In their 48-20 loss to Jacksonville on Sunday, the Jets’ pass rush was virtually non-existent.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence often looked like he was operating a 7-on-7 practice drill, usually having an eternity to throw the football, and he certainly took advantage, throwing five touchdown passes.
The Jets finished the game with no sacks and just two QB hits.
And what makes these stats even more damning is that the Jaguars were playing without their starting left tackle, Walker Little, sidelined with a concussion.
He was replaced by Cole Van Lanen, who’s mainly been a guard throughout his NFL career, due to his arm length, but filling in at tackle against the Jets, he looked like Trent Williams. He was outstanding.
Perhaps Van Lanen is a better tackle than people realize, or the Jets made him look better than he is.
Aaron Glenn was asked about his team’s lack of sacks or QB hits on Sunday.
“It’s hard to explain it, to be honest with you,” Glenn said. “Especially knowing that he’s the guy that’s going to hold the ball and he’s going to try to play hero ball for the most part. Not a bad part on him, that’s just who he is, and he’s made a lot of plays. And when you do that like he did today, we have to do a better job of getting to the quarterback and make sure we get hits on the quarterback, and we did not do that today. So it’s really hard to explain that, and that’s part of the reason I’m somewhat pissed at that.”
Will he be “pissed” enough to go out and get a dominating pass rusher next off-season, one of many needs?
We shall see.
The Jets’ list of defensive needs is quite long.
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