A dictionary is not going to convince me that the Patriots are a much "more superior team" than us. That is simply not true.
That game is what you could call a moral victory, even though we hate to say that. I think this loss made a bigger statement than any of our wins so far. Granted, it was an L, and wasnt without some disappointments. Our punting game is a disaster. Our pass rush didnt come through. But overall this D is still elite and Calvin Pryor is blowing me away with his play. And my hat is off to Ryan Fitzpatrick. He has gained my confidence. He obviously has the teams confidence. I wouldve liked to see a hail mary at the end.....and he still has limitation, but he is making up for it with his toughness and his decision making. We lost.....to the pats again. It sucks. But i feel very good about this team also. And before you jump on Bowles dont forget to look at our penalties....or lack thereof. He has this team disciplined. He could probly use Mike Westoff. And finally Ill add that people should get off Cro's back. Hes playing fine. You would see that if we were to put, say, dee milner over there. Trust me. Cro's doing his job.
Win or lose yesterday's game, I think the Pats were going to win this division. They will go 13-3 at a minimum and we just aren't quite on that level yet. We will go 10-6 or 11-5 and have a really good chance to secure the 1st wildcard spot. Make no mistake about it, the 1st wildcard is VERY valuable with the AFC South having completely imploded. You get to play a likely sub. 500 team in the 1st round for a spot in the divisional round. An appearance in the divisional round is a good outcome for this season. And you never know in that round, we upset NE once before and maybe we get a break and face the Bengals/Broncos instead. Neither of those teams is known for stepping it up in the postseason so you would at least have a decent chance at the upset. Let's just enjoy this ride and hope that everyone improves going forward, coach and players.
The most frustrating thing about this loss isn't that we COULD have won the game and didn't, it's the complete dumbass fan reactions, whining, blame and criticism. Yes, we could have won and made mistakes that cost us the game, but those aren't because Bowles is a bad coach or coach scared. The Patriots are better. We are 1 TD and 2 games behind them; that's a pretty good measure of how good we are. We have some flaws and ground to make up with the best team in the league, but we aren't far behind. It's frustrating we lost a game we could have won but that doesn't negate what this team has proven it is, and what it is us a team to be excited for.
I actually liked the shots of Bowles on the sidelines, not that his demeanor really means anything but he knew what kind of monster the Jets were facing and he wasn't deterred by it. We lost Pryor and the middle of the pass defense opened up and that was what killed us. I don't have the time to do a Brady/Gronk/Edelman/Amendola with Pryor and without but the numbers would be staggering.
Its not just here. All sites have fans losing their minds like losing to an undefeated Patriots team in Foxboro is the end of the world. They are an amazing team and we had a lead on the road in the 4th quarter. We also lost a couple starters on defense that seemed to have a huge impact. I dont understand a lot of our fans.
LaFell dropped a ton of passes when he was with the Panthers too. I'm not sure if he has concentration issues or stone hands, but I sure as heck wouldn't want him on the Jets.
I totally get that evo, I really do, but there is a difference. In the past with Jets' moral victories, did we see the Jets getting respect from other teams and fans of other teams? The answer is no. Also in the past, when the Jets lost, it was often because of penalties, stumbling/bumbling play at the QB position (including TOs), horrible clock management and poor game management (no adjustments). While Bowles and the players may have made some mistakes in this game, they didn't beat themselves. They were in it to the end. Rex had a knack for devising great game plans for the Pats, but almost no one else. When the Jets won those games, it was almost on pure emotion, then they'd not show up the next week. So far, the Jets have showed up for every game this season and played well, except for the Philly game. This is a work in progress. I believe there are more than a few reasons why we should be encouraged and hopeful about the future. None of us likes losing, especially to Brady and the Pats, but we have lots of reasons to think that it won't be long before we won't just be hoping we can beat the Pats for a game or two each season, but having a legitimate shot (if not being predicted to win) at winning the division crown. The key is finding that QB, improving the OL and improving the pass rush.
While we know the Patriots have cheated before and the league done little or nothing to stop it, we also know that refs miss calls both ways in every game. The refs have sucked in the NFL for a long time. IMO until the league hires refs full time, gives them adequate training, and hires younger, more athletic men instead of the old, slow farts they have, the refereeing won't improve.
That was one of the things that made losing this game so hard on me , I can sense the change and I am hungry for victory over the evil empire ! I've stated this 1000x , I'm thrilled to be rid of the sideshow atmosphere . I just hate the fact that this was a game we should have one and we let it slip from our fingers like that TD that should have been to Marshall. Those 3rd and longs our D gave up really killed us in the 4th QT but I've been very encouraged by the CS' ability to correct mistakes and come out ready to play every week with the exception of the Eagles game. No doubt we've turned a corner but I want to win man! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Excellent Points. I'd also like to ask the question: How many other teams could have beaten the Jets yesterday the way we played? You'd be hard pressed to come up with a hand full from either Conference. Based on what I've seen so far, we can win 10 games at least if we stay healthy.
I understand where you're coming from, but did you really expect the Jets to win or even have a realistic chance to win the division before the season started? If so, then you're much more optimistic than any other poster here. Before the season started, I saw no one predicting the Jets would win the division or go deep into the playoffs. Every single poster either said at best, the Jets would be a wildcard team, or they would be the same or worse than last year. The very fact that the Jets had a realistic chance to win and possibly win the division should be encouraging for you. IMO expecting a win yesterday wasn't realistic and you set yourself up for disappointment and frustration. The game was in Foxboro. The Pats, while weaker, are still the champs, and still have Brady and Belichick. The Jets have injuries and holes, too. Our OL has exceeded expectations this season, but they were exposed yesterday when the Jets couldn't run the ball. That has been the strength of our offense. In spite of that, I like Bowles' confidence in our offense. How long has it been since our HC could be confident in our offense? In retrospect, it may have been a bad decision, but it's easy for us to second-guess after the fact. Was I surprised and disappointed that the Jets let the game slip away in the 4th quarter? Yes, but I wasn't surprised that they lost. I expected a hard-fought game and a close game, and that's what it was. I hoped for a win, but expected that they'd lose. After being 4-12 last season and having no shot at the playoffs at all, you can't be happy that they're not only in the wildcard race, but comfortably leading it? Rome wasn't built in a day. Do you know how few times teams have turned around from 4-12 one season to going to the playoffs the following season? To expect them to win the division crown this year was totally unreasonable and unrealistic. We should all be very happy with being a playoff team this year, if they indeed do wind up winning the wild card. Mac and Bowles have done an amazing job in a short period of time. With another offseason under their belts, I expect that the Jets will be more serious contenders next season for the division crown, but they'll still just be contenders, not the "favorite" unless NE suffers a total collapse at the end of this season or Brady and/or Belichick retire. We can't let frustration with the Jets' past affect our expectations for the present and future. That's not realistic, and in doing so, we're just making ourselves miserable and setting ourselves up for frustration.
We are in total agreement that the NFL needs to get its act together regarding officiating. It should be a HUGE embarrassment to them that they still have part-time officials who do such a poor job. They need to hire younger, more athletic men (perhaps former collegiate or NFL players), hire them full time so that they get a lot more training, spend time in between games watching film of their games and other games, and working to improve. The Jets didn't lose yesterday because of it, but games are lost due to poor officiating. It's inexcusable imo. Teams and fans need to pressure the NFL to correct this situation.
Great post. Also, while no one projected the Jets to be one of the best teams in the league, they were only a few plays away from beating the best team in the league at home. If that would have happened, the Jets would have been in discussion for the Super Bowl. Who would have expected that? Here is to hoping the Jets get healthy and bounce back next week against Oakland, and continue to improve each week until the playoff stretch.
F moral victories dude ... the game told us that the Jets, just aren't ready to compete with the Patriots. This is a loser mentality to have ... We played the Pats well, we were close to winning - but we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. This was the outcome I completely expected. There's nothing good to take away from a moral victory.
