Jets and the Playoffs

It's getting hard to temper my enthusiasm for the Jets this year. When the year started, I couldn't believe all the people who said, this team doesn't have any talent, and it's going to be one of the worst in the NFL. While they did have a horrible season last year, there was plenty of context to it as well. They lost both their starting and backup quarterbacks (Chad Pennington, Jay Fiedler) in the third week of the season. The injury count didn't stop there. Running backs Curtis Martin and Derrick Blaylock, starting center Kevin Mawae, slot receiver Wayne Chrebet, starting TE Chris Baker and starting OLB Eric Barton were also lost to injury. The Jets may not have been as good as their 2004, 10-6 Playoff edition, but no team in the NFL these days would be able to withstand this number of injuries. Add to the mix that the offensive line was getting older and couldn't adapt to the new offensive coordinator's scheme, and things were not looking good.

Now they're being considered a team that will likely make the playoffs and everybody seems so surprised. I don't really understand why. Maybe it's because they had a young coach and so many rookies on the team. The running back situation was also pretty muddled at the beginning of the year. Those who make predictions should have taken a look last place / NFC North-containing schedule and healthy lineup and realized that they should improve at the very least on their four wins.

But I worry that the team will get too high on themselves after their great performance last Sunday. Their 31-0 lead in the first half was about as good as any team could play, and they excelled in all facets of the game. But the Packers aren't a great team and while the rest of the schedule looks pretty easy, teams in the NFL are close enough together that even a bad team can beat a good one if the circumstances are right.

At least the Giants are having their own mini-crisis that helps to deflect attention from the Jets.

By the way, Nick Saban and Romeo Crennel just got votes of confidence. We'll need to keep our eyes on them.