In my opinion we could've went in 04 if Brien woulda kicked that FG! I think we could've beat the Pats the next week
2002 was the best. We still had a top 5 offensive line, Curtis Martin in his prime, Laveranues Coles in a breakout season, Chad in a breakout season, Hackett still knew what he was doing, Ted Cottrell was still the author of the "great" Buffalo defense of the late 90's, Herm was a motivational genius with no mention yet of hiring Dick Curl (greatest name ever connected to the Jets, narrowly beating out Emerson Boozer who wasn't one) to manage the clock for him, Terry Bradway was still a highly respected talent evaluator whose other flaws had not yet emerged to flatten the Jets and The Patriots looked like a potential one year wonder gone awry.
It has to be 2002. That was a special year, that game against Green Bay goes down in Jets history. And 2004 wasnt Dougs fault, it was Herm's. The moron didnt get us close enough when we had a chance. No visiting kicker makes 45+ yarders in Pitt. This year probably comes second. I didnt expect us to make the playoffs and we did, I'm very excited about next season.
The 2004 team would have beaten the 2002 team. We had the NFL leading rusher, Pennington was at his best. Our defense in '02 was really showing its age as well. Martin was injured all year in 02. I would even say this years team was better than the one in 2002.
2004 Jets, though honorably mention goes to the 41-0 stomping of the Colts. 2004 AFCCG would have been one miserable game, for sure...Foxboro was hit with ~3ft of snow the day of the game.
The poll was for better team though. Not season. 2002 was an amazing season, but the team was not as good as the others.
But in 04' Chad still missed 3 games and wasn't exactly "stellar." 2002 was by far his best season and that was when he was at his best. I'm going with the 2004 team because the defense was very good and Martin was on fire. Vilma was playing balls off the wall while David Barrett was having a very good season. Eric Barton was also an integral and awesome free agent pickup to the defense. I don't think that Jets team could of went in New England and win, but it would be of been a better game than what Pittsburgh gave.
No way that 2004 game would've gone down in Foxboro that day, it would've been suicidal for the fans. It would've been postponed to Monday night, and the jets would've gotten pasted. Alas.
Yes, 2002 was his best season, but he played really well in 2004 and he played really well in the playoffs that year. The injury took him out of 3 games but he came back strong at the end of the year.
2002 without a doubt. It is a team that finished 8-3 under Chad while winning the division. While 2004 was a team that benefitted from a weak schedule to start 5-0 and then go 5-6 the rest of the way. NO dominate performance in the playoffs like the 02 team.
I say the 02 team was better than the others because it's already been stated that they went 8-3 under Chad and we had an inept Vinny in the 1st few games of the season. I don't think we lose that early game to Miami or Jacksonville if Chad is our QB. I also think we beat KC if it hadn't been Chad's 1st career start and at Arrowhead non the less. I will say that the 04 did have the better chance of getting to the SB though. They should have beaten Pitt and there was a ton of snow on the ground in Patsie land that day. If they didn't postpone the ice bowl or tuck rule game that game never would have been postponed. You have to like the Jets chances that day with Curtis running and Brady neutralized by a blizzard. In 02 the Jets ran into what should have been the defending SB champs in Oakland. They had no chance of winning that game. Oakland was on a roll and were a much better team than the Jets.
