00:10zero that was a pretty important number for the Jets on Friday night is a blank the Steelers
00:1417 to nothing but after further review that isn't the zero I care about because there was another
00:21zero that followed the gangrene defense around all of last season zero interceptions they were
00:26the first NFL team ever to go an entire regular season without one Friday night the Jets finally
00:33got to remember what taking the football away feels like in the second quarter Andre Sisco ended
00:39the Steelers drive at the Jets 14 yard line with a pick of Will Howard then on Pittsburgh's very
00:44next possession Sam Womack got him again with another interception two consecutive Steelers
00:50possessions two takeaways and maybe my favorite part wasn't even the interceptions themselves
00:54it was the reaction we saw the Jets sideline erupt after Sisco's pick why because every player on the
01:02sideline knows what happened last year cornerback Brandon Stevens said after Friday's game we went
01:07a whole year without seeing it wow and that's why I think this matters not because two interceptions
01:15in August erase what happened in 2025 because they don't the Jets regular season interception drought
01:20technically still goes all the way back to week 18 of the 2024 season but takeaways they aren't just
01:27statistics they're also about anticipation aggression defenders trusting what they see and attacking the
01:33football and that's a mentality that this defense has to get back so when it came to the Jets defense
01:40in
01:40preseason game number two I was looking at three things were they attacking the football are they
01:45finishing drives and did the defense have the ability to create short fields the shutout tells
01:50us the Jets kept Pittsburgh off the scoreboard however the interceptions they tell me something
01:55different when Howard gave them an opportunity to end the drive they finished it and they did it twice
02:01and there was more to like than just the picks the starting defense they forced a three and out on
02:07Pittsburgh's first possession and got off the field in four plays on the next possession rookie David
02:13Bailey he continues to live up to all the talk that we heard about him throughout training camp
02:17and into the preseason as he showed out with his first preseason sack beating Broderick Jones and
02:23dropping Howard for an 11 yard loss Aaron Glenn he liked what he saw from his defense calling them
02:28quote scout while also pumping the brakes and acknowledging there are coverage issues that the
02:34team still needs to clean up now before Jets fans start jumping aboard the green and white hype train
02:40let's add some context here Aaron Rodgers he didn't play and the Steelers they rested key starters also
02:47both interceptions came from the Jets second team defense against Will Howard so two preseason picks
02:53doesn't mean I'm suggesting that the Jets have suddenly solved their turnover problem but they don't have to
02:59figure it out all right now what Friday provided was something much simpler it gave us some evidence of
03:06what something could look like for this Jets team look you don't go from zero interceptions to a ball
03:12hawking defense because of one preseason night you start getting there by changing the habit what Aaron
03:18Glenn wants is for his defense to see the opportunity attack the ball and then maybe most importantly
03:24finish the play and that's why the number that stood out to me on Friday night wasn't Pittsburgh zero
03:31it was the Jets two two interceptions two moments where defender had an opportunity to make a play on
03:38the football and then get this they actually made it when you are the New York Jets you go an
03:43entire
03:44regular season without an interception you don't get to declare that the problem was fixed after one
03:49night in August but after further review maybe this defense finally took the first step toward leaving
03:55that history behind because last season the Jets spent 17 games waiting for an interception on Friday
04:01night they got one and they decided that one wasn't enough now they just have to do it when the
04:08games
04:08actually matter
Comments