Jeff Ulbrich stood in front of reporters after the New York Jets' latest debacle and shouldered all the blame.
The interim coach dropped to 1-4 since replacing the fired Robert Saleh with a 31-6 loss to Arizona on Sunday that featured way too many missed tackles, lots of blown opportunities and plenty of frustration.
Ulbrich said his team wasn't prepared to play and that was on him, and he needed to take “a hard look” at what he could've done better. While appreciative of his willingness to absorb the criticism, some Jets players insisted Ulbrich was not at fault.
“Coach Brick, you know, he’s a tremendous leader,” linebacker Jamien Sherwood said Monday. “He’s a tremendous coach. He’s been put in a position to lead us and I feel like he’s been put in a tough spot once he did get the head coaching job. At the end of the day, I did feel like we were prepared well.
“On the defensive side of the ball, everything that they did to us in the game, we practiced that, so I personally wouldn’t blame him."
Kyler Murray and the Cardinals easily sliced through the Jets all afternoon. They finished with 406 total yards, including 147 on the ground, and 28 first downs and went 5 of 7 on third down. The Cardinals' first three possessions were 70-yard touchdown drives. And they punted just once — on their second-to-last possession.
A lot of it was due to what Ulbrich said Monday was “an egregious, criminal amount of missed tackles.”
Next Gen Stats said there were 20; Pro Football Focus said it was 17. Either way, it almost seemed as though there were even more.
“It doesn’t matter about coaching and doesn’t matter about scheme,” said Sherwood, who had 17 total tackles but acknowledged he also missed a few and said he was to blame because he's the Mike linebacker calling defensive signals.
“It doesn’t matter about what the coaches give to us," he added. "It’s about the 11 players that are on the field at that time. And like I said, we were prepared. We just didn’t go out there and execute.”
Ulbrich said last Friday the Jets did “a whole tackling presentation” on Cardinals running back James Conner, who finished with just 33 yards on 12 carries. So, that seemed to work.
But Conner also had 80 yards on five catches and the Jets allowed the Cardinals to slip out of too many would-be tackles from many players who seemingly have practiced tackling all their lives.
“It is obviously a basic fundamental of football, especially defensive football,” Ulbrich said. “I think a lot of times — and this might surprise a lot of you — they come to us very raw as far as tackling is concerned. They don’t understand leverage, they leave their feet, they don’t commit to the wrap. There’s a lot of bad fundamentals out there, and obviously, we put some bad tape out there yesterday.”
It all has added up to a dismal 3-7 start that has pushed the Jets increasingly closer to a 14th straight season without making the playoffs — in a year that began with Super Bowl aspirations.
“There’s collective anger, frustration, all those things,” Ulbrich said. “In my perspective, I have not felt anyone wavering, though, as far as still committed to being together and getting this done together.”
What’s working
Nothing to see here. As wide receiver Garrett Wilson said after the game: “The energy is not there because we’re playing like trash.”
What needs help
Tackling is the problem for the defense. On offense, it's the inability to start fast and finish drives.
Because the defense had such a tough time getting off the field, Aaron Rodgers and the offense had few opportunities to get anything done. But they did little when they got opportunities.
In six offensive possessions, New York went field goal, field goal, punt, lost fumble by Rodgers, punt and turnover on downs.
“We got six points,” Ulbrich said. “So that's not good enough.”
Stock up
K Spencer Shrader. In his debut with the Jets, Shrader made the first two field goals of his brief NFL career when he connected from 25 and 45 yards. The rookie from Notre Dame replaced Riley Patterson, who kicked in one game for the injured Greg Zuerlein.
Stock down
Rodgers. He couldn't capitalize on the momentum of a terrific second half in the win over Houston, going 22 of 35 for just 151 yards. The 40-year-old Rodgers said he felt great physically leading into the game, but he was knocked around by the Cardinals and sacked three times — and even had to be evaluated for a head injury. He was visibly frustrated throughout and said after the game the season has been “a lot of emotions this year, for sure.”
Injuries
LT Tyron Smith has an issue with his neck and Ulbrich said he was getting an MRI. ... Backup CB Brandin Echols is in the concussion protocol. ... DL Solomon Thomas missed the game with a knee injury. ... LB C.J. Mosley remains sidelined with a neck injury.
Key number
4.3 — Rodgers completed just one pass of 10 yards or longer in the air and his 4.3 yards per attempt was the fourth-lowest mark of his career.
What’s next
The Jets host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in a game that was flexed from “Sunday Night Football” to a 1 p.m. EST start. New York then has its bye-week break.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Dennis Waszak Jr., The Associated Press
