For the last week, everyone here seems to be in a state of shock/denial about the Jets performance. Posters just can't seem to fathom why this team is underachieving. Well, has anybody considered that maybe they had a little run of overachieving. Let's look at the evidence: Exhibit A: The 2007 Jets were 4-10. They were a horrific mess. Exhibit B: The Jets made a major overhaul in the offseason. Exhibit C: The pre-bye games (Jets go 2-2). These games included a loses to a struggling Chargers team and NE with Brad Cassell starting his first NFL game. Exhibit D: The post-bye illusion (Jets go 4-1). These games included wins against three putrid team....Cincinnati, KC (and barely won this one), and St. Louis. And the Jets LOST to Oakland. Exhibit E: NE & Tenn (Jets go 2-0). These were the games that sent expectations soaring. While the NE win was cathartic, people seem to forget that despite jumping out to a big lead, the Jets blew the lead, managed to regain it, lost the lead again, and were fortunate to win in OT. If they played that same game 10 times, I'd be surprised if the Jets won more than 3 times. Looking at the Tennessee game it appears that this may have been the anomaly....the game where the team played over its head. While it is a difficult pill to swallow for Jets fans, maybe the Titans did indeed have an off game. Exhibit F: The last 2 weeks (Jets go 0-2). They have played horrible these last two weeks. Against Denver it was partly the weather, but they flat out got beat by a good, but inconsistent team. There is no excuse for the SF game, unless maybe the Jets aren't as good as their record indicates. I'm not saying that the Jets are a crap team. I'm saying they are a rebuilding team. If you were told at the beginning of the season that we would finish 9-7 or 10-6 with a shot at the playoffs, most of us would be thrilled. I think this team is what it is....an inconsistent team that has improved over where they were last year, but is not ready to make the move to the next level. Unfortunately, the Favre situation puts a lot of uncertainty into which direction we go next season. I'm not excusing the coaching staff or the players. I'm only suggesting that maybe a few breaks went our way in the season and inflated us to a better record than we should be. They are better than last year, but just not ready for the big time. DbJ
No team is perfect... but good teams have ways of masking their inadequacies. The Titans are clearly one of the best teams. We are clearly NOT better than the Titans. We were on that day, but that's history now. I think we have too many weaknesses to be a playoff team: 1. No deep threat 2. No pass rush 3. Poor pass defense (obviously 2 and 3 are related)
Thank you. We never were that good of a team. We have no injuries compared to other teams and we played a joke schedule. We are still a year away from being a very good team. Tannenbaum/Mangini are trying to build a team that is good every year. Not just a 2 year run and then salary cap hell. The biggest issue I see with this team is the Mangini/Sutton defense and the linebackers/safeties. Mangini is running Belicheck's defense through Bob Sutton. The goal of the defense is to be able to get pressure with 4 and drop 7 and never let a receiver get behind you. the 3 linebackers that do not blitz are expected to play a mix of zone and man in the middle of the field against the opposing teams tight end and running backs. Our linebackers with the exception of Harris and Pace can not cover anyone. Because Abraham Elam is just an absolutely horrible deep safety the Jets have to leave Rhodes 15-20 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Rhodes is probably the best player on the Jets and to have him playing centerfield most plays is just a waste. The defense works if you have the right players but we don't. The 3-4 is built for the linebackers and the safeties. The linebackers have to be dynamic. On any play they have to rush the QB/drop into a zone/stop the run. What I would like to see this off season regardless of what happens this year is that we hire Rob Ryan. Whether the Raiders let him go is a good question but if we can get him I feel he can take this defense where we want it to go. I think he would give us a swagger and make our defense be the aggressor and dictate the style of play. We have a very nice core on defense to build around. Revis, Rhodes, Lowery, Harris, Pace, Jenkins and Ellis are all very good players.
I agree... But what's really bugs is that these are the same problems the Jets had at the end of last year. Why weren't these issues being addressed by that crack staff front office.
Because those are only some of the same problems we had last year. Our worst problems we fixed (O and D lines). But we still have some work to do.
We're a good, but not great team. Most teams like that finish 10-6. Unfortunately, that record probably won't get us in the playoffs this year, but did get the New York Giants in last year. The Giants didn't really get hot until the final regular season game and that was in a loss.
Note about the NE Game: NE tied it up, they never took the lead (meaning, the jets never tied it up, they were tied or had the lead the entire second half). It was NE who tied it up, then we drove and took the lead back, then it was NE on the last play of regulation that tied it up again. Then, it was us who got the ball first and drove in for the wining FG.
you very well may be right, these next three games will tell. I fear you may very well be right though. We will see.
NE got back in the game mostly because Magini took the foot off the petal on offense. Favre was on, the chemistry was flowing that game. Your other points are valid though.
We might not be AS good as we thought but where still a solid unit who's at its low right now. 3 Games to go and where tied for 1st in the AFC East. Not the best spot we thought we would be in after destroying Tennessee but where the Jets and nothing will ever come easy for us. Lets pick our balls up and knock these next 3 assholes in the mouth and win out.
Does anyone really see this team going in Baltimore or Pittsburgh and winning...? I don't... I just don't think they are tough enough to gut out a win against a top notch defense..
I think that any potential matchup in the playoffs the Jets have a real chance. Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Tennessee, and even Indianapolis don't have prolific passing games. Denver would worry me again. And maybe Indy if Manning has all day to find Wayne and Harrison. Don't want to get ahead of ourselves, though. There's a huge game vs Buffalo this week that we must not be flat in.
to be technical, the Jets would have to win the division to make the playoffs. That means Baltimore would come to the meadowlands. But PIT would be at their place. But no, at this point those are both losses. The Colts maybe, but Manning is going to need to have an off day. In terms of toughness - I think the Jets are the most soft bellied division leader in the NFL right now.
We went into Tennessee and beat them. You want to talk top notch defenses? Points allowed: Steelers: 183 Titans: 184 Ravens: 200 Tennessee's defense is right up there. We also beat the #8 scoring defense on the road in Miami, though obviously that's not as impressive as the others. :finssuck:ricky williams
At the start of the year I thought of us as an OK team and I still think that is all we are, I got a bit over excited following our purple patch but now we seem to be heading to where most people expected us to be, an 8-8 team. This should not come as a surprise to anyone - the Jets are the most consistently mediocre team in sports
We just don't play at a high level consistently. We play to the level of our opponent. When we went into that Titans game we were facing one of the best, if not THE best, teams in the NFL and we knew we had to bring our A++ game to win -- and we did. Then we played the Broncos and thought that we SHOULD win that game and not that we had to go out there and battle for it. We lost. Despite losing the previous week, we thought that we SHOULD win against a crappy 49ers team and we went out there and played a very bad game all-around. We lost. For these next 3 games we need to go out there and battle. These 3 opponents are the difference between making it to the playoffs and sitting at home in January. We need to fight for it. We need to earn it. Our record isn't good enough anymore to compare it to our opponents and say "We are better than them, we should be able to win on Sunday". Maybe now we will wake the hell up. The coaching staff especially.
