Obviously this is purely speculative and has no merit considering things change so drastically from year to year in the nfl. However, if things play out similiarly or even close to how they have for the past few seasons, i think the jets have a legitimate shot at finishing the season rather strongly... In an ideal world they can go 7-1, however since there is no ideal world when it comes to the jets, 5-3 is probably more realistic. Check out the schedule starting with week 8. vs. Miami Bye @ Seattle @ St. Louis Vs. New England Vs. Arizona @ Jacksonville @ Tennessee Vs. San Diego @ Buffalo Is it me or is this schedule a cakewalk?
Who knows? - Seattle on the road is a tough game that will be very difficult to win. - New England is New England. - San Diego always seems to play their best ball in December - Buffalo and Tennessee both have some weapons and will be solid teams, and both games are on the road. I think our offense will be too inconsistent to have us go on 7-1 stretches. Our defense will have us win some games by surprise, but the offense will lead to some frustration. If I had to rank the difficulty of the games this year, it would be something like: at New England vs New England at Pittsburgh at Seattle vs Houston vs San Fran at Buffalo at Tennessee vs San Diego vs Buffalo at Miami at Jacksonville at St. Louis vs Indianapolis vs Arizona vs Miami 4 of the 6 toughest games are early, and we have to play some tough defenses early. But there are some tricky road games down the stretch that could be problematic. Right now, I have the Jets going 5-3 in the first and second halves of the season to finish 10-6.
It's not a cakewalk. Three divisional games plus San Diego, Seattle who a lot of "experts" are picking as a surprise team and an improved St Louis with a good new head coach is no cakewalk.
5 of the last 8 are on the road. Could the Jets win 4 of those or maybe 5? Unlikely although not impossible. My breakdown on the season's likely form right now is 2-3 start, 3-2 in the next 5 with Pats and 2 other road games making it still rough sledding. Then the last 6 will determine where the Jets wind up, with 8-8 as my predicted destination. If the Jets are going to have a great season next year we'll know it early on. They'll win a few games that are toss-ups despite the fact they're installing Sparano's offense. They'll be 4-1 early or maybe 3-2 with an upset of the Pats at New England in week 7 after that. If they have the likely start then we're hoping they recover enough to go 9-7 and sneak in, like 2002.
If the Jets can come out 3 - 2 or even 2 - 3 from the first 5 games I believe they are good. 1 - 4 would obviously be a bad start that I'm not sure they could recover from. If they start 3 - 2 we are looking at an 11 win season.
Who the hell sets the schedules? Buffalo first and last? Bullshit!!! Anyway, there is a reason they play the games. I assume the Jets will win every game, but I guess that is why I never bet on them.
Don't sleep on Seattle in Seattle, Tennessee or San Diego. Also, Buffalo will be competing with the Jets and the two losers of the AFC North three way race as well as the loser of Denver-KC for two wild card spots and Week 17 should be a huge game. But yes, the Jets could very well finish the season 6-2, but the problem is the first half of the schedule could leave them at 3-5.