Monday night, the Jets played a road game against a hated division rival (looking to knock us out of the playoff race) in horrible weather and field conditions. A victory in those circumstances, no matter how it is achieved, is an accomplishment for a team coming off of a 4 win season. The Jets and Jets fans should be proud of this hard-fought victory. Last time I checked in the standings, there is no column for "ugly wins" or "pretty loses"...just Ws and Ls. This Sunday is a tremendous opportunity to wash away both the stink of the Herm years and the franchise's years of missed/wasted opportunities. If Mangini's Jets are who they say and believe they are, they will go out Sunday and step on the Raiders throat and seize that playoff spot. I freely admit that I thought the Jets were AT BEST an 8-8 team if everything broke their way. I fully admit that I was wrong. They are a better team than 8-8...because the sum of this team is greater than its individual parts. I think it is fair to say that this Sunday's game...a game where the Jets can win/in without any help...has the potential to define the Mangini Jets. I fully expect the Jets to come out Sunday and take care of business against the Raiders...just like they did against Miami. That expectation/confidence is a far cry from the past 5 years where Herm was waiting for someone to hand the Jets the playoff bid. And most importantly...I believe in this team for the first time in a very long time.
I am with you all the way on the Raider game. In the case of being wrong at 8-8, I also went with that number at the beginning of the year. In this case, it is wonderful to be wrong; as a fan you love this stuff. The early indications fo rthe weather on New Years Eve are continued mild. We will be in a Sotherly flow of of air with no rain till much later in the evening, if at all, and more likely on New Year's Day. This is critical because we did witness how bad weather can be really tough on Chad as it would anybody. The weather will be on our side so I do not anticipate Chad having difficulty establishing a passing game as long as we can feed off of the run. We must have a reliable running game against the Raiders or the game will be much more difficult. Raiders are 1st against the pass and 27th against the run. We need to be able to run. Now this statistic may also be very misleading. If everyone can run on you than there is not as much need to pass. If your Offense stinks, and Oakland's is just stinko (bring's back memories of how we were last year), that means that other teams are usually costing by the 4th quarter with virtually no chance of losing the game. Hence, you would run the ball here more to kill time instead of pass. I think Cedric Houston may be back this week. If so, I hope it helps because Barlow is just a little short of where we need to be at that position. We really need a punishing power back like a Beattis type of guy (wish for 2007 draft; in round 3 or later).
It would help to get an early lead so we can run on them and not be forced to throw. My only concern is does this team come out of the gate a little nervous or tight. I'm thinking we'll get an early score or two be up around 10 points at halftime and it'll hold steady all the way through. Maybe a 23-10 final or so.
Yes. I expect them to move like a pack of wolves and demolish the raiders the same way they did against GB in '02. Once the Jets found out that game was win and in, everyone in that game was so fired up and in sync it was scary. I"ve never seen anything like that and I hope to see it again Sunday. Watch out, Raiders. You'll be lucky to come within 13 points if the Jets do what they are capable of this week.
Blowout win. The Raiders players will be more concerned with where they are going to party after the game then the game itself.
I hoping we threw the bad boys black & silver Raiders from one end of the swamp to the other. NO MERCY!
I expect us to come out like angry dogs. If we establish a two score lead the Raiders will be in off season mood for the rest of the game. If we let them hang around they might play the string out and they do have some playmakers on D.
I thought if we got a LOT of if's on our side, like if Chad can play, if our 2 top picks in offensive linemen have strong rookie years, if Mangini turns out to be a great coach, if Curtis can come back and play some (!), then we will go 8-8. Most of those if's came through, and we are at the doorstep of 10-6 and the playoffs. It's truly unbelievable. I love this
only thing that scares me is the weather is calling for rain -- i hate rain -- our offense is so timing based that rain just messes up the entire flow -- that is why us against the colts is a nice match up sine weather is a non factor
