All the talk about the Jets' offense on third down, in the red zone and overall might obscure the fact that the Green & White defense, specifically the pass rush, is off to a historical kind of start.
After notching seven sacks of New England's quarterbacks in Week 3, the Jets have 14 sacks for the season. The total is third-most in the NFL after the Giants-Cowboys game on TNF and their 16.9% rate on sacks/pass attempts leads the league.
Further, the 14 sacks are tied for the most in the first three games of a Jets season — with the 1966 unit led by Verlon Biggs and Ring of Honor member Gerry Philbin.
"It's just guys winning their 1-on-1's," DL Solomon Thomas said of the pass rush's flying start. "Guys are putting in their work and it's paying off. Will [McDonald] is playing out of his mind right now. Quinnen [Williams] is an All-Pro, the best D-tackle in the NFL. Javon [Kinlaw] is rushing so well. Mike Clemons is playing the best of his career right now consistently."
Even Takk McKinley has gotten in on the sack act. The veteran searching for a new NFL home was quite happy about getting his first sack of any kind since 2022 in the preseason. Then on the last play of the home opener vs. New England, he split the final takedown of Drake Maye with Thomas for his first regular-season sack since '22 with the Browns.
Kinlaw, the man-mountain who scored his first sack as a Jet vs. the Patriots after getting five sacks in four seasons with the 49ers, concurs with his fellow interior DL on some reasons for the success.
The Expectation: "We Must Dominate"
"I just think we've got a game plan that we execute," Kinlaw said. "That's the biggest thing about a four-man rush. You've got to win your 1-on-1's, you've got to try to win to the best of your abilities. The expectation is that we must dominate our 1-on-1's and that's just what it is."
A slightly new wrinkle this season is D-coordinator Jeff Ulbrich dialing up blitz packages that have improved the front's production. Although the number of five-plus blitzes in the first three games unofficially is about the same this season as last (7.3 blitzes/game compared to 7.7 in '23), blitz sacks are up (three this season, none in the first three games the previous two years).
"I don't think it's a secret that we prefer to do it with four," head coach Robert Saleh said. "At the same time, you have to have the pressure to loosen up the O-line a little bit. Brick did a good job mixing it up on Thursday and reminding people we can do that when we have to."
McDonald, in his second Jets season, has led the early charge with his five sacks, including three full sacks of Tennessee's Will Levis and one full plus two halves vs. the Pats. Nine other players share the nine other sacks.
Another factor for this dynamic rush could be some of the young QBs they've faced recently. The Jets sacked Houston rookie C.J. Stroud five times and dropped New England second-year man Bailey Zappe seven times in last season's second half, and took down second-year pro Levis four times and Pats rookie Maye twice in his 16-play NFL debut series on TNF. Next up Sunday at MetLife: Denver rookie Bo Nix.
Shades of the Sack Exchange
What these rush factors add up to is another historical comparison that by no means is a prediction of greatness for the '24 Jets but is a suggestion of the pace they are setting. What would it take for them to get off to their best sack total in the first four games of a season? That would be a modest three-sack game against the Broncos, giving them 17 that would pass the 16 sacks in the first four games of the greatest sack season in Jets history, 1981.
As for how many they would need to topple the franchise mark for most sacks in any four-game span, nine sacks in a game is a difficult ask for any pass rush. The '81 NY Sack Exchange team holds that mark as well, 22 from Weeks 9-12, with Mark Gastineau on fire for seven sacks in a three-game span. Two other notes on that windfall season: Individual defensive sack numbers didn't become official until '82, yet team sack totals were official and so the Jets' 66 that season set the franchise record that stands today.
Of course, Nix and his protectors won't cooperate with any Jets historical bids. He's been sacked just four times in Denver's first three games, and he's the Broncos' leading rusher with 18 carries for 107 yards, two TDs and 5.9 yards/carry.
"He's a good young quarterback," Kinlaw said. "He does some great things with his legs, I think he takes great charge of the offense, and I think he s going to be a really great player."
But that on its own won't turn the Jets pass rush into "no gas, all brakes."
"It's just fun watching the guys," Thomas said of the Jets' hard-working, fast-driving rushers. "And it's paying off."
