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Rex Ryan was on the hot seat at the end of the 2013 season.
And then the team finished the season with an impressive 20-7 win over the Miami Dolphins on December 29, to finish 8-8, and they announced that Ryan would return after the game.
The Jets had a new GM at the time, and there were thoughts that maybe he should be able to pick his coach, but in an excited post-game visiting locker room in Miami Gardens, the owner told the team the popular coach would return.
The Jets went 4-12 the next season, and both Ryan and the GM were fired.
The point here is simple, you can’t overreact to one game, and act like all is right with the world.
You can’t make decisions, whether it’s on coaches or player, based on small sample sizes.
And I’m not looking to take away from Zach Wilson’s excellent second half in the Jets win over the Houston Texans, but what does is mean in the big picture?
It was one terrific half against a depleted team.
You have to pretty fickle to act like it was a seminal moment, and it means he turned the corner.
Now if he does this repeatedly down the stretch, maybe that is a different story.
But where was this in winnable games against Las Vegas and New England?
And where was this in the Jets’ 13-10 OT win over the Giants, a contest that featured 24 punts? Remember, they were lucky to win that game, thanks in part to injured Giants kicker Graham Gano missing a 35-yard field goal with only 24 seconds remaining, that would have given the the G-Men a six-point lead. The missed field goal allowed the Jets to kick a field goal to force OT and then kick a field goal on OT to win the game.
You can say it was the offensive line was an issue in some of those games, but it wasn’t like they rolled with a great line against Houston. Two players, who had started against Buffalo, were inactive due to injuries – right guard Wes Schweitzer and right tackle Carter Warren, and then they lost right tackle Max Mitchell in the game to a shoulder injury.
Also, Mekhi Becton had an inconsistent game at left tackle.
So it stands to reason, that Wilson didn’t have an all-star line in front of him against the Texans, but Wilson and the Jets’ offense found a way in the second half.
And that is what you need to do in a league where teams always have to deal with injuries, you figure out way.
The Cleveland Browns, with both starting offensive tackles, and their starting QB out, now standing at 8-5.
Sean Payton has the rebuilding Denver Broncos at 7-6. The Texans are also 7-6 with a rookie QB.
I am going to go back to the Bill Parcells quote for about the millionth time – “There is a way to win every game.”
So you look back at those games against the Raiders, Patriots, and even the Los Angeles Chargers, and wonder why the Jets lost all three games, to three teams, all with bad records now, all eminently beatable.
And one reason was suspect QB play.
The Jets had a playoff-caliber defense, and they have kind of wasted that, and keep in mind, with the salary cap, it’s hard to keep the band together forever. This was a year that a lot of good players were locked up, like Bryce Huff, but they might lose in free agency after that year. You gotta strike while the iron is hot.
A lot of reports questions waxing poetic to Jets players and the head coach after the game and Zach Wilson and his resolve, like, “What does this say about Zach, that he was able to go out there and perform that way he did today?”
It says he’s very inconsistent, struggles if his first read isn’t open, and they still might need to move on after the season.
Don’t be fickle like the Jets were after that 2013 game in Miami.
December 11, 2023
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