Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 13 2008

Let's pretend this didn't happen.

It was the worst possible matchup at the worst possible time.

Worst possible matchup: the Jets are not particularly good defending against teams that play the shotgun spread style of offense. Denver can play this, because they have a good QB and at least two good WRs, and solid TEs.

Worst possible time: the Jets were coming off two huge wins (and the attendant press hype) and the Broncos were coming off an embarrassing loss at home to Oakland. So if the game was going to come down to focus and intensity, the Broncos were the likelier of the two teams to have the edge.

Then throw in the miserable weather and post-holiday-itis, and you've got the recipe for exactly this type of crap game.

The challenge of this type of game, in this type of year, is deciding what is real.

Was the Jets team that absolutely dominated the Titans the real version of the Jets?

Or is the Jets team that couldn't do anything against Denver the real version?

The thing is - they're both real. Both teams exist, and they are the same team.

Matchups matter. Timing matters. Sometimes it's favorable, sometimes not. Sometimes in consecutive weeks.

And, just like it was easy to fall into the "best team in the AFC" trap after the Titans game, it is easy to fall into the "pretender" trap after this game.

The team is 8-4. In first place by a game. Playing two terrible teams in their final four games.

Now, if they lose next Sunday to San Francisco, then the whole thing was a mirage, a little bit of a streak of good luck.

If they take care of business like they should against the 49ers, then we can believe that this team has another good run in them, maybe even in the playoffs. We can chalk up this Broncos game to a "needed reality check" that got the team focused.

So now we wait. We wait another week. We wait another week, to see if we have to wait another year.