New York Jets Defense Makes Wrong Type Of History During Regular Season
If you thought you knew what rock bottom looked like in the NFL, the 2025 New York Jets just handed someone a shovel and said, “Hold my Gatorade.”
Being a fan of “Gang Green” has never been a walk in the park, but this season was something else entirely. It wasn’t just that they were bad; it’s that they were historically, impressively, record-breakingly bad. Sunday’s 35-8 drubbing by the Buffalo Bills wasn’t just a loss; it was the final nail in the coffin of a 3-14 campaign that will be studied by football historians for all the wrong reasons.
A Defensive Drought For the Ages
Let’s talk about the stat that is going to haunt this franchise for decades. Since the NFL started tracking interceptions in 1933, every single team, in every single season, has managed to catch at least one pass thrown by the opposing quarterback. Sometimes it is skill, sometimes it’s luck, sometimes the ball just bounces off a helmet and lands in a linebacker’s lap.
Not the 2025 Jets.
They went 17 full games, over 1,000 minutes of football, without recording a single defensive interception. In a league designed for parity, where tipped balls and bad reads happen every Sunday, this defense somehow played 17 games of “keep away” with the football. It is almost statistically harder to avoid an interception for an entire season than it is to get one.
The Art Of the Blowout
It wasn’t just the lack of takeaways that made this season a grind; it was the sheer unwatchability of the games. By losing to Buffalo, the Jets became the first team in NFL history to lose five consecutive games by at least 23 points.
For over a month straight, they didn’t just lose; they were run out of the building. In that five-game span, they were outscored 188 to 54. That’s not a slump; that’s a collapse. The offense, led by a carousel of Justin Fields, an injured Tyrod Taylor, and finally Brady Cook, couldn’t stay on the field, and the defense eventually just broke under the pressure.
Locker Room Reality Check
To their credit, the players aren’t hiding from the stench of this season. Defensive End Jermaine Johnson II, who had a rough year coming back from an Achilles injury, didn’t mince words after the finale.
“It’s definitely been the worst season I’ve been a part of as a team,” Johnson said. When Head Coach Aaron Glenn tried to fall on the sword and take all the blame, Johnson rightfully pushed back, noting that “everybody’s hands are dirty.”
There is a strange honor in admitting that everyone failed together. Linebacker Quincy Williams spoke about resilience and “not being a quitter,” but moral victories don’t show up in the win column.
Where Do the Jets Go From Here?
If there is a silver lining to this dark cloud, it’s draft capital. The Jets have secured the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. They also have extra picks from trading away talent like Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams.
The Jets’ roster has holes, the quarterback situation is a question mark, and the coaching staff has a great deal to prove after a debut season that went off the rails. But for the fans who sat through 17 games of interception-free football, the offseason offers the only thing they have left: hope that 2026 can’t possibly be worse than this.
