New York Jets Defensive Front Pushes Oakland Raiders Around

Before the game former Jet and current Raider Austin Howard predicted that Oakland would come into Metlife stadium and push the Jets around. With the Jets taking home the victory and the Oakland rushing unit only managing 25 rushing yards, the lowest total under Rex Ryan, the bragging rights firmly rest with the guys in Green.

When asked post game about the comments, the Jets were not shy about offering up their opinions:

Sheldon Richardson:

"So much for pushing us around."

Rex Ryan

"The Raiders were gonna come in here & push us around. They certainly did that, to the tune of 25 yds rushing and they gave up 213 rushing."

Muhammad Wilkerson

'The game is not won by talking. The game is won on the field...They pushed us around for 25 yds'

The important thing about talking, you have to have the ability to back it up. Put simply, the Raiders did not have that ability. They were coming up against one of the finest most athletic defensive fronts in all of football. A unit that has the perfect combination of speed and power. The Oakland Raiders were unable to get any push up front, which resulted in that 25 yard rushing performance. Although they protected the quarterback reasonably well, the front three of the Jets constantly tied up multiple blockers to allow the linebackers and safeties to make plays, this is 3-4 football at its purest and the Jets can be delighted with the way they executed a perfect game plan against the rookie.

Lets just take a look at the performance of the Raiders on the ground:

Darren McFadden - 4 rushes for 15 yards

Maurice Jones-Drew - 9 rushes for 11 yards

Marcel Reese - 1 rush for 1 yard

Derek Carr - 1 rush for -1 yard

That is flat out domination. It's not like the Jets were up big throughout forcing the Raiders to go to their passing game early. They abandoned the run because it simply wasn't working. The offensive line of the Raiders were not engaging and maintaining their blocks on the defensive line of the Jets, Wilkerson, Richardson and Snacks all being prominent in the Oakland backfield on numerous occasions.

I give a hat tip to Derek Carr, I think he handled his début really well for a rookie QB in a hostile environment. However if I were him, I'd be asking his offensive line to not rile up next weeks opponents too much, putting a target on the back of a rookie QB isn't the best idea in the World, especially when you can't back it up.

Jets Defence 1-0 Austin Howard.