Kris Jenkins can’t truly appreciate the remarkable resurrection of the Jets’ run defense this season after they had been so pathetic in the most basic tenet of defense for the last several years.
Jenkins is in his first season with the Jets and his huge frame (360 pounds) at nose tackle, energetic presence, athleticism and infectious personality have been as much a reason for the turnaround as anything – though you’ll never hear that from him.
Calvin Pace, who brings the athleticism of a linebacker in the body of a defensive end, also is in his first year, so this is all he knows as a Jet. To get the real story, you need to visit the lockers of the Jets’ veteran defensive players, who have been ridiculed for as long as they can remember for their failure to stop the run – akin to someone questioning their manhood.
“It’s very demoralizing knowing a team is lining up against you and out-physicalling you – just running the ball whether it’s 5 yards or 15 yards,” veteran defensive end Shaun Ellis said. “Teams just kept pounding and pounding away.”
Safety Kerry Rhodes knows the feeling well.
“It makes it tough for you to do anything on defense when you can’t stop the run,” Rhodes said.
Last season, the Jets decided enough was enough. No more trying to convince themselves and anyone who’d listen that Dewayne Robertson was big enough to play nose.
With Jenkins, the Jets got a lot bigger and more experienced on the nose and bigger at linebacker.
The result has made them nearly impossible to run against this season.
Sunday’s scenario might turn into a perfect storm for the Jets considering that, as of yesterday, running back Stephen Jackson, the Rams’ best player, had not practiced and is unlikely to play because of a thigh injury. His backup, Antonio Pittman (hamstring), hasn’t practiced at all this week, either.
Both Jackson and Pittman will try to practice today, but it looks like the Rams will have to go with a running back committee of Kenneth Darby or Sam Gado (neither has a carry this year).
The Jets enter the home game against the Rams ranked fourth in the NFL in run defense, having given up 76 yards per game on the ground and an average of 3.1 yards per carry.
By comparison, the Jets ranked 29th against the run last season, allowing 134.8 yards per game and a 4.2-yard average. The year before, coach Eric Mangini’s first with the Jets, they ranked 24th against the run, giving up 130.3 yards per game and a gaudy 4.6-yards per carry.
For Mangini, who came here as a defensive-minded head coach, those numbers were becoming difficult to swallow.
He inherited a team that, in 2005, was ranked 29th against the run, giving up a 136.6-yard average on a league-high 554 rushing attempts.
And it got no better in his first two years here until the mistake of relying on Robertson was finally conceded and Jenkins and Pace arrived.
“This year has put things into perspective, because just last year we were one of the worst in the league,” Rhodes said. “And to come back and be one of the top ones now is rewarding.”
Linebacker Eric Barton is another of those Jets veterans who has been through the embarrassment and is reveling in this revival.
“We’ve been at the bottom of the league rankings – it’s awful,” Barton said. “The clock keeps running and you feel kind of helpless.”
The Jets are not a cocky team; they’re rather humble. That comes from Mangini. They’re not arrogant enough to say no one’s going to run on their defense, but . . .
No one really has. The Bills managed just 30 yards and a 1.8-yard average last week.
“We definitely have the personnel to man up against anybody in the run,” Ellis said.
