Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 14 2009

I'll be honest - it was cold in Chicago. I was out late on Saturday. The Jets were starting Kellen Clemens. And playing the miserable Bucs.

I didn't leave my apartment so I could watch this game at a bar.

I stayed home and watched the Red Zone Channel (still the awesomest thing in home NFL viewing.)

I'm not sorry about that decision.

The Jets did what they were supposed to do - rely on the defense and the run game and conservative play calling. Make no big mistakes and beat a bad team physically.

That's what they were supposed to do. They did it. Good.

I'm of two minds about the team at this point in the year. I am happy that the team has the number one rush offense and the number one defense. That is what the team set out to do before the season started, and they achieved it. However, that makes it all the more frustrating that they are 7-6 instead of 9-4 or so (I figure the Buffalo and Jacksonville games both should have been wins.)

Anyway, the last three games aren't particularly easy. Atlanta next week. They're banged up, but just played a pretty good game against the Saints. Then the Colts, and then the Bengals.

Best case for the Jets in order to win out would be for the Colts to lose their next game so they wouldn't be trying for a perfect season anymore, and for the Bengals to have locked up their playoff seed prior to the last game, so they don't play their starters the full game.

Not that likely that they'll win out - it's hard to win 6 games in a row in the NFL. Still possible, though. It's also still possible that they can go 10-6 and miss the playoffs (that's what they get for losing to the goddamn Dolphins twice.)

I think when it's all said and done this year, I'll be okay with it if they finish 8-8 or better. Rookie coach, rookie QB, a couple of tough injuires, and something to build on for next year.

I think I'll even be okay if they finish 10-6 and end up missing the playoffs. It'd be annoying, but not devastating. Mostly because I'm already resigned to the idea that they're not making it.

Which, by the way, is what Jets fans never seem to learn - you can't get your expectations crushed if you don't have any in the first place. That's where we always get in trouble - allowing a couple of good games early in the year to raise expectations.

Right now, I'm in the right place. I expect the Jets to miss the playoffs. I expect they will lose at least one of the last three, if not more. If they do, whatever. If they win out, then, hey, lucky me, I get to be unexpectedly happy.

A little unexpected happiness this time of year never hurt anyone, right?