The New York Jets Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves!

 Every season, fans of New York Jets are always excited. Week one of the season is the time when Jets' fans talk the most trash. They don't talk trash without reasoning. Almost every year, Jets' team is loaded with good young players with lots of energy. Those players give the fans hope for taking their team deep into the playoffs. Then after four weeks into the season, it seems like that maybe the fans were right as their Jets are either 3-1 or 2-2 after highly contested games. After that, the Jets go on a seven-game stretch in which they lose five or six games. With such a stretch, they get to have a losing record, pretty much lose any hopes of making it to the playoffs, and then they start hating on the Patriots and their success. If you live here in New York and you are watching NFL playoffs, then during the commercials every now and then you get to see New York Jets promoting tickets for next year. When I first saw that commercial I laughed really hard, but when I got to see it again and again, I got really upset with the New York Jets' franchise. I think to myself that the Jets missed the playoffs badly and now they are hyping up the fans for next season. Do they even care that their fans are extremely upset with how their season ended? How in the world could the New York Jets and their fans be thrilled for next season during the time when twelve other teams are competing for a Super Bowl title?

  In the last twenty years, the New York Jets have made it to the playoffs only seven times. In the same twenty-year span, the Jets have won ten or more games only seven times. A team that appears in the playoffs only 35 percent of the time and wins double-digit games only thirty percent in a twenty-year span is considered an awful team. Such a team is run by bad management and ownership. You can't blame just one general manager or a coach or a quarterback for the Jets being so awful for so long. Several general managers have come and gone. Several coaches have come and gone. Several quarterbacks and players at other key players have come and gone. A lot of talented players have been selected by the Jets in the draft or brought in via free agency. The team is never consistent. What is wrong with this franchise? They are not as bad as the Cleveland Browns or the Buffalo Bills, but they are not that much better than them. The Jets are easily the seventh or eighth worst team in the league in the last ten years. They are the New York Knicks of the NFL. The other New York team, the New York Giants have been bad too, but at least in the past ten years, they have  Super Bowl titles to show for. The Jets have always been considered little brothers to the Giants. Could this ever change?

How bad were the Jets from 2000-2010?

From 2000-2010, the AFC conference was dominated by three teams. The New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Indianapolis Colts were three teams who constantly appeared in the playoffs and were always in contention of winning the Super Bowl. The thirteen other teams in the conference switch spots every year or so. New York Jets, however, did actually good in those ten years as they appeared in the playoffs six times. From 2000-2010, the Jets were respectable and had great players on both sides of the ball for most of the decade. For the first seven years in the 2000s, the Jets had a very good quarterback with Chad Pennington. New York Jets in the first-round of the 2000 draft selected Pennington from Marshall. After he was drafted, the Jets made four appearances in the playoffs in seven years. He was the starting quarterback in three of those four postseason trips. Most of the time, Pennington was consistent for the Jets. If it wasn't for the injuries, he could have had a much longer career with the Jets than he actually did. After a very mediocre season in 2007 in which the Jets finished 4-12, Pennington received his walking papers. First, it seemed like the right move because the Jets had acquired Brett Favre in a trade. Favre even with his old age was a better option at quarterback than Chad Pennington was. However, bringing in Favre to replace Pennington was the point which started inconsistency at the quarterback position for the Jets.

  Chad Pennington was the Jets starting quarterback for seven years from 2001-07. Since 07, no quarterback for the New York Jets has started more than four seasons. Brett Favre was the starting quarterback for one year in 2008. Mark Sanchez was the starting quarterback for the Jets for four years from 2009-2012. Geno Smith was the starting quarterback for the Jets for two years from 2013 to 2014. Then came the man from Harvard, Ryan Fitzpatrick who was supposed to be a back quarterback to Geno Smith, ended up playing as the starting quarterback for two years from 2015 to 2016. Finally, last year it was the ageless Josh McCown who was the Jets' starting quarterback. Since Pennington left New York for Miami Dolphins, five quarterbacks have started for the Jets in the last ten years, and no one knows for sure who's going to start for the New York Jets next year.

What have the Jets done since 2010?

  From 2009 to 2010, New York Jets had become a legitimate team that went deep into the playoffs. They went back to back AFC Title games with Mark Sanchez at quarterback, a solid running game, and a very good defense that featured Darrelle Revis in his prime. Since the Jets' last trip to the AFC Title game in 2010, they have missed the playoffs for seven straight years. Meaning, in this decade between 2011-2020, the Jets haven't made one playoff appearance yet. We only have three years left in this decade, and if the Jets don't clear their act and put together a team with chemistry, they will certainly go one full decade without making it to the playoffs. How in the world a team based in New York doesn't make it to the playoffs at least once in ten years? So much is expected from a New York team, yet the Jets provide the least amount of success to all their fans and supporters.

  So far in this decade, Jets have been very up and down with their record. Sometimes they get to finish the year with an 8-8 record, sometimes they finish the year with a 10-6 record and still missing the playoffs, and sometimes they end the year with the worst record in the division with only three to four wins. Last year during training camp and pre-season, the New York Jets were expected to go 0-16 or at max have two wins in the season so then they could actually start their rebuild. Guess what they did in the first five weeks of the season? They went 3-2, tied the Patriots for the best record in the division, and were trying to compete for a spot in the playoffs. Guess what happened after that? For the remainder of the season, the Jets went 2-9 and finished the year at the bottom of the division and with a similar record (5-11) as they did in the prior year. The Jets can't even lose the right way. I have never been a fan of tanking, but if you don't have any talent and the team doesn't have chemistry at all, you should try to acquire as many high draft picks as possible, and look for a player or two to build your franchise around for the next five to ten years.

What could the Jets do in the 2018 draft to make themselves respectable again?

  The 2018 draft is about less than three weeks away and the Jets own the third overall pick. Jets didn't have the third overall pick by the end of the year. They had the sixth overall pick, but then they decided to give a couple of second-round picks this year and another one from next year to the Indianapolis Colts, so then they could move up only three spots. Giving up so much to move three spots in the draft is actually a very bone-headed move, especially when the team didn't even move up to the number one pick in the draft. New York Jets gave up three second-round picks to select a quarterback in the draft. They really think they could get their quarterback with the third overall pick. But, what if the Buffalo Bills decide to move up to number one or number two overall and select the quarterback which the Jets are looking for? What if the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants with their number one and number two picks select quarterbacks and one of them is the quarterback who the Jets really want to select? You don't move up to number three overall a month before the draft and act like you could still get the best quarterback in the draft.

 

  All in all, New York Jets need a franchise quarterback to become a good team for the next five to ten years. Let's just say if the quarterbacks are indeed taken with the first two picks in the draft, Jets could still find a good quarterback with the third overall pick (just probably not the one they are looking for). This draft is a loaded quarterback draft and once the Jets take a top three quarterback with the third overall pick, they should use this 2018 draft and the next two drafts to build around the young quarterback. New York Jets should focus on getting good players on the offensive line so then they could keep their quarterback safe and give him time to make decisions. Jets should also look for a good young running back who could take some burden off the quarterback, as the quarterback is going to deal with tough NFL defenses in his first two to three years.

  The Jets don't need to make splash moves to become a good team. The only splash move they should make is selecting the quarterback of the future with the third overall pick. After that, they should follow the draft approach which the San Francisco 49ers, LA Rams, and Seattle Seahawks took in the recent years to become good teams out of nowhere. Of the three teams, 49ers are the only team that didn't get its quarterback via a draft. Rams (who drafted Jared Goff) and Seahawks (who drafted Russell Wilson), both got their quarterbacks of the present and the future with the draft. All three teams got most of their building block players with the draft. 49ers with the draft selected Deforest Bucker, Solomon Thomas, Reuben Foster, Arik Armstead, Jimmie Ward, and others. Seahawks drafted Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner, Richard Sherman, Russell Wilson, and more. Rams drafted Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers, and all the other key players on their roster. It was after two to three good drafts, these three teams went for big-time players in free agency or made trades for them. This is what the Jets should do. Build with the draft in the first two to three years, then once they see the team is making progress in terms of chemistry and production, they should go for big players in free agency and trade market. Besides that, the Jets should be active with waiver claims. Sometimes teams could get gems in the waiver-market. All I could say to the Jets franchise is to stop pushing for a deep run in the playoffs every year. Know your personnel and start with incremental goals. Focus on winning games and getting better, rather than making news with selling drama and all to get more TV time than the New York Giants.

New York Jets do something good on the field for your pride and for your fans!