Same Ol' Same Ol'

September 2, 2011

2011 New York Jets Season Preview

The fan of the 2011 New York Jets is an interesting creature. He has seen his team reach the penultimate game of the NFL season for the last two years. Some people might say that he has been spoiled by such recent success, and they might have a point if they have no grasp of the history of this franchise. For the long-suffering Jets fan, this recent success has come at the price of drowning in mediocrity for most of the last 30 years. Although they call the largest media market in the United States home, the Jets have perennially played second fiddle to the more established, more storied, and simply, more successful New York Giants. Multiple losing seasons (1-15, 3-15, 6-10 win-loss records have been the norm more so than outliers) have jaded fans so much so that any glimmer of success has been accompanied by an impeding anticipation of disaster. So while the past few trips to the AFC championship game have definitely provided hope and small sense of pride to the supporters of the Green and White, most fans over the age of 20 have learned not to build their hopes too high. For years, the phrase that would come to most fans to describe their squad would be “Same Ol' Jets” (or “Just End The Season”, if they were masochistic and had a hankering for acronyms). Starting quarterback injured on the first drive of the first game of the season? Same ol' Jets. Using your first pick in the NFL draft on a kicker? Same ol' Jets. Having the first player in the history of the NFL to win the Comeback Player of the Year award twice because he suffered season-ending injuries twice? Same ol' Jets. High draft picks like Blair Thomas and Vernon Gholston being claimed “savior” and never even sniffing the hype thrust upon them? Yep... same ol' Jets.

This most recent incarnation of the Jets, however, has given its fan base a new outlook on their team. Third-year head coach Rex Ryan has turned the football punchline of New York into a consistent winner. The first draft pick of his tenure, QB Mark Sanchez, has displayed a penchant for late-game heroics, and he has formed his defense into one of the most feared units in the league. Between the acquisitions of big-name playmakers (RB LaDanian Tomlinson, LB Bart Scott, and CB Antonio Cromartie among others) and classic press conference soundbites (“I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick's rings”), Ryan has created a team with the talent and motivation to compete for a championship.

The 2011 team enters the season looking to continue on the success of back-to-back trips to conference championships. With the exception of DE Shaun Ellis, replaced in the offseason by rookie DE Muhammad Wilkerson, the defense returns its entire starting lineup. This continuity in Ryan's complex defensive scheme will ensure that the Jets remain at the top of the league in defensive efficiency. Star CB Darrelle Revis, hampered by a hamstring injury early in the 2010 season, comes into the year completely healthy and ready to lead his team. His take: “Last year holding out and coming in late, yeah, my game wasn’t where it needed to be. The first two games and then I pulled the hamstring against Randy [Moss], and then I came back too early. I wasn’t 100 percent, but that’s no excuse; I wanted to be out on the field and play. I picked up the second half of the season and finished strong, but this year is kind of like a revenge thing: I’m coming back and I’m coming back strong.” Along with veterans Scott, S Jim Leonard, and LB David Harris, the Jets should make good on that promise of revenge.

While the defense is clearly the strength of the team, an improved offense is going to determine if the Jets can improve on past years' successes. Ryan has continually espoused the philosophy that the key to success in the league, along with a stellar defense, is an offense which can control the tempo of the game with an efficient and bruising running attack. To that end, the Jets' offense has been an complete success; statistically, it has been the most dominant unit in the league under Ryan's tenure (averaging 2565 rushing yards in the past two seasons). In order to prevent teams from using that obvious run-bias to their advantage, the Jets have also made it a point to improve their passing game as well. Sanchez has organized multiple team activities over the last two offseasons to improve his rapport with his receivers, and working WR Santonio Holmes and the underrated TE Dustin Keller at his “Jets West” camps have clearly helped with his development. In addition, the Jets replaced WRs Jerricho Cotchery and Brad Smith with WRs Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason, reasoning that adding experience (Burress and Mason have a combined 23 years in the league and over 19,000 receiving yards) can further increase the firepower of the Jets passing attack.

A strong, if not slightly insane head coach, stability on a top-tier defense, a more potent offense, and the best special teams coach in the NFL (ST coach Mike Westhoff has made the names Leon Washington and Brad Smith synonymous with “kick return studs”) give fans of the New York Jets a serious reason to believe that their team will once again be a serious contender for the AFC crown. Sure, the Patriots bring back an all-time great QB Tom Brady, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens are regular participants in the postseason, and the Chargers finished last year with the top-ranked offense and defense, but Ryan said it best last season: “Yeah, same ol' Jets... going to the AFC championship two years in a row.”...

...Third time's a charm, right?

(cross published at FnB.com)

love/hate

AP - Vinny Testaverde, who spent some of his best NFL seasons with the New York Jets, is set to rejoin the team to replace Chad Pennington, lost for the season with a shoulder injury.

"Only a fool breaks his own heart..."
-Julio Iglesias

I've been a Jets fan for as long as I can remember. Our fam got the season tickets when I was 2, and I started going to the games regularly when I was about 8. In case you're not really a football fan, I'll give you a little inside info. The Jets haven't been to the Superbowl since 1969. For the 80s and most of the 90s, they were one of the worst (if not the worst) franchises in the league. As it turns out, though, attending games on those 8 sundays a year was great. The games were horrendous, but our pre-game (and occasional post-game) tailgates were amazing. It wasn't even a matter of liking the Jets; in fact, I probably would've said that I hated them, but I loved the Jets game experience. If I was ever bored during the week, or sad about something, I knew that on Sunday morning, we'd be heading out to the Meadowlands at 10:00 for an awesome tailgating party. We had seven tickets, and as bad as the Jets played, we'd almost always have seven people ready cheer them on. The tailgates were so much fun (and had such good food) that we'd sometimes get other family members or friends to come out to the games just for the pre-game party; once it was time to go into the stadium, the extra tailgaters would head home. Fun times.

1997, however, was where rooting for the Jets went from being a fun fall activity to a serious emotional commitment. After being the laughing stock of pro-sports teams in the NY/NJ area for my entire lifetime, the Jets acquired Bill Parcells, arguably the best head coach in the history of the NFL. He won two Super Bowls with the Giants, and just a few years later led the Patriots to big game. It was time to actually care about how the team played. Their first season under Parcells, they were 9-7 (a winning season? what is that?). The next season, they went 12-4 and made it to within one game of the Super Bowl. Most fans would consider those two seasons "mediocre" or "pretty good" at best, but for a Jets fan, those are the kinds of season that one could only dream about. The success of those couple seasons taught Jets fans (or at least, this Jets fan) to love. We didn't have to see the tailgate parties as the sole reason for being a ticketholder; we could look forward to going to the actual games, too. We could get emotionally invested in the team, because we knew that they weren't the terrible pushovers that we'd grown up with. They were willing to play good football, and we were willing to believe in them. I could honestly say it for the first time: I loved the Jets.

And then, like most relationships, we hit a rough patch. In 1999, our starting quarterback was hurt in the first game of the season. It hurt a little bit, but we knew that he'd be back for next season. In 2000, Parcells stepped down as our head coach, but stayed with the team in an administrative role. While not optimal, we ended the season with a winning record, and it was easy to keep the faith; we were still on solid footing. In 2001, we brought in new head coach, and while we made the playoffs, we lost in a somewhat embarassing first round game. In 2002, we just squeaked into the playoffs and didn't do particularly well, but we were introduced to a Mr. Chad Pennington, and received a glimpse of a potentially glorious future. In 2003, the heartache became a little more intense, when the boys in Green fell back to their first losing season since 1996, due to a combination of injuries and and an inconsistent offense. In 2004, we had our most succesful season since '98, and even though our team had talent, that same thread of inconsistency from the 80s came back, and they weren't able to take advantage of making the playoffs. Throughout all of these years, although the team wasn't nearly as bad has it's known to have been, there were little signs here and there that all wasn't well in Jetsdom. They would play well enough to get our hopes up, and then lose in such a terrible way that we would hate ourselves for caring so much about 22 guys who run around for 3 hours a week. The fact that they were almost good, and yet not even close to being great, was painful. I wanted to love them. I'd been waiting all of my life to find a love like this. And yet, I couldn't help but hate them for the pain they'd caused.

And now, the sky is falling. Chad's not injured, but he missed training camp so he's a little rusty. Well, Chad's arm is a little sore, but it's nothing serious. Oh, Chad's arm is sore, we're going to take him out of the game, but we'll put him back in at the end of the game. Um, yeah... Chad is going to have season-ending surgery, and the two quarterbacks at our disposal now are a kid who hasn't taken more than 20 snaps in a live game, and a 42-yr-old dude getting ready to apply for Social Security. Terrible. I hate them. There is no reason to have any confidence in this team. All the experts say they're terrible. They're in the same division in as the reigning champion New England Patriots. And the emotional leader of the offense is out for the season. There is no logical reason to divert any physical or emotional effort towards this sorry collection of bums.

...and if you're looking for me this Sunday, I'll be the one at the Sports Depot, dressed up in all green, rooting for those no-talent ass-clowns to take it to the Ravens.

...I guess that's love.