AP

The Jets don’t have many position groups they can be proud of. The one they do, they expect more from.

Jets coach Todd Bowles made a personal challenge to his defensive line, after being gashed by LeSean McCoy and the Bills and with Marshawn Lynch and the Raiders on the horizon.

“Our room, we take a lot of pressure. Coach even called us out,” Muhammad Wilkerson said, via Daniel Popper of the New York Daily News. “We take pride in ourselves and our work, and we definitely accepted the challenge and know we got to play better this week. . . .

“We men. I feel like as a man, you should definitely want to accept that challenge.”

Of course, it didn’t take a long look at the film to see what Bowles was referring to, as McCoy had 110 yards on 22 carries. The Jets have an ostensibly talented group, with Wilkerson and Leonard Williams, but missed assignments allowed a number of big plays in the run game.

“We took that very personally,” nose tackle Steve McLendon said. “We’re held to a certain type of standard here, and coach asked us before the game: ‘What kind of standard are we held to?’ And we told him, and we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain. So he put us on, he told us in the meeting. ‘Hey, D line, it’s on y’all.’ We know what kind of standard we’re held to here. And all we want to do is play hard, play smart and dominate up front.”

If they don’t, the Jets may not have much of a chance this year. They may not anyway, but Bowles probably knows it’s his best shot.