EATONTOWN, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine says the team’s defense needed to get faster and more athletic this season after being “a little dinosaur-ish inside” last year.
Pettine says Tuesday night at a charity event that the Jets needed to improve the defense’s overall speed, and he thinks that’s what they did by drafting players such as defensive lineman Quinton Coples, linebacker Demario Davis and safety Josh Bush.
Pettine says the defense’s motto this season is “One Step Faster,” because “the league is evolving to be a pass-first league, and we felt we were getting — for lack of a better phrase — a little dinosaur-ish inside.”
Pettine says he did a “mental backflip” when Coples was still available at No. 16 overall in the NFL draft.
