I've heard a few people talking about the Jets having an easy road to the playoffs. I don't see it. The Jets had to play the Pats twice, the Dolphins twice, the Saints, the Jaguars, the Texans, the Titans, the Colts, and now the Bengals. That's 5 games against playoff teams and 5 games against teams in the wild card chase. The only easy games were against 2 against the Bills, the Bucs, and at Oakland. Even the Hawks and Panthers can be considered tough teams.
I think they had a top 5 difficult schedule according to last years standing. Remember everyone had them finishing 4th in the division with like 4 wins.
We seem to hear this every year the Jets contend. And what's funny is it often comes from fans of division rivals, who played almost the same schedule.
I don't think I remember a year where someone doesn't call the Jets schedule weak at least we aren't the team that loses to Oakland or Tampa. Look at the 5 or 6 good teams that lost to them.
Teams we played: Playoff teams New England x2 New Orleans Indianapolis* Cincinnati Good teams Atlanta Jacksonville Miami x2 Houston Decent teams Tennessee Carolina Bad teams Oakland Buffalo x2 Tampa Bay Pretty much the same breakdown you'll see from most teams. Playing 5 games vs. playoff teams and another 5 vs. playoff contenders meant we didn't have the same number of gimme games as, say, Denver or San Diego.
+1. I hope someday retarded people realize the NFL is a rock/paper/scissors league. There are no guarantees.
Jets opponents win percentage is .515. Against opponents we've beat it's .491 and against opponents we've lost to it's .542. This is only taking into account games played, so the Bengals game isn't in there. Of course, we played the Colts without Manning so that's pretty big. Unless of course, you take into account the fact that Manning has held the Colts back from winning multiple championships.
I think what was easy about the schedule is WHEN we played some teams. We played NE before Brady was ready, TENN before VY was back in, Buff. In Toronto, a Raider team before they decided Jamarcus was a bust, a Colts team that replaced their starters and a Cincy team that might have nothing to gain. It was an easier schedule than it looked on paper. The bad losses to Miami, Car and Jax still kill me. We lost those games and I feel those teams still stink. Yes, I do know football. We got some breaks and its fine. I watched NE get schedule breaks the last 6 years. Miami good scheduled themselves into a div championship last year. Our QB has 30 TO's and we might make the playoff's. When is the last time that happened?
http://www.theredzone.org/strength.asp Code: 2009 Strength Of Schedule Team Winning Percentage Opp. Total Wins Opp. Total Losses Dolphins .594 152 104 Panthers .592 151 104 Falcons .591 150 104 Patriots .590 151 105 Buccaneers .580 148 107 Bills .570 146 110 Jets .569 145 110 Saints .557 142 113 Eagles .537 137 118 Giants .528 134 120 Texans .521 125 115 Cowboys .516 131 123 Jaguars .516 132 124 Colts .512 131 125 Titans .508 130 126 Redskins .492 125 129 Chargers .484 123 131 Chiefs .484 123 131 Raiders .482 122 131 Broncos .480 122 132 Lions .470 119 134 Bengals .467 119 136 Rams .467 119 136 Seahawks .459 117 138 Browns .451 114 139 Cardinals .443 113 142 Ravens .439 111 142 Steelers .435 110 143 Packers .431 109 144 49ers .424 101 137 Vikings .423 107 146 Bears .413 105 149