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The Las Vegas Raiders don’t underestimate the winless Jets.
Head coach Jon Gruden, who was starting his team’s preparation for New York at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, called his next opponent a “handful.”
“I’m not going to worry about anything on the road except the Jets,” Gruden told reporters on a Zoom call Monday. “If you’ve watched the Jets play [Sunday], they are a handful. They are going to be difficult to move the ball forward. “
The Jets emerge from a 20-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins, they’re 0-11 on the season and as a team are in the league’s basement in several statistical categories on both sides of the ball.
Gruden, who went on to singles out the New York defensive unit (under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams), had to watch when the Jets forced fumbles on back-to-back second-half possessions against Miami.
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Aside from that, those in green and white – especially in this team’s inexperienced high school – allowed Ryan Fitzpatrick to throw for 257 yards and two touchdowns in Week 12. The opposing quarterbacks threw over 300 yards on the Jets five times so far 2020.
It is, after all, a defense that ranks 30th in the league in passing yards per pass (284 per game), 29th in total points allowed (29.3 per game) and 28th in total. allowed yards (395 per game). Las Vegas might be in the middle of the pack statistically on offense, but it’s a 6-5 football team with quality wins over the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns.
Granted, the Raiders suffered an even more unbalanced loss than the Jets in Week 12. Las Vegas fell 43-6 to the Atlanta Falcons last weekend.
Gruden, in his third season as Raiders coach, also mentioned how important it will be for his team to “take better care” of football against the Jets.
Despite all the interceptions, Jets fans have grown used to watching Sam Darnold pitch, New York actually has an even revenue differential in 11 games. As guard Greg Van Roten said after the loss to Miami, “the defense is playing pretty well for [the Jets] to win.”
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Here’s the full excerpt from Gruden’s Zoom press conference with reporters earlier this week, explaining how his side can improve after a tough loss and what makes New York a competitive opponent despite their record:
We focus one week at a time. We want to play a lot better than what we played, certainly in all phases. We need to bring together the three phases of our football. We haven’t done that yet. We had very good offensive performances, we had good defensive performances, we had good days in special teams, we have to bring our football team together. We are still very young. We are missing some key players. I’m not going to worry about anything on the road except the Jets. And if you watched the Jets play yesterday, they’re just a handful. They are going to be difficult to move the ball forward. Gregg Williams and this defense are giving people problems, we have to take better care of the ball, we have to play better collectively in defense and we have to make timely plays in the kicking game. It will no doubt be a fight over this. I have a lot of respect for the way the Jets compete.
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