The media was 100% on the Jets bandwagon after the third game this year and then the Jets did what they always do. They will have to get to the SB to have any chance of them jumping back on again.
I am not making an excuse for the members of the media who express skepticism about the Jets, but in fairness to them, the ones whose beat is the whole league by definition are not following the team as closely as several posters here do, not by a long shot. From that more removed vantage point, how would the Jets look to even the most openminded (but neutral) observer? While as others have noted it's not just this season that they have been skeptical, let's start by looking at this recent history of this year. I think in fact there was a lot of hype going around in the national media after the 3-0 start, and the possiblity that Sanchez was going to fit into this team with a lot of proven starters without any problems, Ryan was an overnight success as HC, and on and on. All that changed for obvious reasons when the team proceeded to lose six of its next seven games, and those who took account of those facts of course also had to conclude the original hype of the 3-0 start was if not completely misplaced at least in need of substantial revision. As we discussed here, amongst ourselves. Well, those not focusing on the Jets as much as many here do were probably more inclined to see the team with less subtlety, as a team that may have had promise at first, but were heading down the toilet. Again, as we did, or many did, here, including some wondering in that direction myself. Move forward to the last five weeks of the season, and of course there's alot going on elsewhere in the league. To see the Jets proceed to first win three in a row, leading up the Atlanta game, was not enough to put the Jets on anyone's list of prospects of real contenders, at leat to those who had in effect already written off the team. In fact as we all thought at the time, they would probably have to win out to get in, and was that realistic? And then there was the loss to Atlanta... At that point, who knew the other teams the Jets were up against, Miami, Pitt, Jville, would all fold while the Jets beat previously undefeated Indy and playoff bound Cincy? And of course I, like I assume some or even most here, am not going to assume the Jets are now going to the Super Bowl, despite having our hopes raised by the way the team bounced back from the Atlanta loss. So, really, what do we expect of most of the media at this point? What I expect after this week is that if Cincy plays hard, plays all its starters, and still loses to the Jets, we will almost certainly see a significant change in media comments. Myself I don't really care what the media says, but for those who do, perhaps the foregoing might help...
