We have 4 loses this year and all 4 loses were winable games in the 4th quarter. The Jets have a history of head scratching loses including The Mud Bowl, the Fake Spike Game, the Eric Allen interception return, the Bubby Brister flea flicker, the 10-0 halftime lead against the Broncos for a trip to the Super Bowl, the Blair Thomas MNF fumble against the Bears, the Doug Brien missed FG (which I still blame Herm on), last year's Brett Favre collapse the last few weeks, the 10-1 start only to lose the rest of the games, the Mark Gastineau late hit on 3rd and 10 vs. Cleveland, the 2 failed trick plays in 97's season finale in Detroit which included Leon Washington's halfback option, the Heidi Game, Jets handing Panthers first win ever, etc... I'm sure I'm missing a TON of other heartbreaking losses from each year but ALL 4 loses this year I'll be sure to remember forever. I still can't figure out which one is the most pathetic: JETS vs. SAINTS Sanchez's 27.0 passer rating was the lowest by a Jets starter since a 21.1 by Chad Pennington on Oct. 29, 2006, at Cleveland. Held Drew Brees to just 190 yards and 0 TDs. JETS vs. DOLPHINS We gave up 413 yards and gave up 3rd down conversions 9 of 14 times. JETS vs. BILLS On a day that you can rush for 318 yards, give up only 13 points in regulation, and have a 10 point lead at one point, you would think you would win the game. It's also the second-most rushing yards by a losing team in NFL history. Sanchez is the first Jets QB to throw five INTs in a game since Chad Pennington threw five against the Patriots in 2003. ... The Jets' 14 penalties and 96 penalty yards are both the most in a game since they had 15 penalties for 100 yards in Game 2 of the 1996 season vs. Indianapolis. Lose Kris Jenkins for the year. JETS vs. DOLPHINS #2 Ted Ginn Jr. became the first player in NFL history to score two kickoff-return touchdowns of 100 or more yards in the same game, He's the first player to return two kickoffs for a touchdown in the same quarter since Travis Williams of Green Bay did it in 1967. We outgained them in yardage 378 yards to a pathetic 104 yards. Yes...we only gave up 104 yards ALL game and lost. All four of these games we had a chance to win and that's what kills me - what coulda been !
I must have blocked out the Eric Allen return and the BB FF games from my memory. Could you give more details? Good post!
Meh....this team is what it is...a .500 team. Sure we could have pulled some of those games out but you know what? It would have just falsely elevated expectations even more than they were at 3-0. The Jets are just not quite good enough this year. Talent wise maybe they are or at least real close. But overall, we lack the consistency (at the QB position as well as others) to be a serious contender this year.
Yes it was, I have that play etched in my mind forever it seems. He just lofted it right to the defender, TD.
I agree and I'm glad I found someone else who has been watching him since high school. Go Andrew Jackson Tigers!
These are all growing pains. Rex is a great coach and I think the long-term body (no pun intended) of his coaching will be very good. We have to give things a chance. It may not be this year, maybe, but I think we buy into this guy and the spirit he brings and let things gel with time. If not this year, then next year, we should have a lot of the loose ends ironed out and we should have a better year. I don't see this team going down; I see it going up, but we as fans of the Jets have to totally buy into Rex and turn the other cheek on stuff like this for now. If it still is going on next year and even to a greater degree then maybe it is time to start throwing up some warning flags, but I think this year is more about discovery (channel) j/k. There are quite a few key pieces that are currently in flux: QB, NT, RB, ST, etc. We have to be patient through this and not equate a great Jets team with the speed of ordering a Big Mac, fries, and a coke; only to get home and find out there are no fries. "Where's the fries. Where's my f'in fries. G damn, WTF?"
With the exception of the Saints game every loss this year is correctable by hindsight. Games that are correctable by hindsight usually mean the coaching staff was having issues. The first Miami game the Jets basically lost because they didn't go big against the Wildcat consistently. They weren't managing the personnel changes on the sideline as well as the Fins were and they kept getting caught with a deficit at the point of attack and the Fins just ran all over them. They also adjusted very poorly when the Fins took the wraps off of Henne and let him throw the ball. How Ginn got behind not two but three defenders is still a mystery, particularly given that one of them was Darrelle Revis and another was Jim Leonhard, both burners who can cover well. The Buffalo game they just brainfarted all over the place when they let Sanchez chuck the ball around the way they did in the second half. He was already having a lousy mistake-prone rookie game in the weather and the Jets just pretended that was not happening. Then on Sunday they managed to get as few points as you can get out of the kind of offensive performance they actually turned in and they let the special teams play critically shorthanded with their roster decisions before the game. All three of those losses speak to a bigger deficit: coaching. The Jets have been poorly coached over the last month and they have played like it.
I think you meant to say Leon Johnson, not Leon Washington... Your list is quite impressive thou. Having been a fan since the late 70s, I think you pretty much nailed them all (I guess you could have added Testaverde blowing out his Achilles in game one of the '99 season after ALL the prognosticators picked Jets to win the Super Bowl that year). If I had to rank them, the three worse would be: 1) Gastineau late hit penalty against Cleveland late in 4th quarter of divisional playoff game at Cleveland with a 20-10 lead. 2) AFC Championship game in '98 season. 10-0 lead to start second half and then KA-BOOM!!!EVERYTHING goes wrong (wind blown kickoff that is muffed, Victor Green getting burned for 50 yrds by Elway, etc). We were 30 minutes from Super Bowl XXXIII and gave it away... 3) Mud Bowl - '82 AFC Championship (really Jan. 1983). I know the conditions were HORRENDOUS, but Richard Todd was a nightmare that day. (For YEARS afterwards I actually thought he was "on the take" that game.)...That screen pass that AJ Duhe intercepted and returned for a touchdown really looked "suspicious."
The OP is right. There has been one eureka moment in the last 40 years when the Jets looked good and actually played well right down to the end and that was 1998. Every other season that the Jets have made the playoffs they have slipped in somehow through a combination of late rallies and other team's late collapses and then they have looked like pretenders in the playoffs. Since 1970 the only time they have won 2 games in the playoffs in a single season was 1982, and that was the strike year when everything was off kilter.
good post, as someone mention it was a shuttle pass that was picked off, Leon Johnson threw the pass against detroit I believe. Ray Lucas on another. The one game so many people get wrong the Denver game. We lead 3 -0 at 1/2 and blocked punt recored on two to go up 10 about 3 minutes into the 3rd qtr, which actually makes it even a more disheartening loss, in addition to the fact that we were not even in it down the stretch.
Don't forget the '81 AFC wild card game against the Bills. It was cold & damp at Shea that day. Joe Ferguson had the Bills leading 24-0 early in the 2nd, and some of the fans headed for the exits. I thought of doing the same, but the flask in my pocket had barely been touched. The Jets played horribly for three quarters, but I cared less & less as the brandy I was swigging took effect. It was like 31-13 halfway through the 4th when Richard Todd started to channel Johnny Unitas and went on a tear, completing pass after pass. The stadium was literally rocking...the tier where I was sitting was moving up & down in sync with the stomping feet of the now crazed fans. Todd is slinging the ball with authority, mostly to Mikey Shuler who is playing like an animal. After pulling to 31-27, the Jets move down the field to the 11 yard line. With under ten seconds left on the clock, Todd drops back and hurries a wobbly duck which is easily intercepted by a Bills DB...game over. Season over.
It was but we were terrible that year anyway so it's not like that game cost us something other than the humiliation of being the Panthers first ever win.
YUP all 4 were winnable and that is what hurts the most ... BUT the season hasn't quite ended yet ... If we were to play like we are capable of after the BYE week, and go 6-2 or an dream of 7-1 we can still get into the playoffs and anything is possible at that point ... I am not saying that any of that will happen, but we have seen our defense dominate in 7 of 8 games so far, and it seems if our QB is learning and progressing ... Hopefully he can put together another string of "good" games and NOT give up any touchdowns against our offense
We really need to give Ryan a chance. I love his brash attitude and I can live with the mistakes. No coach is perfect and everyone will F up now and again. Let Rex grow. I've said several times in different posts - this organization needs stability at the HC position. We're a team with one of the highest number of coaches in history and we're only around 50 years! Give Rexy a chance and let him stay. Deal with the problems, the mistakes, even the 4-12 seasons that will eventually come. Coaches like Cowher and Andy Reid had their share of follies - but they hung around the teams and create stability. Isn't it time the Jets were a class act? I think we can be but we need that HC stability. I think Rex is the man and we need to keep him around a while.
I think I was 12 when the Jets lost to the Lions that year with the Leon Johnson option. I remember literally crying after that and saying why do all the teams my friends like make the playoffs but the Jets never do :rofl:.
What coulda been?? We are 8 games in, so this thread could be called what's gonna be?(keep in line with current title) We still have 8 games left and we have a shot to win every single one of those games. I'm still excited about this season and curious to see how Rex gets this team going out of the bye week. A fast start and all these doom and gloom threads will disappear fast.
