I didn't write us off. I said we are going to have to be blessed. There is a difference between understanding you are going to need a lot of breaks to win games and beleiving you have a dominant team that is destined to win. If we turn out to be the surprise team this year then cool.
Really, if we start 0-5 it's going to get really ugly and I don't mean on this board. The media will be in a frenzy calling out Ryan, Johnson will be livid because he can't sell a '10 seat or PSL to save his life and I wouldn't be surprised if Tannenbaum was fired mid-season.
We have some huge obstacles but you can easily fool yourself into believing the rest of the league isn't full of mediocrity that is as equally full of holes as the NY Jets. I don't see a great year in terms of wins and losses but it wouldn't surprise me if we suck less than 10 to 15 other NFL teams you couple that with some luck and who knows?
I think the seat sales / PSLs are overrated... the Giants are largely publicly viewed as a contender for the NFC East (I don't believe that either)... and they're having just as hard a time selling seats as the Jets... plus they have a Super Bowl victory recently... I really think the ticket sales are directly attributable to the economy and skyrocketing prices.
Genius statement. Of course it wouldn't matter why the Jets went 0-5, clearly the record alone would show that Rex Ryan is a poor mans Josh McDaniels. Try supporting your statement?
I think Pace being out is a big factor in that game. NO has such a great offense that it actually puts pressure not only on opposing defenses, but on opposing offenses to keep pace as well. I know Sanchez has looked good, but that's a lot of pressure on a young QB. Finally, and this is the biggest thing, is that the game is in a dome. That is probably the biggest factor tipping the scales in the favor of NO.
They are, no doubt, but if you add onto that a team that looks as bad as the Raiders then you have no chance at all.
Well, assuming the Jets look as bad as the Raiders, then yeah... the stadium will be as empty as the Kotite era.
There's truth to everything you've said, but the other side of that story is that New Orleans defense is very below average, and the Saints are chronic underachievers. They've been one of those teams that has talent but never can quite seem to put it all together. They've been futile but people think they're sexy because of the offense. I really think a majority of football fans underrate defense horribly.
The whole rookie QB thing is being overblown here too. The reason they usually do so bad is that first of all they are high first round picks or they wouldn't have a chance to start anyway. They are high first round picks because their team sucked the year before. They were 1-15, 2-14 or 3-13 at best. Addinf a QB to a 3-13 team doesn't make the team much better. The Jets didn't suck last year at all. They were 8-3 at one point and probably could have made the playoffs if Favre wasn't hurt. They got a top 1st round pick because they gave away a 1st, a 2nd, a 5th(?) and 3 players to do it. This isn't the same thing.
Drew Brees, the defense, a pretty good ground attack. It's a pretty good team they have. Of course, they're like the Jets though, where one year they come out looking like world-beaters, and the next year they lay eggs. I think they're a legit playoff team though. ----------- BTW, to those who keep saying losing Haynesworth is bigger than losing Favre, we lost Favre and Coles. Coles had 7 catches for 88 yards in last year's game. Cotchery? 6 for 55 yards. And for those that don't remember, we all bitched about it at the time, but hindsight clears the vision a bit. Everyone said after the Titans game that they just played us poorly, not that we truly beat them.
As a Giants fan that was brought up during the 80s, I very much appreciate defense. I firmly believe that a great defensive unit will always best a great offensive unit (and saw this belief validated to my dismay in SB 35 and to my delight in SB 42). Having said that I think the Saints offense is capable of scoring against the Jets because they go spread often and have so damn many pass catching options that they will be able to take advantage of the Eric Smith's and Donald Stirckland's of the secondary. And while I fully expect the Jets to be able to run on the Saints, I think they will eventually fall behind and have to rely more on Sanchez and I question if he has the experience and offensive weapons (save for Leon) to carry the team to victory. I will concede that this does assume the Saints play up to their abilities, but that game will be their first game back home in 2 weeks and I think they will open that offense up once they are back indoors.
Granted it's only preseason, but that's all we can base anything on right now, and NO has the lowest number of yards surrendered on the ground in '09. Sure, they give up a shitton of yards in the air, but will we be airing it out so early in Sanchez's first campaign? If Schotty does it, I'll be quite impressed. They're also surrendering the 3rd fewest points per game. That's not very below average. :wink:
