JUST LOSE, BABY!
A loss to lowly Titans would be a win-win for Jets fans if... It leads to Heisman winner Mariota And brings Idzik error to an end
John Idzik’s days as Jets GM may be numbered if Gang Green loses to fellow cellar-dwelling Titans today, which just might make drafting Oregon QB Marcus Mariota (shown winning Heisman Trophy last night) a possibility.
LOOK AROUND Manhattan bars on Sunday and you’ll find a great deal of fans decked out in green and white, rooting their hearts out for ... Jake Locker? Might Titans fans once again cheer for Chris Johnson if he gets into the end zone?
For the first time in weeks, the Jets are playing in a big game. A showdown with real consequences. Because the Jets and Titans, who play in Tennessee on Sunday and are tied for the worst record in the NFL at 2-11, are vying for one of the top picks in the draft, and quite possibly a new starting quarterback.
While the NFL draft is still more than four months away, early indications are that Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston will be the top quar terback targets. With three of the f ive teams that have 2-11 records (Titans, Jets and Bucs) all definitively in need of a QB, it’s clear that at least one of those three teams will miss out on both the Duck and the Seminole.
That’s what makes Sunday’s game so important: the outcome could decide the fate of the franchise for years to come.
The nature of the NFL draft order — determined by reverse order of record, with ties being broken by the team with the worse strength of schedule — sometimes gives fans incentives to root against their own team, even though coaches and players will always try to win games.
For Jets fans, losing is a victory two times over: not only does it aid their cause for a better draft pick and land either Mariota or Winston at quarterback, but it also could help end the reign of a GM they loathe and whom many have been campaigning to get fired for several weeks.
In the Jets’ case, the situation puts the general manager in a strange position, too. Clearly, the best-case scenario for the long-term health of the Jets is for them to lose their final three games and secure as high a draft pick as possible. But GM John Idzik is also trying to preserve his job. While his fate may already be sealed either way, every loss could make it that much easier for Woody Johnson to pull the plug after just two years with Idzik running the team.
Call it the Idzik paradox: he and the Jets are in the best position for the future if the
team loses on Sunday, yet by losing he hurts his own chances of being around to capitalize on that advantage.
It’s a cruel twist of fate for The Patient One, because it was mere months ago that, while Rex Ryan desperately needed a winning team to preserve his job, Idzik played it slow. He kept large reserves in the team’s war chest, starting the season with more than $20 million in cap space. And while he spent on free agents like Eric Decker, Mike Vick and Breno Giacomini, he left the team with a gaping hole at cornerback despite the position’s massive importance to Ryan’s defense. All the cap flexibility earned Idzik was the trade for Percy Harvin, and only after the team’s season had turned sour. Harvin could pay dividends down the road, but Idzik may not be around to reap them.
Though Idzik once said he had “no regrets” about not signing a top-flight cornerback — the Jets actually cut Antonio Cromartie and had Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the building during free agency — he can’t look upon
that decision fondly now. One player probably would not have changed a lot about this team, but it may have meant the situation would not be as dire as it is now.
Despite the tangible benefits of losing, there won’t be any visible indications of them on the field Sunday. The advantages of losing sound foreign to those inside the locker room, always programmed to fight for the next win.
“I don’t go out and play football to lose for anyone,” Sheldon Richardson said. “That’s just the way I’m built. This just has to be something we disagree on. Agree to disagree, that’s how I look at it.” Sure, but it makes more sense to Suck for the Duck!