There’s no doubt, this is the worst Jets team EVER!
The Jets lost again on Sunday, of course to Bill Belichick and the Patriots, even with a shot case like Cam Newton playing quarterback. The Jets ended up at 2-14 for the season, and even if it wasn’t the worst record in Jets history, this is the worst team in Jets history, hands down, whether they showed some fight and pride against the Rams and Browns or not. They don’t have the worst record in the sport, which means they don’t get Trevor Lawrence. The Jaguars will. No matter. The Jets are the worst team in the league this season.
They don’t have a single player you want to watch play football, and that includes Sam Darnold, a nice enough kid and a nice enough player who got drafted No. 3 one time and earned the right to go play inside a burning building. They haven’t had anybody you really want to watch play football for a long time. At best, they have two players on their offense who might be able to start for a good team somewhere else. Might. Jamison Crowder and Mekhi Becton. That’s it.
They have hit the sports trifecta for now, and maybe for a while. They have lousy ownership, they have lousy players. They fired the lousy coach, Adam Gase, on Sunday night. And no one has any idea if the general manager, Joe Douglas, has the chops — or the power — to get them out of this. He is the one who has to hire a new coach. He is the one who has to decide whether or not to sell the No. 2 pick in the upcoming draft. He is the one who has to make the call on whether to keep Darnold, or see if there are any takers for the poor kid.
There was nothing new to report about Sunday’s 28-14 loss to the Patriots. It was a game until it wasn’t. Darnold threw a big pick. Despite ending up with 266 passing yards, it was a mediocre performance from him at best. They can’t run it well enough, they can’t pass it well enough, they actually made Newton still look like a viable quarterback after so many games this season when he looked like a punched-out fighter. Game, set, match.
You know why this is worse than the two seasons of Rich Kotite, including 1-15? Because after Kotite came Parcells. The greatest New York/ New Jersey coach of them all was about to leave the Patriots for the Jets the way Belichick would later leave the Jets for the Patriots and change everything for the Jets, at least for a little while. The Jets would come out of 1-15 and before long they would be in the AFC Championship game against John Elway and the Broncos, a game they could have oh-so-easily won.
In a sports world where bad teams like the Jets are always imagining that an authentic savior is going to come walking into the room, Parcells really was one. But who is that guy now? Say there is a Matt LaFleur out there, looking for his big break. What in holy hell would make him want to sign on with the Jets? You think Darnold thinks it was his lucky day when the Jets drafted him?
What feels like twenty minutes later, the Jets have to decide whether they want to take a shot on another quarterback — Justin Fields? Zach Wilson of BYU? — after the Jaguars select Trevor Lawrence. Or to take DeVonta Smith, one of the great wide receivers in college football history, and ask him to come play with Darnold, and actually give Darnold someone who can catch and run and make plays. And make people want to watch him.]
Douglas’ decision about quarterback feels as important as the one about who the next coach will be. Maybe he already knows if he wants to keep Darnold, and see what he looks like with more talent around him, and a real coach. But Sam Darnold sounds as uncertain about his own future as Jets fans feel about theirs. When he was asked after the loss to the Patriots if this might have been his last game as a Jet, Darnold said this:
“I don’t know.”
Marcus Maye, who never stopped playing as if the games mattered and the season mattered, said this after the game:
“The talent is here.”
You wondered what movie he has been watching. He’s been right there on the sideline, watching every snap either Darnold or Joe Flacco has taken this season. The talent is there? Where is the talent? This reminds you of the old days, when the Jets used to sell you Revis Island, and Darrelle Revis as their star. A defensive back. One thing has never changed about that: If you’re a fan and you’re being told a defensive back is your best player, you feel as if you are watching an NFL season from the bottom of a mineshaft.
That is where the Jets ended up, after a season when they won six of their last eight games and gave their fans some hope, even if so much of that occurred at what Marv Albert always called gar-bage time. Once they only had to think about somehow finding a way to beat Belichick in the AFC East. Now here comes Josh Allen, the thirdbest quarterback in the sport after Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. Despite the way Tua Tagovailoa has looked down the stretch, he’s not going anywhere and neither are the Dolphins.
Fifty years after Namath, they’re still looking for the next Namath. Twenty years after Parcells, they’re looking for another Parcells. Kotite had a worse record than Gase did this year. Doesn’t matter. Never a worse Jets team than this. Goodbye to them for now, and good riddance.