Does everyone agree that 1999 would have been OUR year?

Obviously as a fan going into the season I thought it would be, and with Vinny I think we could have gotten past the Jaguars and Titans who were the two best teams in the AFC, but I doubt we beat the Rams in the SB.

 

We'll never know. That's why they play the games.

They were red hot down the stretch that season with Ray Lucas at QB knocking off playoff team after playoff team but the two big blown leads in back-to-back weeks Oakland & Indianapolis I believe earlier in the season/1-6 start doomed that team.

I still say 2010 was the best shot the Jets have had since SB III that upset over NE should've catapulted that team to the SB add in a inferior opponent in the AFC championship game but the chokers came out "flat" for a championship game got down 24-0.

 

Vinny’s 1998 season was an aberration.

He was great that year, but never before or after. Especially in th TD to INT category.

 

Aren't you a Bears fan?

 

1998 was the year.
Team was stacked from a player and coaches standpoint.
A very beatable Falcons teams awaited us in the Super Bowl, and we had that 10-0 lead on Denver at halftime in the AFCCG.

That's when the strangest shit started happening, cementing my belief this team has cursed luck.

Vinny getting hurt in 99 was also killer, as was Pennington going down in 03.
Neither guy was ever really the same after that, and in Pennington's case more devastating injuries would follow.

 

I happened to watch the NFL Vault video on Tom Tupa last night. What a crazy turn of events in that first game. You've got to wonder whether leaving him in as QB in the 4th quarter would have won it for them.

 

Sums up my feelings exactly.

 

So I’m guessing that’s a no.

 

As the game went on, the team started to get gassed (High Altitude etc.) and Denver, who was cheating on the salary cap at the time,
were able to field fresher players that were better than the starters on many teams.

 

Hard to say, but the Jets were definitely a Super Bowl contender. Sucks Vinny went down. As @WarriorRB28 said: We will never know.

1998, 2009, and 2010 the Jets were 1 game away. 1999 looked like they had a good chance. I have been a fan since I can remember, which is about 1993. Out of that 25 years, I can never say I felt the Jets were the best team in the NFL. Hopefully that changes in the Darnold Era.

 

98 was the year. Elway was in sharp decline. He was awful in the Championship game against us. 99 The Rams were better than us on both sides of the ball and TN was a physically tough team. Eddie George was in his prime and a load.

98 was the perfect year for us. We stole the Seattle game which helped us get a first round bye. We cruised over Jacksonville in our home playoff game. We had the lead at halftime against Denver and Elway was playing terrible ball. Martin was abysmal. 13 carries for 14 yards and a fumble. Keith Byars put the ball on the turf inside the Denver 20. With all that suck we still went in at halftime with a 3 nothing lead. I believe we blocked a punt early in the third and scored on a short run for a 10 zip lead. From that point on Terrell Davis ran roughshod over our team and scored 20 straight points in the third quarter and we were shut out the entire 2nd half.

Martin was a great player but TD head to head in a big spot was simply miles better. The Byars fumble in the first half was a killer but Denver really didn't capitalize. Of course the flashlight, Wayne Chrebet, was the best player on the field for us in the big game.

There was no excuse that year. We got the breaks to get a bye. We went into Denver well rested and healthy. Elway was a shadow of himself. Hard to believe 99 would have been better.

 

He's Rex Ryan posting as a Bears fan.

 

Yes, I think ‘99 would have been an amazing year had VT not been injured .00000001 seconds into the first game. The fact that we still managed an 8-8 record despite playing everyone we could find at QB from Rick Mirer, to Ray Lucas, to the hot dog vendor from the section behind the Jets bench says quite a bit about the talent this team still had. After all, Rick Mirer was an awful QB and Lucas was woefully limited. I still think that hot dog vendor was awesome..... or was that Tom Tupa?


Seriously though, no way a team with less talent never pulls within a win of a playoff spot like the Jets did. Shoot, if they could have squeezed into the playoffs I felt they’d have had a shot of making some real noise. Alas, it was not to be....

 

You’re right, it would have been hard for ‘99 to be a better team. However, if you recall, ‘98 began with Foley at QB. That team took a while to gel and was reaching its peak at the end of ‘98. I have always felt that they went into ‘99 in the same peak form, but without having the Foley experiment dragging down the start of the season. For me, that ‘99 team was talented, had gelled, and was hungry after letting a SB appearance slip through their fingers the season before. We will never know, of course, but a 13-3, 14-2 record was hardly out of the realm of possibility in ‘99 IMHO. And then it all seemed to come apart like a Testaverde Achilles.....

In fact, you could say that VT’s Achilles was our Achilles.

I’ll show myself out now....

 

I think another Jets team that coulda had a shot at winning it all was the 2015 team. Statistically that team has to be one of the best in franchise history O & D were ranked in the top 10 I believe. The O set some franchise records that year.

They were peaking at the right time.

I felt they matched up great against Denver or Carolina who they would've seen in the Super Bowl.

It would've been sooooooooo much fun to see how it played out in the playoffs.

 

ahhhh Thank You for another cheerful thread ! I remember it as if it were yesterday ( just as I remember the Mud Bowl but I stray ) Vinny went down the air was out of the stadium and the season was over,,,,oh joy