The hope for this year’s Jets: Rex Ryan’s best coaching job

[Freemanm]

This is what scares me: why on earth would we want another 8-8 season? Why is Costello trying to jinx the Jets??? Suck for Sam in 2017, I say!

The hope for this year’s Jets: Rex Ryan’s best coaching job

By Brian Costello

May 22, 2017 | 8:46pm

Everyone can see what the Jets are lacking heading into the 2017 season: a reliable quarterback, a No. 1 wide receiver, a good offensive line, a pass rush, shutdown cornerbacks … you get the picture.

Peter King of TheMMQB.com placed the Jets in the crosshairs, ranking them Monday as the worst team in the NFL. That’s right, looking up at the Browns and 49ers. The Jets are so low right now in critics’ eyes they are in the sub-basement. King is just the latest to put the Jets at the bottom of the barrel. ESPN ranked each team’s quarterback situation last week. The Jets? Dead last. CBS’ Pete Prisco ranked the league’s coaches last month. Todd Bowles was last among coaches who were not entering their first season.

With the Jets beginning OTAs on Tuesday, there already seems to be no hope for the 2017 season. That has led many Jets fans to jump on the “Suck for Sam” bandwagon, hoping the team can lose enough games this year to land the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft and take one of the top quarterbacks, like USC’s Sam Darnold or Wyoming’s Josh Allen.

But I am here to tell you there is a sliver of hope for 2017 for those Jets fans who still hope to see the team win a little this season.

You don’t have to look too far back in Jets history to see a team that looked an awful lot like this one entering the year. The 2013 Jets were a team that had a bad quarterback situation, a terrible roster and a coach hanging on by a thread. Those Jets were picked as the worst team in the league by ESPN entering the year.

Instead of falling apart, though, the 2013 Jets somehow went 8-8 and provided proof that even when a team appears to have no chance, it can surprise.

Some might argue the 2017 roster is worse than the 2013 version, but I think it is pretty close. That year, new general manager John Idzik got rid of a number of high-priced veterans such as Bart Scott, Bryan Thomas and Calvin Pace (later brought back at a reduced price). Sound familiar? Idzik also got rid of Darrelle Revis, trading him to the Buccaneers. This year, current GM Mike Maccagnan also got rid of Revis, cutting him loose.

The 2013 Jets entered the preseason with Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith competing at quarterback. Sanchez was basically finished with the organization by then after a terrible 2012 season, and everyone in the front office pushed for Smith to win the job. Smith won the job by default when Sanchez suffered a season-ending injury in Week 3 of the preseason.

This year, the Jets have Josh McCown in the role of veteran and Christian Hackenberg in the role of upstart.

You might think the 2013 Jets had more playmakers than this group. Uh, no. Jeremy Kerley (Jeremy Kerley!) led that team in catches with 43. David Nelson and Stephen Hill were the other top receivers. I’ll take Eric Decker, Quincy Enunwa and whoever the No. 3 wide receiver this year is over that group.

The defenses look about even. Swap out Damon Harrison for Leonard Williams along the line, and it looks pretty close. That secondary had just as many questions as this one, and in a Jets tradition, neither team featured a good pass rusher.

The 2013 Jets were not a good team, but they still figured out ways to win. That the 2013 team went 8-8 still astonishes me. That team was outscored by 97 points that season and finished .500. It may have been Rex Ryan’s best coaching job, and it bought him another year.

 

Can Bowles pull off a similar feat? Who knows? But that 2013 team proved preseason predictions don’t matter.

A five-game stretch in the middle of that season with the Falcons, Steelers, Patriots, Bengals and Saints was supposed to finish that team, but it went 3-2. This year’s team actually has a favorable early-season schedule that could help it build confidence.

The 2017 Jets are not going to the Super Bowl. They are not even going to the playoffs. They have more holes than an old pair of socks. But the season still will be played. This team could pull off a few surprises. Just look back to 2013 if you are looking for a reason to believe it.

[BurnleyJet]

Quick answer "No!"

[Saul Goodman]

Unbelievably out of touch with the Jets fan base. Sure, some delusional fans think and hope we can compete for the playoffs (I don't know any of these fans but I'm sure they are out there) and some fans want us to finish in last place. But no one in the fanbase wants an 8-8 season. 

[varjet]

I hope this sinks into Woody, Macc, Bowles, Glatt and the fans.

One of the most (if not the most) respected football writer has ranked the Jets dead last out of 32 teams.

This is after 2 years of a regime-this is not year 1 of a regime.

Now, I do believe that the first two years were mulligans as they tried to be competitive one last time before a rebuild.

This should be Woody's last attempt to be the de facto GM of his team.    Hopefully they can turn it around.

[sciond]

2-14 is  what we need

[rangerous]

15 hours ago, Saul Goodman said:

Unbelievably out of touch with the Jets fan base. Sure, some delusional fans think and hope we can compete for the playoffs (I don't know any of these fans but I'm sure they are out there) and some fans want us to finish in last place. But no one in the fanbase wants an 8-8 season. 

call me delusional.  last season an 8-8 record was easily achievable and if they get good qb play, better defensive play, and a few good ball bounces and they could be in the hunt for a playoff birth.  it all starts with them playing smart football for the full 60 minutes.  they need to stop giving up those hidden yards.  and they especially need to have a positive turnover ratio.

[thadude]

The reports by the Pats-lovers in the media in 2013 that we were by far the worst team in the NFL were greatly exaggerated.  This was, for the most part, the same roster that had gone to the AFCG just a couple years earlier.

[thadude]

5 hours ago, rangerous said:

call me delusional.  last season an 8-8 record was easily achievable and if they get good qb play, better defensive play, and a few good ball bounces and they could be in the hunt for a playoff birth.  it all starts with them playing smart football for the full 60 minutes.  they need to stop giving up those hidden yards.  and they especially need to have a positive turnover ratio.

The problem is Geno, even as a rookie, is still better than any qb on our roster.  

[BRONX DUDE]

13 hours ago, sciond said:

2-14 is  what we need

THIS GUY GETS IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

@SUCKFORSAM

[win4ever]

Lol, how is 8-8 even a fraction of hope?  That's the definition of a horror story for us, because we don't get a high pick to get a QB nor do we really come close to making the playoffs or finding a franchise QB.  

The only way this team makes a run this year that turns positive is if Petty or Hackenberg prove to be the real deal.  All other outcomes should hopefully lead to a high draft pick, or it'll set the team back another year.  

[roscoeword]

If that 2013 season is what we must strive for, that's pretty hurting. That was a boring and horrid season. According to the article, Rex is a great coach who made a great season out of nothing. Just don't remember it that way.

[PS17]

2013 was atrocious. That team was the worst 8-8 team in NFL history. The games we won we barely won, and the games we lost were generally by blowout margins. 

[kdels62]

I don't want that to happen. BUT this team is better than they're being given credit for and that's either good or bad depending on your perspective. I said last year's team would go 6-10 because I knew they'd be bad. This team is better as the season starts and I expect it to get between 7 and 9 wins. 

Now that could be fine provided Petty and Hack are good players that lead us to that result but if they're more along for the ride than leaders, we need to take a qb  next year anyway. 

[SickJetFan]

On 5/23/2017 at 1:10 AM, Saul Goodman said:

Unbelievably out of touch with the Jets fan base. Sure, some delusional fans think and hope we can compete for the playoffs (I don't know any of these fans but I'm sure they are out there) and some fans want us to finish in last place. But no one in the fanbase wants an 8-8 season. 

I am one! We will sweep buffalo and Miami and split with NE and make playoffs!

[Beerfish]

That year was hilariously awful and rexs best coaching job was equally a joke.  The 8-8 year in which people threw roses at rexs feet was a pure mirage.  The team won two gift games, was blown out in most of their loses and his defense gave up and ungodly number of big plays and big play tds.

 

The epitome of not seeing the forest through the trees.

[rangerous]

13 hours ago, thadude said:

The problem is Geno, even as a rookie, is still better than any qb on our roster.  

that is so hard to say because being a qb is far more than just throwing ability.  in 2014, imo, geno lost 3 games all by himself with really bad qb play.  if geno was capable of not losing games each and every day then he would be better than any current jets qb but the guy couldn't.  and i don't recall every seeing a qb so oblivious to two minute drills.  he tried to make two minute drills take 5 minutes. just way too slow. and then there's the whole IK and character issues.

[Fantasy Island]

Until we commit to the offensive side of the ball , we will be in this rut forever.

[shawn306]

Doesn't matter even if the Jets "Sucked for Sam" and actually got to draft him, Sam would suck or get hurt.