Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 13 2009

We all know where this is going, right?

Of course the Jets beat the Bills on Thursday night, to get the team back to 6-6.

Of course the Pats, Steelers, and Ravens all lost.

Of course the Jets are going to find a way to get really close to making the playoffs and then blow it spectacularly.

Maybe it'll be by losing to Tampa next week. Maybe it'll be losing to a banged up Falcons team at home in a couple of weeks. Maybe it'll be winning the next three and blowing the last game against Cincinnati's backups to fall just short.

We know this is coming. This is how this always works. There is no other way for this to play out. These are the Jets. They're not going to just lose the last four, go 6-10 and make the last couple of weeks easy, if a bit sad, for the fans.

No. We are going to get simultaneously kicked in the stomach and punched in the balls. Or vice versa. Or both.

Anyway, until then, it was a decent win against the Bills. Should have been bigger, but Sanchez missed Cotchery in the end zone once, and Braylon Edwards let a perfect bomb hit him in the face.

The defense was outstanding, except for the one drive where Marshawn Lynch had two big runs in a row. Sanchez played better. The running game was unstoppable. The offensive play calling was only occasionally retarded. The kick coverage was good (no small thing against the Bills, who always seem to kill us on kicks one game a year.)

If there's any real positivity to take out of this season, it's that the defense has been pretty consistently good (last drive in the Miami and Jacksonville games aside.) That means that Rex Ryan's system isn't a fluke. Get a few more of "his" guys in there, especially in the secondary (Kerry Rhodes and Lito Sheppard aren't playing very well) and it can be even better next year.

Also, despite some bumpy games early on, the offensive line has played generally well. I'd be somewhat concerned about Faneca and Woody's age, but other than that you have to be pleased.

And, if Sanchez gets a bit better next year, too, then this turns into an interesting, possibly contending, team.

But this is optimism for next year. And this isn't August. So for now we have to embrace the approaching doom.

And embrace it we shall. Do your worst.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Looks like Clemens is starting this week...might just lose and accelerate the inevitable. Of course you know that if they lose to Tampa they'll then win out and finish 9-7 only to not make the playoffs via tiebreaker. We can then say the rest of the league was lucky that the Jets didn't make it because they would've ran the table a la 1999. 10 years later and nothing changes.

-Anonymous Jets Fan