GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jeff Ulbrich is nothing if not a highly noble and accountable human being.
The Jets interim coach, minutes after his team was slaughtered by the Cardinals, 31-6, Sunday at State Farm Stadium, didn’t just fall on the sword for his team’s putrid performance, he dove off a diving board onto the sharp tip.
Ulbrich said the team, coming off a nine-day layoff since their previous game (a home win over the Texans on Oct. 31), wasn’t prepared Sunday.
“We didn’t execute even close to our standard, and that falls on my shoulders 100 percent,’’ Ulbrich said. “I didn’t do a good enough job getting these guys ready. I thought the physicality and the effort was fine. That was not the issue. It was execution, and then that was in all three phases.’’
The Jets defense was a massive culprit in the game.
The Cardinals scored on each of their first five offensive possessions.
Their quarterback, Kyler Murray, finished 22 of 24 for 266 yards with one touchdown pass and two rushing touchdowns and completed the last 17 passes he threw.
The Jets tackling was abysmal.
According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, they missed 20 tackles in the game.
They couldn’t cover anyone on the back end.
The Cardinals amassed 18 first downs in the first half and finished with 28.
They converted 5 of 7 third downs (71.4 percent) and the one fourth down they went for.
What the … what gives?
“It comes down to our base fundamentals, and obviously I did a poor job of getting us ready for this team in that way — tackling, edge setting, getting off of blocks,’’ Ulbrich said. “I’ve got to continue to try to find ways to put them in a better position to be successful.’’
There are really no turning points in a rout like this, but a key moment in the first half took place when Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, whose tackling has come under scrutiny of late this season, failed to get Arizona tight end Trey McBride down on a third-and-7 completion in the second quarter.
McBride tossed Gardner like a bull throwing a rider off its back and turned what would have been a failed third-down conversion into a 17-yard gain to keep a drive alive that would end in a third Cards touchdown and a 21-6 lead.
“I’ve got to make that tackle,” Gardner said. “It starts with me. I’ve got to be better.”
Gardner was hardly the only culprit.
“We’ve got to work it,” Ulbrich said of the tackling. “We’ve got to get better at it. I thought we made a huge emphasis of it this week [in practice]. We’ve got to continue to take the extra step, we’ve got to wrap, we’ve got to get population to the ball … the core foundation of this game from a defensive perspective.”
Edge rusher Haason Reddick defended Ulbrich after the game when informed that he’d shouldered the blame for his players’ shortcomings.
“Brick is doing the honorable thing,” Reddick told The Post. “He’s doing what any coach would do, but it’s on players as well. At the end of the day, we’re the ones out there on the field. We have the playmakers to make plays, and that’s exactly what needs to get done.”
“You can’t put this on Brick. I’m not sure if you could put any of it on Brick. At the end of the day, we have to be better for him.”
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