After he called out the Jets’ communication issues following their loss to the Bengals last Sunday, cornerback D.J. Reed said he believes the team has sufficiently addressed it in practice this week.
“We had a great week, that’s all I can really speak on,” Reed told The Post following practice Friday. “I said what I said. We had a great week. We’re on the same page. We’re good.”
Much of Reed’s issues were regarding pre-snap communication, as the Jets were failing to echo the play call after it came in from middle linebacker C.J. Mosley.
Physical distance in a loud stadium is an issue. A player on the far right of the formation may not be able to hear something said by the cornerback on the opposite side. Instead, that message must make its way across the defense via everyone shouting the call, tendency or whatever it is as loudly as possible.
Reed said the Jets have been unlucky and he has been on defenses that haven’t been severely affected by such mistakes. He also said it’s easily fixed.
“We can’t be out there not talking ’cause it makes everybody’s jobs harder, ’cause we’re not sure what somebody else is doing,” he said. “We can look at it totally different if we’re not on the same page. … It’s just really about communicating and being loud out there, especially playing away.”
The biggest issues for the Jets have come on third downs, on which they’ve allowed a 51.28 conversion percentage, second-worst in the league. Reed said it’s not an issue with a specific cadence for third down, but communication problems have been costly. Ja’Marr Chase’s touchdown in the third quarter last Sunday, for example, came on a third-and-goal miscommunication from the Jets’ 5-yard line.
“That can’t happen and I put that on myself too much,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said Thursday. “And defense, obviously they’re speaking to me through that, so I will adapt and make sure that we are better in that way.”
The expectation after this week is that it shouldn’t be as much of an issue when the Jets play at Pittsburgh on Sunday.
“We’re just overemphasizing it,” Reed said. “So in the game, it’s not as hard to do.”
LB Quincy Williams (ankle) will miss the game and will be reevaluated this week, per coach Robert Saleh. CB Brandin Eichols, DE John Franklin-Myers and QB Zach Wilson were all full participants in practice and will play. Wilson practiced with a compression sleeve on his right leg.