Other teams optimism

[WowOhWow]

Like many, I've got all the "feels" as it relates to this team.  I am a big fan of JD, love the Salah hire (and coordinators/staff), like our draft class, FA additions, etc.  Basically I've been completely re-energized as a Jets fan and literally can't wait for more practices to discuss, pre-season, etc.  

That said, I was with a Bills fan yesterday who feels the same way.  I called my nephew (Miami fan) and friend from Boston and they both feel the same way.  They feel their teams have upgraded, are better, etc.

It got me thinking...if our division rivals all believe they got better (and I don't think it's a question that our organization, talent, etc. has improved) did we close the gap enough, did we close it a lot, a little, etc.

I believe we were so inept in so many areas that even though our rivals got better we closed the gap considerably.  We're not on par with them yet but in the NFL competency alone can win you games...and I believe we will be competent, with talent potentially catching up the more the season progresses.

I believe the Bills are the lead dogs and we can find ourselves on par with the other two, which means we should be in a lot of games this year with a chance to win a lot of them.

Am I off?

[Joe W. Namath]

9 minutes ago, WowOhWow said:

Like many, I've got all the "feels" as it relates to this team.  I am a big fan of JD, love the Salah hire (and coordinators/staff), like our draft class, FA additions, etc.  Basically I've been completely re-energized as a Jets fan and literally can't wait for more practices to discuss, pre-season, etc.  

That said, I was with a Bills fan yesterday who feels the same way.  I called my nephew (Miami fan) and friend from Boston and they both feel the same way.  They feel their teams have upgraded, are better, etc.

It got me thinking...if our division rivals all believe they got better (and I don't think it's a question that our organization, talent, etc. has improved) did we close the gap enough, did we close it a lot, a little, etc.

I believe we were so inept in so many areas that even though our rivals got better we closed the gap considerably.  We're not on par with them yet but in the NFL competency alone can win you games...and I believe we will be competent, with talent potentially catching up the more the season progresses.

I believe the Bills are the lead dogs and we can find ourselves on par with the other two, which means we should be in a lot of games this year with a chance to win a lot of them.

Am I off?

Its simple.  The Bills will win the division this year.  QB play will determine the rest.  If Zach is better then Tua and Cam, the jets will finish in 2nd.  And vice versa.

All these def will be good.  The qb play will determine who finishes where in the division.

I think Zach will be the 2nd best qb in the division so i have the Jets finishing 2nd.

[Sammybighead]

12 minutes ago, Joe W. Namath said:

Its simple.  The Bills will win the division this year.  QB play will determine the rest.  If Zach is better then Tua and Cam, the jets will finish in 2nd.  And vice versa.

All these def will be good.  The qb play will determine who finishes where in the division.

I think Zach will be the 2nd best qb in the division so i have the Jets finishing 2nd.

Exactly. This idea of “closing the gap” drives me crazy. As if the Jets just need to make slightly more incremental additions in the offseason and they take the division. No, that’s not how it works. Namath is correct, QB play will drive how the teams finish and we have STUNK there since Pennington left. The Bills have the best QB in the division and the most complete/deep team so I expect them to win. After that, nothing with the other 3 teams would shock me.

[JohnnyLV]

25 minutes ago, WowOhWow said:

Like many, I've got all the "feels" as it relates to this team.  I am a big fan of JD, love the Salah hire (and coordinators/staff), like our draft class, FA additions, etc.  Basically I've been completely re-energized as a Jets fan and literally can't wait for more practices to discuss, pre-season, etc.  

That said, I was with a Bills fan yesterday who feels the same way.  I called my nephew (Miami fan) and friend from Boston and they both feel the same way.  They feel their teams have upgraded, are better, etc.

It got me thinking...if our division rivals all believe they got better (and I don't think it's a question that our organization, talent, etc. has improved) did we close the gap enough, did we close it a lot, a little, etc.

I believe we were so inept in so many areas that even though our rivals got better we closed the gap considerably.  We're not on par with them yet but in the NFL competency alone can win you games...and I believe we will be competent, with talent potentially catching up the more the season progresses.

I believe the Bills are the lead dogs and we can find ourselves on par with the other two, which means we should be in a lot of games this year with a chance to win a lot of them.

Am I off?

This is certainly true. I heard a caller on Sirius yesterday think that Seattle would be 14-2 when in reality they are a significantly worse team this year than last.

I am always super optimistic. But this year's optimism is both higher and more objective and less rooted in wishful thinking. I really believe that we will be competitive and Zach will perform at a pretty high level 

[nycdan]

7 minutes ago, WowOhWow said:

Like many, I've got all the "feels" as it relates to this team.  I am a big fan of JD, love the Salah hire (and coordinators/staff), like our draft class, FA additions, etc.  Basically I've been completely re-energized as a Jets fan and literally can't wait for more practices to discuss, pre-season, etc.  

That said, I was with a Bills fan yesterday who feels the same way.  I called my nephew (Miami fan) and friend from Boston and they both feel the same way.  They feel their teams have upgraded, are better, etc.

It got me thinking...if our division rivals all believe they got better (and I don't think it's a question that our organization, talent, etc. has improved) did we close the gap enough, did we close it a lot, a little, etc.

I believe we were so inept in so many areas that even though our rivals got better we closed the gap considerably.  We're not on par with them yet but in the NFL competency alone can win you games...and I believe we will be competent, with talent potentially catching up the more the season progresses.

I believe the Bills are the lead dogs and we can find ourselves on par with the other two, which means we should be in a lot of games this year with a chance to win a lot of them.

Am I off?

Every team but HOU feels they got better.  I would venture to say that fans, on average, expect a 2-3 win improvement over last season for almost every team that won less than 10 games, and a 1 game improvement for teams that won 10 or more.  Nature of being a fan.

Now obviously about half of these teams' fans will be disappointed.

The good news?  We can't really get much worse this year.

My take on the AFCE is this.  I think all three teams slightly overperformed last season, and I don't think any of them materially improved their rosters nearly as much as teams like the Jets did.  BUF will be hard pressed to repeat 13 wins but might be able to hold that line.  I don't think Tua is the answer in MIA and even with Waddle as a nice addition, they don't have much of an OLine so my guess is they slip a game or two.  And I think NE is still living off past glory.  Adding the TEs was nice, but they have big questions at every other offensive position.  I could easily see them slipping a game or two as well.

The good news?  The Jets really have nowhere to go but up.  Anything less than 6-11 would be a crushing disappointment and I'm hoping for better but right now, I don't see any objective way to predict it.

[nycdan]

4 minutes ago, johnnysd said:

This is certainly true. I heard a caller on Sirius yesterday think that Seattle would be 14-2 when in reality they are a significantly worse team this year than last.

I am always super optimistic. But this year's optimism is both higher and more objective and less rooted in wishful thinking. I really believe that we will be competitive and Zach will perform at a pretty high level 

SEA is another team I think is living off the past.  I honestly can't understand how they managed to win 12 games last year, but I would not be shocked if they had the biggest drop in wins this year.  And that's assuming Wilson stays healthy.  If anything happens to him early in the season, the wheel will come completely off.

[freestater]

Getting rid of this idiot makes us the most improved of the bunch. 

[UntouchableCrew]

Most fans think their team had a good offseason and will be better next year. Nobody wants to believe things clearly got worse and it's going to be a long season. Maybe Lions fans are reading the room and recognizing they're in for a rebuild.

Personally we were far enough away from contention last year that I'm not overly worried about the distance between us and the Bills. I just want to see a competitive team that plays with fire, a competent offense, and smart coaching. If we're hovering around .500 and in every game I'm okay with that. Next year is when you want to make that leap to the playoffs.

As far as the division:

Bills are very good and didn't lose much. They're the runaway favorites to win the division, IMO. I only see serious regression from them if Allen is injured or really takes a step back.

Dolphins look better on paper -- outside of the QB position where they may have regressed. Tua is the key factor there. If he plays like he did last year I can't see them making much noise.

Pats look better (they had a ton of opt outs last year and signed a bunch of FAs) but I'm not convinced it will matter. They felt very tired last year and Cam looked shot.

[JohnnyLV]

11 minutes ago, nycdan said:

SEA is another team I think is living off the past.  I honestly can't understand how they managed to win 12 games last year, but I would not be shocked if they had the biggest drop in wins this year.  And that's assuming Wilson stays healthy.  If anything happens to him early in the season, the wheel will come completely off.

Most years there is a team that has a big unexpected drop off. Even without injuries Seattle seems the best candidate. They got worse, all of their division competition got better and they have a brutal schedule. Couple that with R Wilson seeming to lose a step and not really excelling at being the focal point of the offense it seems that Seattle is primed for a big fall. If Wilson went down they could be really bad.

[ToonforPrez]

19 minutes ago, freestater said:

Getting rid of this idiot makes us the most improved of the bunch. 

Most underrated Quote in this Thread not even close thanks for all you do @freestater

[Charlie Brown]

BILLs are a Great Team and most teams this off season did in fact get better, now...........whether or not this translates to wins or not remains to be seen.

Indeed, injuries and determination (see Tom Brady here) play a huge role in any team's ultimate destiny!  

We just have to take care of our business......

[Charlie Brown]

45 minutes ago, freestater said:

Getting rid of this idiot makes us the most improved of the bunch. 

People are now beginning to admit that this guy was on something that day....   That this was not normal behavior, period...

See GreenBean's comments on this, IMO very insightful... 

[Bungaman]

Think about how many games we either lost last because of terrible strategy, play calling, game planning, demoralization, etc. At least three. Good coaching gets us those back, and a better, much more motivated team gets us a couple of more victories. So an eight win season seems reasonable, with the usual caveats for injuries, Acts of God, animal sacrifice, etc. Personally, I will be cranking up the alter ...

Appropriate ritual ...

 

[UntouchableCrew]

44 minutes ago, johnnysd said:

Most years there is a team that has a big unexpected drop off. Even without injuries Seattle seems the best candidate. They got worse, all of their division competition got better and they have a brutal schedule. Couple that with R Wilson seeming to lose a step and not really excelling at being the focal point of the offense it seems that Seattle is primed for a big fall. If Wilson went down they could be really bad.

100% agree. They got weaker as the year went on, the QB publicly feuded with the coach, they have clear definable weaknesses and the Rams and 9ers both look like real Super Bowl contenders. I will be surprised if they finish better than third in that division.

[Embrace the Suck]

Everything is relative. Other teams got better too, but are they that much better than they were previously? They Jets are potentially far better than they were which isn't surprising since they have no where to go but up.

[peebag]

It all depends on Zach Wilson.

 

[JETSALLDAY24X]

1 hour ago, Sammybighead said:

Exactly. This idea of “closing the gap” drives me crazy. As if the Jets just need to make slightly more incremental additions in the offseason and they take the division. No, that’s not how it works. Namath is correct, QB play will drive how the teams finish and we have STUNK there since Pennington left. The Bills have the best QB in the division and the most complete/deep team so I expect them to win. After that, nothing with the other 3 teams would shock me.

If only it was this simple. But this just isn't the case. The Browns had a 3 season stretch from 2015-2017 of 3-13, 1-15, 0-16. Did great qb play suddenly turn them around? Deshaun Watson had a MVP caliber season last year and his team went 4-12. The term closing the gap can drive you crazy all you want it to, It's a real thing. The Bills slowly added talent while developing a qb and got over the hump because the Patriots got worse. 

[Jackie Treehorn]

Well this is a reason for some optimism, if this guy knows what he’s talking about. As usual I don’t know who’s who…but I’m learning. 
 

https://jetsxfactor.com/2021/07/15/ranking-new-york-jets-roster-within-competitive-afc-east/

[flgreen]

29 minutes ago, Jackie Treehorn said:

Well this is a reason for some optimism, if this guy knows what he’s talking about. As usual I don’t know who’s who…but I’m learning. 
 

https://jetsxfactor.com/2021/07/15/ranking-new-york-jets-roster-within-competitive-afc-east/

IMO Jets X factor is one of the best Jets related sites.  If you are really just learning, good place to start.  

[undertow]

I see a lot of people saying it's a free year and at the same time predicting 8 or 9 wins and expecting this team to be in the playoff hunt all year.  It's most likely going to be a rocky year with a rookie QB, a rookie HC, and a very young team.   I'm expecting a early season meltdown from the fanbase as we get off to a rough start.

[slats]

20 minutes ago, undertow said:

I see a lot of people saying it's a free year and at the same time predicting 8 or 9 wins and expecting this team to be in the playoff hunt all year.  It's most likely going to be a rocky year with a rookie QB, a rookie HC, and a very young team.   I'm expecting a early season meltdown from the fanbase as we get off to a rough start.

This is where I’m at. I really like the direction the team appears to be headed in and, sure, the rookie head coach, rookie OC, and rookie QB could all be great right out of the gate, along with the UDFA CB holding down one corner - but I’m not expecting it. Too many moving parts. 

[BROOKLYN JET]

2 hours ago, freestater said:

Getting rid of this idiot makes us the most improved of the bunch. 

Gase is just misunderstood, he is ahead of his time... In the near future when the rest of the league catches up to him... The big money lead by @SAR I will lobby to bring him back... And take Zach to the next level.

[Joe W. Namath]

1 hour ago, undertow said:

I see a lot of people saying it's a free year and at the same time predicting 8 or 9 wins and expecting this team to be in the playoff hunt all year.  It's most likely going to be a rocky year with a rookie QB, a rookie HC, and a very young team.   I'm expecting a early season meltdown from the fanbase as we get off to a rough start.

We are facing Sam Darnold and an old, crappy Cam Newton the first 2 weeks.  Were not getting off to a rocky start.  We are getting off to a 2-0 start.

[SAR I]

43 minutes ago, BROOKLYN JET said:

Gase is just misunderstood, he is ahead of his time... In the near future when the rest of the league catches up to him... The big money lead by @SAR I will lobby to bring him back... And take Zach to the next level.

SAR never liked or wanted Adam Gase.  SAR wanted a non-rookie, non-defensive head coach and hoped he would work out.  He didn’t.  The roster was awful and he was awful.  Now he’s gone.  

That is the sum total of SAR’s investment in the matter.  

SAR I

[BigRy56]

It’s going to be really weird picking at the front and back of the draft. #1 pick from the Seahawks, #32 for us. First time it’s happened?

[SAR I]

2 minutes ago, Joe W. Namath said:

We are facing Sam Darnold and an old, crappy Cam Newton the first 2 weeks.  Were not getting off to a rocky start.  We are getting off to a 2-0 start.

There are 10 winnable games on the schedule and that’s with a 2-4 division record.  

We only face 3 legitimate quarterbacks the whole year.  

We have a 9th home game and a game on a neutral field. 

Tampa Bay and Buffalo will likely be resting their starters in the freezing January cold.  

We should expect 8 wins. 10 is not too crazy.  Look at the schedule.  Look at the improved roster.  Look at the great coaching staff. 

SAR I

[The Crusher]

8 minutes ago, SAR I said:

There are 10 winnable games on the schedule and that’s with a 2-4 division record.  

We only face 3 legitimate quarterbacks the whole year.  

We have a 9th home game and a game on a neutral field. 

Tampa Bay and Buffalo will likely be resting their starters in the freezing January cold.  

We should expect 8 wins. 10 is not too crazy.  Look at the schedule.  Look at the improved roster.  Look at the great coaching staff. 

SAR I

For the guy that started the rookie HC hall of Shame you all of a sudden got a confidence boner that’s still growing  for  a team  full of rookies. Coaches, QB and several key positions. Good for you, 

[freestater]

1 hour ago, BROOKLYN JET said:

Gase is just misunderstood, he is ahead of his time... In the near future when the rest of the league catches up to him... The big money lead by @SAR I will lobby to bring him back... And take Zach to the next level.

[undertow]

24 minutes ago, Joe W. Namath said:

We are facing Sam Darnold and an old, crappy Cam Newton the first 2 weeks.  Were not getting off to a rocky start.  We are getting off to a 2-0 start.

You are setting yourself up for misery but I'm here for it. lol

[Irish Jet]

I would say we’re objectively one of the most improved teams in the NFL.

Our WR corps went from very bad to very good. The O-line is much stronger. The depth we have in those positions compared to last year is ridiculous.

Wilson is an unknown so a lot depends on him but Darnold was very much a known quantity and that is the worst starting QB in football. Same thing for Salah and Gase.

Every fanbase may talk sh*te but Jets fans have more reason than most to expect improvement. It helps that it would be hard to do worse.

[SAR I]

1 hour ago, The Crusher said:

For the guy that started the rookie HC hall of Shame you all of a sudden got a confidence boner that’s still growing  for  a team  full of rookies. Coaches, QB and several key positions. Good for you, 

Only because the schedule is so ridiculously easy and the roster, though young, is no different in talent-level than the 2019 Jets who figured out a way to win 7 with 18 players on IR.

SAR I

[The Crusher]

Just now, SAR I said:

Only because the schedule is so ridiculously easy and the roster, though young, is no different in talent-level than the 2019 Jets who figured out a way to win 7 with 18 players on IR.

SAR I

Oh ok. Reliving the glory days. It’s cool. 

[freestater]

1 hour ago, The Crusher said:

For the guy that started the rookie HC hall of Shame you all of a sudden got a confidence boner that’s still growing  for  a team  full of rookies. Coaches, QB and several key positions. Good for you, 

Ooo. This is so delicious it just has to be fattening. 

[Larz]

We’re totally due for a wild season of thrills and chills and then agonizing heartbreak lol

Jets first year head coaches have a good record actually 

[GREENBEAN]

6 hours ago, WowOhWow said:

Like many, I've got all the "feels" as it relates to this team.  I am a big fan of JD, love the Salah hire (and coordinators/staff), like our draft class, FA additions, etc.  Basically I've been completely re-energized as a Jets fan and literally can't wait for more practices to discuss, pre-season, etc.  

That said, I was with a Bills fan yesterday who feels the same way.  I called my nephew (Miami fan) and friend from Boston and they both feel the same way.  They feel their teams have upgraded, are better, etc.

It got me thinking...if our division rivals all believe they got better (and I don't think it's a question that our organization, talent, etc. has improved) did we close the gap enough, did we close it a lot, a little, etc.

I believe we were so inept in so many areas that even though our rivals got better we closed the gap considerably.  We're not on par with them yet but in the NFL competency alone can win you games...and I believe we will be competent, with talent potentially catching up the more the season progresses.

I believe the Bills are the lead dogs and we can find ourselves on par with the other two, which means we should be in a lot of games this year with a chance to win a lot of them.

Am I off?

I am just happy to have the opportunity to watch a Bradyless  BB have to scramble and try to play catch up while the division is no longer packed full of pushovers. his legend will diminish and I'm happy about it. 

Oh, and the Jets are winning the division ?