They have played 7 games since their bye week, 4 of which were one possession loses. 3 of those loses came down to either a missed 2 pt conversion or a loss in OT. The other 3 games were against playoff teams (counting Baltimore here + Pittsburgh), and one of which is one of the best teams in the NFL (Tennessee). They really aren't playing worse each week. 3 weeks ago they lost to Minnesota in OT, now all of a sudden because they got smoked by two playoff teams they've all of a sudden quit? Yeah, no. They will be competitive in their next 2 games and maybe Minshew can pull off one last hoorah for the Jags.
The thing is that GMs who tank usually get fired. There's too much ill will. Sashi Brown in Cleveland successfully tanked to 1-31 but got fired before the comeback. Cleveland needed Dorsey to build up. I tend to believe there are certain GMs who are pure theoreticians who believe in tanking (Sam Hinkie), and there are builders who can build teams. You can tank with the first type, but you then need to hit on the second type to build back up. I think we have the second guy already in JD, for which I am glad.
There's a difference between a multi-year plan to tank and the simple realization that we're 0-13, there's a generational QB prospect in the draft, and there's a 1-12 team who has the tiebreaker over us.
He got a much better OL than last year What did you expect JD to do? He knows this and wants to get Lawrence even more than us. But he can't just tell Gase to sit down Q, Becton, etc... I know we want to blame someone for the tank gone wrong. It's just that there isn't anyone there to blame... That's the nature of the tank. Unless you have a Coach/GM as a single person, which we do not.
If we had Mims and Crowder all season, would we only win one game at this point? If Herndon’s hands didn’t turn to stone...I could keep going. The point here is just looking at the W-L column doesn’t tell the whole story. Some of this is even on Sam. This team had many needs to address, this team HAS many needs to address still. What he has addressed so far he’s done a good job of. You’re quoting something said in pre-season that even the most jaded Jets fan wouldn’t have predicted. If you look at what he did on paper, he did exactly what he said he would do. Sam didn’t hold up his end of the bargain and injuries. Not Douglas’ fault.
It's more of an indictment on Sam that he has mommy and daddy meeting his bosses at his first real job...
You have a solid point on the hypothetical-- Yes, if we have Mims and Crowder healthy all year, we are honestly a 3-4 win team right now. At the end of the day, draft order usually tells the story. I do think we probably beat Jags pretty bad head to head. At the end of the day, the worst team should have the higher pick. I do think we are better than the Jags.
I think those members of the media are full of shit who claimed that the Jets were officially tanking. I don't believe that Douglas was doing any intentional acts to tank. I think he has enough sense and guts to not leave it up to chance if he was intentionally tanking. That's why I think the whole idea that NFL teams are tanking and there is a problem with it in the NFL is ludicrous. Players aren't going to tank. There's no motivation for them to tank. Coaches would only tank if they were promised that they would be retained and get some kind of reward, but I doubt that many coaches would be willing to do it. How many coaches want to have it on their resume that their team was 0-16??? The ones who weren't willing to go along would report it to the media and the NFL. The players would revolt if they even thought the CS or GM were trying to tank. I think the whole idea is preposterous.
To me that's him being a seller on the year vs intentionally tanking. He can set himself up better for the future if he moves players that dont really affect the outcome of the season anyway. The NFL is mimicking baseball more in that bad teams tend to sell at the deadline and good teams buy so it makes more sense. Joe Douglas would be dumb to only prepare for possibility of getting Lawrence so he must start considering plan B. This will hopefully show us why he is a good GM as any idiot can take the best QB at pick 1.
It's absurd, isn't it? And it's getting worse. Now even rational posters like HomeoftheJets, REVISion, FrontOfficeFanatic, and Borat are buying into the stupid conspiracy theories. I can't believe that any intelligent person could buy into this utter nonsense. It's like in addition to covid there's a conspiracy or dumb virus going around that's making good, intelligent posters buy into crazy theories. It's totally ruining this site.
How in the world do you think that fits your narrative? Douglas is doing that within what he can do reasonably in an offseason and with his philosophy. He drafted Becton and Mims and Clark, and signed Fant, Van Roten, McGovern, Andrews, Perriman, and Elflein. I'm certain that he will add additional OL and offensive skill talent in the upcoming offseason. Unbelievable!
What conspiracy theories? When I talk about the tank, I don't mean that players or even JD is tanking, it's us fans just wanting the team to lose to get Trevor and change the franchise for years to come. JD for his part though is trying to get assets by giving up players, like Williamson for a pick swap, Bell, so that we don't get locked into a contract, in case he gets injured, there was one more guy he swapped, released Desir to give more playing time for a rookie, etc... The point is that JD is looking how to benefit the team for future, even if it means weaker roster for the remainder of this season. Call it whatever you want to call it, but I don't see this as some conspiracy theory. JD just understands this season is gone, if the players we gave up result in extra loss or two, it's no big deal, and actually better, and it's better to get more assets/playing time with next year in mind.
Come on now, we all know that Douglas was supposed to coax Randy Moss out of retirement, assemble the 2020 version of the Hogs, and find the next Barry Sanders between March and the beginning of training camp. I mean, he did promise Sam's parents that he'd surround their son with protection and weapons, after all.
Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that he agreed to work with Adam Gase. Surely he knew Darnold had no chance, in which case he has some nerve saying what he said, and if he didn't, how could he not know?
This is the crux of my argument. I'm not saying Douglas intended to tank before this season or during the early part of it. But given the reality of being 3 losses away from TL - how do you not make 100% sure it happens? I understand nobody thought we'd beat the Rams but to still leave something so important up to chance. Oof.
