Keidel: There's A Lot To Like About The Jets -- Playoffs Or Not
By Jason Keidel
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While Rex Ryan ruins another New York team, the Jets find themselves in a place they couldn't reach with their former head coach during his final four-year spiral out of the Big Apple.
The Jets, not the Giants, are the Tri-State's best football team. And unlike Big Blue, Gang Green has a shot at the playoffs.
What's good about this season, besides the obvious bona fides of 9-5? They have a head coach in Todd Bowles that runs the locker room, who doesn't let someone like Santonio Holmes detonate the team, and doesn't belch a hollow Super Bowl guarantee every year. They have a general manager in Mike Maccagnan that traded for both Brandon Marshall and Ryan Fitzpatrick, and drafted Leonard Williams, without whom the Jets would not be in their festive position.
There are endless playoff permutations, even with just two games left. The Broncos can now lose the AFC West; the Colts could well lose the AFC South; and the Jets could be an 11-5 wild card team.
Or not. We'll just have to wait and see.
The Jets can't win the AFC East, which feels like a yearly precondition of life in a division with the Patriots, whom the Jets play this weekend. The Pats have already clinched and have a first-round bye, and seem well on their way to making Foxboro the gateway to the Super Bowl.
And, for myriad reasons -- from SpyGate to Eric Mangini to Ryan's endless refusals to kiss Bill Belichick's ring(s) -- the Patriots never need to summon incentive to win a game at the Meadowlands, where Belichick made his name, crafted his game, and left the Jets in a lurch way back when.
But if you told Jets fans back at the beginning of the regular season that they had a long shot at 11 wins and a good shot at 10, especially right after presumed starter Geno Smith had his jaw cracked by a teammate in August, they would have jumped into your arms.
Maybe the Jets aren't great at anything, but they are pretty good at everything. And the Saturday night game against the Cowboys is one that the old Jets would have blown.
The Jets are second in the NFL against the rush, yielding just 82.8 yards per game, and are fifth overall (322.8 YPG). Their defensive line is as ornery as any in the sport, and Maccagnan just needs to shore up spots here and there this offseason to have all the makings of a tremendous defense again next season.
The average age of players on the Jets' offense is 29, a little long in the tooth by NFL standards. Fitzpatrick, 33, isn't a franchise QB, so the Jets will have to mine the draft for one, but they've scored at least 30 points four times this season, something they only did three times in two years under former offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. It speaks to stability, consistency, and competency.
Of course, the Jets have to slay two gridiron ghosts to get to that magical, 11-win milepost and perhaps a chance to keep playing into January. And while the Bills in Week 17 are the more palatable opponent, it won't be easy to win in arctic Buffalo, with Rex looking for consolation prizes, as has become his custom since he last led the Jets to the playoffs in 2010.
But the Jets are assured a winning record, something they haven't had in years. They have an identity, something they haven't had in years. And they have a competent GM and head coach, something that should make Jets Nation giddy this Christmas.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
