Jets Under Pressure when Miami visits New York on Monday Night Football!

Frank Doyle wonders if the Jets can stop their slide and cover the number when Miami travels to the Meadowlands tonight!

The Jets have lost three straight and the Dolphins have lost four. It’s only the Jets’ slump that’s news though because nobody was expecting anything of Miami this year. The Jets were among the ante-post NFL betting favorites to win the Super Bowl this year.

So what’s happened to the Jets? Nothing and nobody – the Jets can do nothing on offense and they can stop nobody on defense.

The Jets are in big trouble. The Jets need to get the running game going on offense because Mark Sanchez, for all his leadership and intangible qualities, is not an elite passer in professional football.

But the running game is dead – last year the Jets were fourth in the league at 4.4 yards per carry and fourth in total rushing yards at 148.4 yards per game. This year the Jets are only getting 3.3 yards per carry and 76.2 yards per game, and this forces Sanchez to pass, something he isn’t that good at. As for the receivers – well, they’re arguing with the linemen and Derrick Mason’s been traded. There’s not much good going on there.

Defense is meant to be the Jets’ strength but that’s been porous this year. The Jets surrender 25 points per game, tied with Oakland at 24th in the league in that category. They can’t defend the run, giving up 134.8 yards per game – only the Bills, Colts, Panthers and Rams are worse. The Jets are fifth in pass defense but nobody passes on the Jets this year. Why would you when you can run on them all day?

Those stats are very bad, but it’s not all the defense’s fault. They need some offensive production to share the load and not leave them with an impossible task. Ideally the offense has scoring drives but even eating up the clock gives the defense a break. The Jets defense isn’t getting that help and is showing the strain.

The Jets one consolation is that it’s Miami they’re facing tonight. Miami isn’t a good team at all. Tony Sparano is under pressure as head coach and, while quarterback Chad Henne has been criticised a lot, the Dolphins might find out the hard way just what Henne can do when backup Matt Moore is under centre tonight.

The only thing possibly playing on Jets’ minds is that Miami, for whatever reason, has won the last three straight in the Meadowlands and is three of four against the Jets since Rex Ryan’s been head coach. Could it be that Tony Sparano, for all his other faults, has Rex Ryan figured out? Anxious times in the Meadowlands tonight.