Dance fever makes Jet D a Twitter hit
THE JETS defense became a viral sensation over the weekend, after the team’s Twitter account posted a video of the unit dancing during a fourth-quarter commercial break in Thursday night’s victory over the Bills.
With Lil Uzi Vert’s “444+222” blaring over the MetLife Stadium speakers, Demario Davis pumped his fist, Jamal Adams wobbled his knees, and the rest of the Jet defenders showcased their respective moves. As the clip circulated on social media, fans starting dubbing different songs into the background. Some of the best ones included: the Charlie Brown theme song; “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey; and the early 2000s techno hit “Sandstorm” by Darude.
Gladys Knight superfan Todd Bowles offered his thoughts on the Jets’ dancing during his conference call with reporters Monday.
“Not one of them could have been a Soul Train dancer,” Bowles quipped. “But that's all right.”
The Jets are a young bunch, especially on defense. They start two rookies at safety (Adams and Marcus Maye), two second-year draft picks at linebacker (Darron Lee and Jordan Jenkins) and 23-year-old Leonard Williams up front.
So it shouldn’t be too surprising that after perhaps its best performance of the season, the defense wanted to show some “swagger,” as Jenkins put it. The Jets held the explosive Bills offense to just seven point until garbage time in the fourth quarter and shut down running back LeSean McCoy.
“It tells me we’re young and they don’t know any better,” Bowles said of the dancing, with a laugh. “It’s spontaneous. There’s nothing planned. The guys are enjoying themselves and they’re getting hyped up and they play for each other and play hard. …They’re having a little fun, which is good to see.”
Josh McCown, the oldest player on the Jets roster at 38, enjoyed the dancing display.
“I thought, ‘You know what, I got to look into playing safety,” McCown said on a conference call.
Williams took a shot at Jenkins when asked to review the clip. Jenkins, who said Adams was “hands down” the best dancer on the Jets, was the only player on the field who wasn’t dancing to the music.
“We need to work on Jordan Jenkins’ dance moves,” said Williams, whose favorite dubbed clip was the one with Mariah Carey.
“I definitely didn’t get the memo,” Jenkins said. “The thought came to mind and I was like, ‘Eh, it’s too late. I’m already focused.’ …I knew I looked like the odd one out of the bunch.”
The dancing was a redemption of sorts for the Jets. In a blowout loss at the Raiders in Week 2, Marshawn Lynch was caught dancing wildly on the sideline after the game was out of hand. In the locker room after the defeat, Jenkins called Lynch’s dancing “infuriating” and “embarrassing.”
“Not trying to go backwards, but it definitely feels good to be on the opposite side of that now,” Williams said. “It was cool to be on prime time and be able to show the world who we are.”