As a Jets fan, I have to acknowledge one hard truth. Our team is a mess, especially on the road. The only two teams worse than the Jets on the road are the Browns and the Niners. Other than that, we’re the worst. Now our record is 4-6 and even in the AFC this season, where all you need is a quarterback with a pulse to make the playoffs, our playoff hopes are shot. In fact, our playoff hopes are so shot that it’s a guarantee we lose five of the next six games. Three on the road and three at home. Because the Jets can’t play on the road for their lives, we’re losing all three road games, and two of them (Saints and Patriots) will be blowouts. And no, I don’t care if the Patriots rest their starters, their second team is better than our starters. Going into New Orleans!? Jeeze! Hide the women and children. That’s going to be a sequel to the Mardi Gras massacre. And no, we won’t beat Denver on the road, not because they’re anything more than a big brand but below average team, but because the Jets just SUCK, at pretty much everything, except maybe punting.
Every week I watch them, I learn about even more areas of weakness. Our secondary is awful, our offensive line is awful, the receiving core is awful, and our run game is also quite awful. We’re not good at anything. Against Tampa Bay, the only big plays on defense were when they ran a five-man rush and hopefully either got a sack or a tackle for a loss. God forbid the pass rush let up, the secondary got destroyed by a back-up quarterback. The offensive line was even more embarrassing. Going into the game, Tampa Bay had a total of eight sacks. Against the Jets they had six sacks and McCown was hit 14 times! Brandon Shell, Brian Winters, Wesley Johnson, Kelvin Beachum, and James Carpenter should all be embarrassed. What’s going to happen against Denver? Or any other future opponents for that matter. McCown will get his ribs broken.
The only game that’s a 50-50 win is the Chargers on Christmas Eve. The best Christmas present I can get would be to see them lose. I hope the clubs in New York City are popping the night before and the entire team plays with a massive hangover. Just take some advice from J.R. Smith.
Get out of here with the “we need to win games” nonsense. Why? For what purpose? To continue the revolving door of lousy draft picks, below average QBs, and losing? Do you want to be 90 years old in Del Boca Vista with your pants up to your shoulders still waiting for a five-win team to make the playoffs? Focus on the future, it’s what we need. I’d rather see the Jets win a Super Bowl sometime within the next 50 years.
Josh McCown is 38 years old and he woudn’t even start if he played on at least 29 different teams right now. Worst of all, Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty have no future. The team knows it, but won’t acknowledge it publicly, which explains why they still dress for games, but won’t get cut. My general rule with rookie QBs is that I give them a year to get “ready.” Whatever that means. I don’t buy into this notion that we have to wait for QBs to get Ph.D.s before they can take a snap in the NFL. It’s what the coaching and front office want you to believe, but we all know it’s bogus. Stay woke. If a QB still isn’t “ready” by his third year, he has a future in the Canadian Football League. Peace out bro!
I was never high on Petty. Big 12 QBs? No thanks. Big 12 QBs are the most spoiled bunch of college quarterbacks who are all destined to fail in the NFL, that’s just a scientific fact at this point. Sort of like how gravity keeps us from floating and and we need oxygen to breathe, just consider Big 12 QBs failing in the NFL to be in the same category.
As far as Hackenberg goes, I had more hope in him than in Petty, because he was at least a pro-style QB and was an inherited recruit from James Franklin. I like James Franklin, but fit certainly matters and he just didn’t fit James Franklin’s system. When’s the last time you saw a pro-style college QB in Urban Meyer’s system? HOWEVER, if Hackenberg, in his second year, still isn’t “ready” to start over a 38-year-old washed up scrub, then he probably won’t ever be “ready,” especially not with the Jets who aren’t known for grooming franchise QBs. The Jets and Browns set QB standards 50 feet lower than the rest of the league. Mark Sanchez is a franchise QB by these standards; the 30 other teams set the bar a bit higher. For Hackenberg to not even reach the Jets QB standards should make Jet fans from New Jersey to Long Island to Connecticut all panic.
We need to see what we can get in the draft. First, we’re going to need to dump at least two of the three QBs we have like toxic waste, and Mike Maccagnan better do his homework on evaluating QBs, unlike last year when he passed on DeShaun Watson, who turned out to be an “A” prospect.
This year, it’s a tossup between Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold (if he enters the draft), and Josh Allen, the QB at Wyoming. I like Allen the best. I watched my first Wyoming game Saturday night when Catholics vs Convicts reached garbage time and I had my eye on Allen, and I actually liked him. He can play in cold weather and carries the team. I tend to like QBs from small, cold weather schools, more than California schools. Most of the time, Southern California QBs can’t play in cold weather, they’re just too “California.” QBs who go to power five schools who play against lousy defenses, are behind elite offensive lines, play in warm weather and are able to throw to 4 different 5-star receivers in an air-raid offense are generally not cut out for the NFL, especially a team in a Northern division. Look at how often college QBs become stars in the NFL who came from small schools. Nobody even knew who Carson Wentz was before the 2016 draft. Now, he’s the man of the hour in Philly. Too bad Andy Reid isn’t still coaching them.
Moral of the column, continue losing and keep an eye on Josh Allen.
