Well, that was the idea anyway for the J-E-T-S today. Didn't quite work out like that as apparently the D decided not to show up (excluding a Lowery pick six).
Jets still clinched a wild card spot though due to Jacksonville loss and can make their plans for the playoffs. Somehow not as satisfying to make the playoffs on someone else's loss when you could've gotten in with your own win, though.
Going from 9-2 to possibly ending 10-6 (although I imagine we'll beat the Bills to hit 11-5) is underwhelming. Going 1-4 or 2-3 to end the season is not really the strong showing you'd like heading into the playoffs. As a wise man once said, fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life; and ending the season 1-4 is no way to close things out.
Playoffs reset the clock to 0-0 though and if Jets get it together they could make another run this year. Both O and D need to seriously sharpen up their game though.
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Look, we all knew the last 5 games were going to be the true test of whether this team was ready to compete for a championship.
The 9-2 mark was great, but let's face it, it was mostly against weaker opponents. No harm in that. You still need to beat the teams that suck. The Jets did that.
But against the league's better squads, we look like we belong, but don't stand out. We beat Pitt (barely), a first-round bye playoff team, on their home field in a cold December game.
We lost to Chicago (barely), a first-round bye playoff team, on their home field in a cold December game.
Again, I'll take that split. We're clearly among the better teams in the league, but are obviously a long-shot for a Conference of League Championship.
It's the mutilation by the Pats that makes this slide hurt so much, b/c it reminds us of the chasm between the Jets and Pats.
I guess we can take some solace in knowing the Pats are clearly the class of the NFL right now, and no one is close. They've demolished other good teams as well during the home stretch, like Pitt.
Look--the Jetties are in the playoffs. That's one goal met. Can they advance on the road? You bet. Look at their road record. Look at the last two weeks. One win in the playoffs isn't out of the question. Two seems unlikely, but not completely unreasonable.
Unfortunately, that's the furthest this story can go, absent Ed Reed doing a Theismann job on Brady's knee.
I will say that for me, the most disappointing part for me is that team is clearly worse than last year's team, where I expected improvement.
The offense has more big-play potential, with Holmes in the mix and Edwards drawing the #2 CB, but the run-blocking and runnning game overall is way worse than last year. We really miss Faneca.
The Special Teams have looked erratic and have been really exposed at times. This past game they clearly cost us the game. Chicago started 4 straight drives in the 2nd half on the Jets side of the field? If Westhoff wasn't Westhoff, he'd probably be fired.
But the big story is the defense. The defense went from being amazing last year, to average (or slightly above-average) this year. The reason we were able to win January football games last year was our D. You need to have one outstanding unit. This year, we don't have that.
We have an above-average, but erratic, Offense, and an above-average, but erratic defense. Much tougher to game plan when you can't count on winning any one phase of the game.
This team is definitely a solid B+/A- overall, with occasional flashes of A.
The main concerns/disappointments: First, we all knew that losing Faneca would be a big hit, yet Tannenbaum and co. still let him go. Sure, he wanted big money, but guess what? He's worth it. The pocket protection and run blocking has suffered a lot this year. You don't mess with a solid O-line group.
Second, I think the offensive play calling has been odd and erratic this year. So many situations had much more obvious calls and Schott made things harder than they had to be. We have a lot of skill at key positions; there is no need to get fancy so often on plays. I also will keep complaining until they let Brad Smith throw more often out of the Seminole formation. They completely misuse that option and don't keep opposing defenses honest.
Third, the D has been completely inconsistent and failed to show up on every key drive and down. Having Revis is great, but quite honestly useless if the rest of the secondary doesn't do their job. Jets better get a legit pass rushing defensive end soon.
Finally, I think we are seeing that Rex is a great motivator, but mediocre at best when it comes to Xs and Os. The game plan and execution are often coming up short.
Like Fredo I was hoping for the team to look better this year, whereas it appears they've taken a step back. All that said, they've made the playoffs two years in a row and once they're in anything can happen. There is enough talent on this team to make them very dangerous.
Finally, I think we are seeing that Rex is a great motivator, but mediocre at best when it comes to Xs and Os. The game plan and execution are often coming up short.
^^^THIS.
BTW, as far as the defense goes, the big problem to me has not been the secondary. It has been the total and complete lack of any pass rush whatever.
Almost every big play you see is when the opposing QB has 5 or 6 seconds, standing completely still in the middle of the pocket, and just waits on his receivers to come open on a secondary route.
Simms said as much as this week multiple times. "If I was Cutler I'd just hold the ball until someone comes open."
The knock on the 3-4 scheme is that it can't generate a rush, absent blitzing. I don't think that's true, b/c we always spot rush an LB, and have several that can get to the QB. The problem is we don't have a single DL with the ability to sack the QB. It's telling that Jason Taylor is the best pass rusher on the defensive line, and he's like 70% of the player he was.
Pouha and Devito are warriors. I love those guys. They're lunch pail guys. But they're also like 7th round draft picks. When that's 2/3 of your starting D Line, you get plenty of effort and run stuffing, but no dynamic athleticism.
Oh, and even worse than the game-planning is the clock management, which has been atrocious.
One more point on the D--
Their performance has been noticeably worse since they lost Leonhard.
Clearly Leonhard is not a lock down coverage S. He is not the most athletic guy on the field, and he's clearly small for the League. But.... they say he's the QB of the defense, and that has shown. Big time.
They said the loss of Leonhard would seriously impact the D scheme calling. But I wonder, why can't Revis do this? I realize it's easier for a safety to call out D from their position, but it seems Revis studies more tape than anyone and is probably as smart a player out there as anyone. So I'd put the responsibility on him. At a minimum he could call out some basic schemes.
I think it's prolly a basic logistics problem. If he's lined up against the weak side receiver, can the strong side LB, nickel back, and strong safety even hear the call.
Like centers on the OL, I think a lot of what Leonhard did that was valuable was preplay (point out coverage on motion, etc.). However, I think a lot of his value was just the in-play reads, figuring out which one-on-one defender needed help and where the pass was likely going.
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