Jets could do some things

Strike while the iron is hot . . .

Entering this season, the expectations for the Jets weren’t lofty.

The over/under win total for them in Las Vegas was 5.5. Obviously, they have already beaten that at 6-3 after nine weeks.

The Jets have a good chance at making the playoffs this year.

Not only have they exceeded expectations, but the league is down this year. Not even a handful of elite teams in the league, not a lot of good quarterbacks and some really bad coaching.

So even though this was considered a transition year for the Jets, now it has to be considered a year they should probably make the playoffs.

Look at some of the teams they have coming up on the schedule.

New England won yesterday, beating an awful Indianapolis Colts, but their offense was really bad once again. They won because the Colts are a trainwreck, who just hired an ESPN analyst as their interim coach, after firing Frank Reich.

But don’t let that New England score in their win over Indy, 26-3, lead you to believe they have righted their ship. The biggest reason the Patriots won that game was the Colts’ offensive line is atrocious, and QB Sam Ehlinger was sacked nine times. That was the story of the game.

So the Jets head up to New England after their bye week in a very winnable game. Heck, they should have beat New England at MetLife recently but turned the ball over too much. You take these three picks out of the equation, and the Jets clearly outplayed New England.

Jets at New England = a winnable game. Then along the way they have the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars at home all winnable games.

I’m not going to go over the whole schedule, but you get the idea, but if they win those four games, they are up to 10 wins.

The bottom line is this season began as a transition year, as they rebuild their roster with a couple of strong drafts, but now they should make the playoffs.

They can’t waste their strong start, especially in a down NFL year. Let’s be honest, the NFL sucks this year. Pardon my language.

So that is why they must “strike while the iron is hot.”

The Jets have one of the better rosters in the league right now, thanks to the work of Joe Douglas and his staff.

The Sheldon Rankins injury is a tough blow. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler announced Rankins suffered a dislocated elbow Sunday vs. Buffalo and could miss up to 4-6 weeks.

That is a significant blow because there is a dropoff from Rankins to his backup. Yes, Nathan Shepherd made some plays against New England, but that was against an undersized backup center (James Ferentz) and a rookie guard (Cole Strange) who needs to get a lot stronger.

Shepherd did a nice job in that game, but let’s see what he does against better competition, like if the Patriots starting center David Andrew returns for the November 20 game.  Rankins is much more athletic than Shepherd. So this loss could hurt.

But they can always play John Franklin-Myers more inside at DT. They have a lot of depth on the defensive line.

They have a lot of depth everywhere.

Aside from good work by Douglas and his staff putting together this roster, another reason they are able to have so much quality depth is their starting QB is on his rookie deal. Once you pay the starting QB that going rate of $45-50 million, it hurts your ability to have great depth at other positions. Look at Buffalo yesterday. Look at the Los Angeles Rams.

Look, I’m not going to say “Super Bowl or bust.” But I will say “playoffs or bust.”

The league is down, the Jets are really talented, they need to make the second season this year.

November 7, 2022

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