On Wednesday, we noted that the Jets have yet to get a sack from their defensive line through the first six games of the season despite having Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams a year after they had 11.5 sacks between them.
Coach Todd Bowles discussed the team’s poor run defense as part of the reason for their sluggish pass rush as teams aren’t facing the kind of long second and third downs that provide defenses with a chance to pin their ears back. On Wednesday, he was asked specifically about Wilkerson and Williams.
Bowles said they are playing hard “and they’re playing well” while doing everything the team asks of them. Continued questions about the two players were not met with great pleasure.
“Nobody is playing great when you’re 3-3. You’re playing average football,” Bowles said, via the New York Post. “It has nothing to do with Mo or Leonard, it has to do with our entire team. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses about two guys when we’ve got 11 guys on each side of the ball. If you want to nitpick, go for it.”
Wilkerson is the highest-paid player on the team and Williams was a first-round pick, so Bowles will find plenty of people willing to take him up on that invitation.