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While Zach Wilson
had two rough games in a row, and needs to play a lot better, it must be pointed out, and this isn’t excuse making, that the same New Orleans defense that held the Jets to three field goals in Week 14, shut out iconic Tom Brady on Sunday Night Football last night. And obvious the Miami Dolphins have one of the NFL’s best defenses, with their creative blitzes and two top-shelf corners (Xavien Howard and Byron Jones).
Once again, not making any excuses. Wilson isn’t seeing the field well right now – clearly not trusting his eyes, but the last two Jets opponents are superb defenses that are rough on veterans, let alone rookies . . .
If you want to build a strong football culture, some might advise you to avoid tweets like this:
This morning the Jets official Twitter account tweeted: “Squad fought until the final whistle Sunday.”
The Jets lost the game to Miami, so some might put this tweet in the moral victory category. And strong football cultures tend to avoid moral victories. After the New England Patriots put up a valient effort, but lost to Tampa Bay 19-17, earlier this season, quarterback Mac Jones was asked about his solid performance and responded, the Patriots “don’t really do moral victories.”
Several Jets fans took umbrage with the Jets’ tweet:
“Fighting til the final whistle is NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!!! Start holding the players/coaches/administration accountable and stop making it sound like there are ‘good’ losses!!!!!.” – Senior Sweeps.
“Yo, I’m sick of seeing this. This ain’t little huskies.” – Korey
“Participation Trophy.” – Sean
Clearly, Senior Sweeps, Korey and Sean feel this doesn’t represent an ideal NFL mindset. For those who aren’t aware, a “participation trophy,” according to Wikipedia, “is a trophy given to children (usually) who participate in a sporting event but do not finish in first, second or third place, and so would not normally be eligible for a trophy.”
Another issue some fans had with the tweet is that they felt the Jets didn’t fight to the end, because they played much better in the first half than the second half.
“Kept fighting? They disappeared after halftime, the numbers don’t lie. If Miami had a real QB, would have been a blowout.” – Lauren Richins
“And the whole 54 yards of offense and 3 first downs in the second half REALLY proves that.” – Greg Nicastro
“Final whistle in the 1st half.” – Anthony Lodestro.
Some might argue that if the Jets want to build a great football culture, it’s not just about drafting and signing the right players, but other things as well, like perhaps eschewing moral victories after losses.
But some might have no issue with what the Jets’ Twitter account did. It all depends on your worldview . . .
Speaking of building a strong football culture, Robert Saleh did something yesterday that top football cultures are known to do, he deactivated two players who played poorly in the previous game – DE Shaq Lawson and RB Ty Johnson. That is one of the best ways to get a player’s attention about their level of play – pull them, at least temporarily . . .
December 20, 2021
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