left Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich feeling “embarrassment, anger, everything imaginable.” They were ripped for 551 yards by a team with a rookie quarterback, gave up nearly 150 yards and four touchdowns to the Patriots running backs, and more points than any Jets defense had given up in 42 years.

That disaster led to what safety Marcus Maye said was a “pretty bad” film session on Monday. In their first meeting of the week several players spoke passionately about what happened and what the Jets needed to do.

"After a performance like that, everyone takes some blame -- coaches and players alike,” Ulbrich said earlier this week. “Then to be very transparent and brutally honest about what happened and how to fix it, obviously. There was a very honest meeting and they were very receptive to it, which is a positive in the middle of a very hard day -- a positive from the standpoint that they're absolutely all in this together.

“And because of that, it gives us an opportunity to overcome this."

It’ll help too that the defense even has reinforcements coming in, with Mosley expecting to play after missing the New England horror show with a hamstring injury, and maybe even linebacker Jarrad Davis back for the first time since he injured his ankle in the second preseason game. They’re not anywhere near whole, considering they’re still without defensive end Carl Lawson, safety Lamarcus Joyner, and even rookie linebacker Jamien Sherwood.

But they’re closer, which will help.

It’ll help more if the messages they tried to deliver on Monday morning actually got through.

Popular in the Community