Safety first! Newest Jets impress Todd

TANKING aside, there wasn’t much positive to take away from the Jets’ loss to the Bills on Sunday. The offense played as advertised. The defense was worse than most expected. If anything, the Jets proved an 0-16 season is legitimately in the realm of possibility.

But according to Todd Bowles, there was one silver lining in the defeat: the play of the Jets’ rookie safety tandem, particularly No. 6 overall pick Jamal Adams.

“I thought Jamal had an outstanding game,” Bowles said. “His eyes were good, he was physical, he played very smart.”

Bowles added that rookie safety Marcus Maye, a secondround pick, “had a good ballgame as well” outside of one negative play. Bowles wouldn’t say specifically what play he was referring to.

Adams flashed his physicality and play-making ability on multiple occasions Sunday. On a 3rdand-16 late in the first half with the Bills nearing midfield, Adams knocked the ball away from TE Charles Clay on an athletic diving play for his one pass breakup on the afternoon. And early in the fourth quarter, Adams burst through a hole and dropped LeSean McCoy behind the line of scrimmage. It was one of the few times all day the Jets tackled McCoy for a loss.

“His reads were good,” Bowles, a former NFL safety, said of Adams. “Everything he did, he did it the right way. He made tackles when opportunities presented themselves, and he made the plays he was supposed to make. So he had a good ballgame.”

SLOW START

In his debut game as an NFL offensive coordinator, John Morton appeared cautious in his play-calling.

Josh McCown averaged just 4.8 yards per attempt, as most of his passes were in the short to intermediate areas of the field. The 38-year-old quarterback really only attempted one downfield pass, and it came on a broken play when he scrambled outside the pocket to avoid the Bills’ pas rush. The throw resulted in an interception.

Bowles said Monday that the Jets did, in fact, have some deep throws called.

“Honestly, we couldn’t get to them either by coverage or by protection. But we had some shots called,” Bowles said. “We’d like to do that more. And in the future, we will.”

It would certainly help open up some holes for the Jets’ non-existent rushing attack. Gang Green finished with 38 yards on the ground Sunday.

“We definitely want to be able to create bigger plays for ourselves, and that’s something that I think we left out there,” McCown said.

HURT SO GOOD

LB Bruce Carter has a sprained ankle and TE Eric Tomlinson has been diagnosed with a sprained elbow. Those were the only two injuries Sunday, Bowles said.