Bad Teams Don’t Have Must Win Games

[Maxman]

By Nick Ferraro

Bad teams don’t have must-win games. The Carolina Panthers do not have must-wins. On the contrary, bad teams’ fans will, at times, root for their team to lose so that they are set up to select earlier in the draft. It’s an odd position to take, considering there are no sure things in the NFL draft. Teams may be better off in the long run not picking so early. Another odd belief is that must-win games don’t come early in the season. Wins and losses count equally in the NFL, whether they occur in September or January. This isn’t college football. Playoff eligibility isn’t determined by a bunch of people in a board room, considering how well a team is playing to close out the season. Missing the playoffs can easily be attributed to dropping a very winnable game early in the schedule. What this means is that the Jets are a team that will have must-win games, and those must-win games can be early in the season. The game against the Giants this Sunday is a must win.

The Giants are 2-5. They are banged up, and they have only scored 47 points in the last five games. None of the teams the Giants played over those five games are as talented on defense as the Jets. This isn’t a gimme. The Giants five losses have come against solid teams. The G-men have lost to the Cowboys, 49ers, Seahawks, Dolphins, and Bills. They have beaten the 1-6 Cardinals and the 3-4 Commanders. Beating the Jets would be the best win of the season thus far for the Giants. The Jets cannot allow that to happen. The Jets need to add their name to the list of quality teams who have beaten the Giants.

The Jets have too much to play for to drop winnable games. Losing this game would be leaving money on the table. This is a game that, if it goes wrong and the Jets miss the postseason, the team will look back on and say, that game is one of the big reasons we didn’t get to where we wanted to be. The Jets already have a game like that. Week three against the Patriots is that game. A second one would be devastating. The Jets are a playoff contender, and they sit just one game back in the loss column in the AFC East. The Giants are going nowhere. They are already four games behind in the division, looking up at each of their division rivals. The Jets are favored this Sunday in what is technically a road game, and they have had an extra week to get ready. There are no excuses and no room for error.

The Jets had must-win games last year and lost them. They were involved in meaningful games, and they let each opportunity slip away. This team will have those opportunities again. This week is their first. There are a lot of fans who dislike the term must-win game. I’ve never understood that. Embrace it. The history of this franchise is light on games of relevance. There have been entire seasons without games of any significance. Bad teams do not have must-win games. It means you are relevant. It means you are good. It means you have a chance. Poker players are fond of saying: “a chip and a chair”. It’s about staying involved. If you have one chip, you are alive, and you have a shot at staying around long enough to “cash”. Cashing means you lasted long enough in a poker tournament to win some money. Fourteen teams cash in the NFL. The Jets have a chip and a chair. The Jets shot at cashing begins with a win, a must-win, this week.

[T0mShane]

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense and are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

[TuscanyTile2]

Just now, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense that are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

That's the spirit!

[Anthony Jet]

2 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense that are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

Serious question, when does the narrative go from hurts or Allen gifting them a win to the Jets making them look like sh*t. The just offense is anemic and probably will hold us back, but it can’t be taken as a coincidence anymore that these top QBs have bad games against us, that being said Danny dimes gonna drop 400 yards on us now Sunday 

[docdhc]

3 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense that are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

At least you didn’t mention Zach Wilson. 

[Gibby]

3 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense that are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

100% on all counts. The late pick by Hurts was completely reckless and the Jets were extremely fortunate to win.

[Reasonable Jets Fan]

8 minutes ago, Gibby said:

100% on all counts. The late pick by Hurts was completely reckless and the Jets were extremely fortunate to win.

Completely disregarding how the defensive play led up to Hurts being reckless is a discredit to the defense... They were not 'lucky', they beat a superbowl contender 2 weeks after taking the other superbowl contender to the wire... 

Don't downplay the win as lucky... That's garbage

[BP]

Vbookie guy is now lead writer on staff?

 

Impressive, and I don’t impress east.

[T0mShane]

1 hour ago, Anthony Jet said:

Serious question, when does the narrative go from hurts or Allen gifting them a win to the Jets making them look like sh*t. The just offense is anemic and probably will hold us back, but it can’t be taken as a coincidence anymore that these top QBs have bad games against us, that being said Danny dimes gonna drop 400 yards on us now Sunday 

The Jets defense locking up elite QBs is real and unimpeachable, and the defense deserves every bit of that credit. The Hurts pick specifically was the result of Eagles hubris and Brian Johnson stupidity. The Eagles could have legitimately kneeled on the ball every snap and walked away with that win. 

[T0mShane]

1 hour ago, docdhc said:

At least you didn’t mention Zach Wilson. 

It was implied. Zach is a 55% passer in the fourth quarter. 1 TD and 4 picks on the season. As with the Chiefs loss, Wilson wasn’t going to lead a drive to win it no matter what they did. 

[TuscanyTile2]

4 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense that are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

Josh Allen also had a dumb throw that led to a Jet win.  So 2 of our 3 wins were aided by bad decisions by opposing star QBs.

But we all know the offense will have to play better for this team to continue winning.  I still think we should hold off for 3 more games and see if ZW shows any improvement now that we're not playing SB favorites (e.g. Buffalo, Dallas, KC, Philly) plus the fact that he's built up some confidence and the CS has now had a bye week to make adjustments (to both scheme and even personnel - e.g. Lawson and Cook might be out of the lineup going forward).

[Bobby816]

This is a game that isn’t a must win bc our expectations went significantly down once AR went down. There’s optimism bc we managed to still be 3-3 at the bye with a couple big wins.

 

These next 3 games (not just this game). Are a turning point for us. It can either make us have a legit shot at a playoff spot. Or really put us on the outside. And its starts with NYG. It’s a winnable game. But we’ve seen 2 different teams come out in what we’re winnable games for us in NE and DEN. I’d like to hope we have more confidence in the play calling and such that we’re more so the team we’ve seen the last 3 weeks than the team we saw weeks 2 and 3.

[The Crusher]

29 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

It was implied. Zach is a 55% passer in the fourth quarter. 1 TD and 4 picks on the season. As with the Chiefs loss, Wilson wasn’t going to lead a drive to win it no matter what they did. 

I’m sorry did you say something? I’m still digesting the—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. I mean how do you even know it’s chaffed?

[Same Old Jets]

The NY Jets will gain respect from the league once they decide to keep Zach Wilson as their QB.  The AR signing was a desperate move that created a bunch of noise during the offseason. He got hurt right away and controlled the roster by bringing his washed-up buddies.  The whole AR experiment was a sh*t show and the management pulled a desperate move on a declining QB while giving up on their prized young QB.  

The off season solution was to bring another capable OC that could have truly helped Zach WIlson, instead they focused on AR, a win-now team with a casting of over-the-hill type of players. Now they realize that Zach Wilson actually has the talent to carry this team and they should stay course with Wilson moving forward.  

The AR experiment is over, let WIlson be the present and the future. 

[TBJ]

5 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense that are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

2 wins thanks to Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts.

[ACourseinMiracles]

5 hours ago, T0mShane said:

the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

Luckily, there's already a hot chicks thread going!

[GreekJetinPatLand]

5 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense that are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

I hate when people try to diminish losses by pointing out a few “lucky” plays. It works on both sides. The Eagles had some drops, bad INTs, and missed FGs. The Jets had an absolutely brutal game changing penalty that was completely unforced on that Lazard block. 
 

[freestater]

5 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense that are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

J!

[kevinc855]

5 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense that are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

Hurts doesn’t throw that pick if the jets don’t force 3rd and long and confuse the sh*t out of hurts with the coverage look. A win is a win is a win. 

[JustInFudge]

2 hours ago, Anthony Jet said:

Serious question, when does the narrative go from hurts or Allen gifting them a win to the Jets making them look like sh*t. The just offense is anemic and probably will hold us back, but it can’t be taken as a coincidence anymore that these top QBs have bad games against us, that being said Danny dimes gonna drop 400 yards on us now Sunday 

I guess you didnt know, Russell Wilson, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen - actually are double agents and secretly represent the Jets so they "gifted" the Jets the game, happens more then you think 

[FidelioJet]

So dumb.

I really do wonder if you some of you actually watch the NFL or just read about it.

Virtually every game, every week comes down to a play or two.  In the Eagles, Bill's and Denver games - the Jets made key plays late to win.  In the Pats and KC games - they made the key plays to win. Blow outs like Dallas are the outlier in the NFL.

The better teams are good at closing and making plays when they need to...

But please stop with the - ifs and lucky's...This is the league.

 

[GreekJetinPatLand]

7 minutes ago, FidelioJet said:

So dumb.

I really do wonder if you some of you actually watch the NFL or just read about it.

Virtually every game, every week comes down to a play or two.  In the Eagles, Bill's and Denver games - the Jets made key plays late to win.  In the Pats and KC games - they made the key plays to win. Blow outs like Dallas are the outlier in the NFL.

The better teams are good at closing and making plays when they need to...

But please stop with the - ifs and lucky's...This is the league.

 

Exactly. It’s how the fans and media like to rationalize losses. “Sore loser mentality”. Your team didn’t win the game, my team lost it”. 
 

[GreekJetinPatLand]

32 minutes ago, kevinc855 said:

Hurts doesn’t throw that pick if the jets don’t force 3rd and long and confuse the sh*t out of hurts with the coverage look. A win is a win is a win. 

Of course-even after all that, Hurts had the chance to win the game 1:45 left with two timeouts and went 4 and out. 

[FidelioJet]

3 minutes ago, JetFaninPatLand said:

Exactly. It’s how the fans and media like to rationalize losses. “Sore loser mentality”. Your team didn’t win the game, my team lost it”. 
 

Or Fans with agenda's that try and make the team they root for look worse

Our team didn't win the game, we're lucky the other guys gave it to us.

[More Cowbell]

7 hours ago, Maxman said:

By Nick Ferraro

Bad teams don’t have must-win games. The Carolina Panthers do not have must-wins. On the contrary, bad teams’ fans will, at times, root for their team to lose so that they are set up to select earlier in the draft. It’s an odd position to take, considering there are no sure things in the NFL draft. Teams may be better off in the long run not picking so early. Another odd belief is that must-win games don’t come early in the season. Wins and losses count equally in the NFL, whether they occur in September or January. This isn’t college football. Playoff eligibility isn’t determined by a bunch of people in a board room, considering how well a team is playing to close out the season. Missing the playoffs can easily be attributed to dropping a very winnable game early in the schedule. What this means is that the Jets are a team that will have must-win games, and those must-win games can be early in the season. The game against the Giants this Sunday is a must win.

The Giants are 2-5. They are banged up, and they have only scored 47 points in the last five games. None of the teams the Giants played over those five games are as talented on defense as the Jets. This isn’t a gimme. The Giants five losses have come against solid teams. The G-men have lost to the Cowboys, 49ers, Seahawks, Dolphins, and Bills. They have beaten the 1-6 Cardinals and the 3-4 Commanders. Beating the Jets would be the best win of the season thus far for the Giants. The Jets cannot allow that to happen. The Jets need to add their name to the list of quality teams who have beaten the Giants.

The Jets have too much to play for to drop winnable games. Losing this game would be leaving money on the table. This is a game that, if it goes wrong and the Jets miss the postseason, the team will look back on and say, that game is one of the big reasons we didn’t get to where we wanted to be. The Jets already have a game like that. Week three against the Patriots is that game. A second one would be devastating. The Jets are a playoff contender, and they sit just one game back in the loss column in the AFC East. The Giants are going nowhere. They are already four games behind in the division, looking up at each of their division rivals. The Jets are favored this Sunday in what is technically a road game, and they have had an extra week to get ready. There are no excuses and no room for error.

The Jets had must-win games last year and lost them. They were involved in meaningful games, and they let each opportunity slip away. This team will have those opportunities again. This week is their first. There are a lot of fans who dislike the term must-win game. I’ve never understood that. Embrace it. The history of this franchise is light on games of relevance. There have been entire seasons without games of any significance. Bad teams do not have must-win games. It means you are relevant. It means you are good. It means you have a chance. Poker players are fond of saying: “a chip and a chair”. It’s about staying involved. If you have one chip, you are alive, and you have a shot at staying around long enough to “cash”. Cashing means you lasted long enough in a poker tournament to win some money. Fourteen teams cash in the NFL. The Jets have a chip and a chair. The Jets shot at cashing begins with a win, a must-win, this week.

I just hope Zach is up to the task. It would totally suck if this is when he has a 3 pick and 8 sack game. 

[More Cowbell]

6 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense and are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

I don't  believe Hurts gifted the Jets anything and I'm about as realistic fan as there is. The defense made Hurts look like that. Hurts actually didn’t play bad until the 4th qrt.

[Claymation]

1 hour ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

Josh Allen also had a dumb throw that led to a Jet win.  So 2 of our 3 wins were aided by bad decisions by opposing star QBs.

But we all know the offense will have to play better for this team to continue winning.  I still think we should hold off for 3 more games and see if ZW shows any improvement now that we're not playing SB favorites (e.g. Buffalo, Dallas, KC, Philly) plus the fact that he's built up some confidence and the CS has now had a bye week to make adjustments (to both scheme and even personnel - e.g. Lawson and Cook might be out of the lineup going forward).

So did Mahomes, but a zebra threw a flag, and...well...they kind of grifted the game to the yellow and red.

As Doris Day once sang, "Que Sera, Sera, Whatever Will Be, Will Be"

[Xtina]

2 hours ago, Gibby said:

The late pick by Hurts was completely reckless

So Hurts became “completely reckless” towards the end of the game, just because? 

[Larz]

6 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense and are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

Zach outplayed Mahomes and Allen

[Joe W. Namath]

This is a must win game for the Giants.  Your season is over if you get your 6th loss this early in the season.

The Jets are 3-3.  It is not a must win for them. 

[shawn306]

6 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense and are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

So should Jets vote Hurts a full share or a half share of their Super Bowl winnings ?

[DonCorleone]

6 hours ago, T0mShane said:

The Jets are a fringe team with massive, transparent vulnerabilities on offense and are hanging on to respectability by their last fingernail. If Hurts doesn’t gift the Jets a win two weeks ago, the story around the Jets this week would be about tarping up the facility and getting ready for next season. Credit to them for hanging around, but—as with last year—the wheat will separate from the chaff and we’ll all be left holding our dicks yet again soon enough. 

In other words, there is no point in watching any of the remaining games. Let history dictate our future and never watch this team again. Hurts would not have thrown ANY of those interceptions if not for the fact that he was under constant duress. The Jets made sure he heard footsteps even when there weren't. He gifted the Jets nothing. They took it from him! I am not the most optimistic person, but holy crap, come on man! 

[DonCorleone]

32 minutes ago, More Cowbell said:

I just hope Zach is up to the task. It would totally suck if this is when he has a 3 pick and 8 sack game. 

IMO, Zach has to get it right this game. This is an opportunity for him to throw and run. 

[Bugg]

17 minutes ago, Joe W. Namath said:

This is a must win game for the Giants.  Your season is over if you get your 6th loss this early in the season.

The Jets are 3-3.  It is not a must win for them. 

Giants are a team with a bad offense and a serious QB issue . They allowed a weak Skins team to hang around all 2nd half with stupid miscues.They'll do that kind of thing again Sunday.  Losing a very winnable game  like this would be very bad for the Jets, even if  it's not a division nor conference game. Jets haven't been in the playoffs in forever. They need to be in a position to get in this season. And can't discount the outside chance best case scenario of  a wildcard berth with a recovered Rodgers.  Could make them dangerous. 

Wilson is simply not a good QB. No point to belabor it. Merely hope he does enough to not make a mess and do no harm. Does look like Hackett is getting more of a sense as the season goes on what Wilson can do and what he can't. 

[Joe W. Namath]

36 minutes ago, More Cowbell said:

I just hope Zach is up to the task. It would totally suck if this is when he has a 3 pick and 8 sack game. 

We know what Zach is this year.  Hes not going to throw 3 picks or get sacked 8 times.  Hes going to throw for about 197 yards and 0 tds, 0 Int.

Our formula to win games is defense, special teams and running the ball.  Zach will managed the game and not turn the ball over.

We know what Zach is.  He is not going to throw 3tds or 3 picks.