Ray Lucas On WFAN: There's No Way Jets Will Tank Games
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Former Jets quarterback Ray Lucas says any fan who wants Gang Green to tank this season doesn't understand how football players are wired.
"There's grown men in that building, in the Jets facility, and I'm not going to go sweat and bleed with somebody just to go out and lay an egg," the SNY analyst told WFAN's Mike Francesa on Friday. "We're just not built that way.
"Football players are a little crazy anyway to start out with. But when we get on that field, if there's somebody with a different color jersey, we just want to kill them. We just want to come out with the victory.
Expectations are low for the Jets this season. Some fans would like to see the team finish with the league's worst record so they can have the first pick in next year's draft and select a quarterback such as USC's Sam Darnold, UCLA's Josh Rosen or Wyoming's Josh Allen.
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But Lucas used his own story in 1999 to illustrate how players can sometimes surprise.
"Are the Jets young? Yes," he said. "Do they have quarterback questions? Of course. Do they have offensive line questions? Yes. Do they need wide receiver help? Of course. But if you buy into the system, there was a time when (then-Jets coach Bill) Parcells, when we were 1-6 and he said, 'I'm putting this kid in. I don't care if we lose every game.' And we found a way to win some games."
The Jets finished 8-8 that season.
To listen to the interview, in which Lucas also discusses the Sheldon Richardson trade, the Jets QBs and more, click on the audio player above.