I was real high on the jets with AR at QB, and posted such. I said they would be in every game cause their defense was superior and whatever Rodgers had would boost the offense. 4 plays into the season the world changed. The jets faced another year of terrible losing and the season would be over by thanksgiving. Well lo and behold, they are above 500 with a 3 game winning streak. ZW has not turned the ball over via interception in I don't know how many passes. Some fumbles, which could hurt a team but are part of the game. Everyone fumbles. They have been competitive except for dallas, and actually had last minute chances to win 2 more games. Jets fans should be rejoicing at this point in the season. We could lose the next 10 games certainly. We could also win many of them and make the playoffs. Given a decimated Oline, no Rodgers, some weird coaching decisions, etc, to be in the spot we are in is quite incredible. Yet, all I read for the most part is criticisms rather than any kind of praise. A 3 game winning streak. Over 500. Limited turnovers. Wonderful defense. Bring it on.
It's part of the message board experience for a team that has not sniffed the playoffs since before the first episode of Game of Thrones aired. We don't have any reason to be content.
Because some people like yourself see the glass as half full and some see as half empty. Truth is both sides have legitimate points ….. you are correct because the Jets for all they’ve suffered between Rodgers and the other injuries has displayed a toughness that we as fans aren’t quite used to. In the last they would have folded like a cheap tent. Zach has shown positive signs of growth and they are fun to watch, aggravating at times but usually fun. And they are in the thick of things at 4-3. How many seasons in the last few years have been long over by Halloween? The half empty people see a team that is skating by with a QB that has been slow developing, and an offense that has not moving the chains. The OL is decimated with a lot of injuries and a lack of cohesiveness before the injuries. They were expecting all offseason for the offense to be led by a filet mignon (Rodgers) and got a hamburger (Wilson) instead. Shit happens. There are some who accuse JD of not doing enough for the OL. While I can agree he’s made a couple of bad moves I think the injuries are a bigger concern. Is it a training issue? Is it the playing field? I’d also guess a lot of these half empty people (not all) have spent a lot of money as in PSLs, tickets, and general game day aggravation. That certainly gives them the right to vent. I know I’d be pissed. But I do like your point of view. These games have been fun to watch - not the last game that was ugly but I was pumped after the Bills and Eagles games……very curious how the rest of the year turns out and if or how long the OL can keep Zach upright ….
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Jets and Giants are among the most injured teams in the league for over a decade running. There’s absolutely something wrong with the field. Some of the injuries are freak occurrences but it’s just too consistent to be bad luck. The Giants being in the same boat and other teams complaining about the field pretty much confirms it. The trainers cant be faultless either, but I don’t know how often they’ve been flipped over the course of a decade+ worth of regime changes.
Gosh. I remember in the Herm (and Hackett) years this board was divided into darksiders and (whatever the optimists were called)
Imagine a fan base going so long without success, they can no longer remember what the unreasonable people believing in the remote possibility of success were called.
I do think that part of it is the desire so many of us have to be a dominant team - to win 11 or more games every year for a consistent period, to routinely make the playoffs, to land a Super Bowl or two. It has been so long since we had any sort of consistency. I've been following the team for 40 years now and they have never strung together more than two consecutive playoff appearances. Many have been watching the team for longer than that - none of them have seen more than two consecutive playoff appearances either. The Jets have never achieved that modest feat. So we don't want a 4-3 record. We don't want ugly wins that are scratched out in the last seconds. We want 14-3 seasons, 42-10 victories, playoff wins, 4,000-yard passing seasons... we want to be able to relax a little when we watch football for Christ's sake. We have become gun-shy, and everything that goes wrong is seen as the next trigger for our next collapse. You can't blame people for thinking like that, we have been conditioned to think like that for decades. So even though we are doing what the vast majority of the NFL is doing now - winning some, losing some - we can't help but think that the collapse is about to start, and complaining is a kind of defense mechanism, a way of softening the blow when it does finally land, because we can say we knew it was coming. I totally understand this mentality and I have to fight it off myself. It will take years to change it, if indeed it ever does.
Its 5:30 AM on the east coast where I live. Being in my 80's, sleep is elusive, as many of you will find out. So, I do not think of myself as a half full guy. I try to be a realist as best as I can. I have been watching professional sports for more than 70 years. I have seen it all. The current Jets team reminds me of the 69 Mets. Can the Jets progress throughout the season? Who knows. Regarding expectations, I personally really see potential on the team. They have learned not to quit. That is important. I grew up watching the Yankees win umpteeen world series practically in a row. Then came the CBS years, so I learned to tamper my expectations. Their skill level on offense is not league average. But they are scrappy. Its fun to watch a scrappy team. Would I prefer the Jets to be the yankees of the 50's and 60s, the celtics of the same era, the patriots of the last 15 years, and so on. Of course! But that is not happening. What seems to be happening is a team figuring out how to stay in the ballgame till the very end. The Jets NOT making the playoffs is what I usually expect. I have been a fan since before they were born. But I find them exciting to watch, extremely frustrating to watch and I try to remember the 3 hours of game time is merely a brief respite from real life.
What you call complaining is someone else’s “valid criticism”. They’re a Breece Hall injury away from the season being over….again. For other teams in a similar situation it’s usually losing their QB that would end the season, but the good ones are typically well protected by good OL’s and referees. A one man offense isn’t going to carry the Jets through the post season anyway. The Jets are above .500 because they have the ability to make good QB’s look like clowns and because the Giants gifted them a win. This defense isn’t invulnerable though, as we’ve seen in Dallas. Winning the Super Bowl is what this sport is all about and it should be the current goal this far into the GM’s tenure, but this team doesn’t look much like a contender right now.
Jets need to earn the trust of everyone back. They will not get the benefit of the doubt with the fanbase until they win on a more consistent basis. Having said this, its been very whiny here of late. I fully understand the negativity, but the amount of whining is pretty tough to deal with.
But they are entertaining if nothing else.. The "Product" on the field is worth the price of admission on most game days at MetLife. Although it's always stated with a straight face that the object is to win the SB, the actions often translates into just being competitive and dominate the backpages. They've had ample time to upgrade but always find a reason to go with second tier talent. Rodgers being the outlier.. We as fans should be grateful that the team isn't the worst in the league anymore. Watching the games isn't as painful as it used to be. Perhaps we should lower our expectations from "Playoffs or bust" to competitive and complacent. Stop grading Zach Wilson on the same scale as you would other NFL QBs but instead, use the "Wilson Curve" and Zach suddenly looks a lot better. 4-3 is waaay better than 1-6 so rejoice! We expected too much for the '23 Jets Rodgers or no Rodgers. Why? Simple answer is.. The Offense is holding this team back from being legitimate contenders. What's being done about it? Not a helluva lot.
The whining is weird? We haven’t been to the playoffs since before the first ever episode of Game of Thrones as someone mentioned earlier. Let that sink in. No one is going to be content with anything until the team starts looking like a competitive NFL team.
I mean we were 5-2 last year and 7-4 shortly after. We missed the playoffs by essentially 2.5 games and we had the same exact issues last season. I understand the skepticism.
A seemingly healthy tree can be rotting inside and fall suddenly--you're looking at the external only--others are assessing the entire tree.
There is no doubt in my mind that to be the case. The astroturf at MetLife is a huge contributor and the owners donot give two shits because they use the stadium for a number of venues. IMHO Moving to Jersey instead of having our own stadium in NY was the stupidest decision in Jet’s history.
