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J?-E?-T?-S? Jets? Jets? Jets?

Of all the many things in sports I do not understand and have given up trying, the New York Jets rank first in degree of difficulty.

I look at the Jets and see nothing I like except their record. By every rational means of evaluating a football team I have been taught, Rex Ryan's bunch looks, sounds, and feels like a perpetual 5-11 squad, a noisier version of the Seahawks. They're a running team that often can't run and a blitzing team that seldom gets meaningful quarterback pressure. Approximately one out of every three games, their quarterback looks like that poor Florida freshman did against LSU yesterday, simply unprepared for and incapable of competing.

When the Jets lose, they often get massacred in "please stop this mismatch" style. Every loss is followed by what most NFL franchises would regard as deplorable discord. Egotism appears to be encouraged as a lifestyle choice.

The Jets always look as if disaster is their manifest destiny. It SHOULD be their manifest destiny. So how come destiny has yet to make their scene?

This team that damn well should be a dismal failure has excelled for the past two years at what are two of the most difficult feats in the NFL, winning road playoff games and beating the New England Patriots. They've gone 4-2 at the former, and 3-2 at the latter. Everything I know about pro football tells me this is impossible. And yet, there it is on the record.

I have drawn two possible conclusions about this conundrum. Underneath the bluster and all-around weirdness, Ryan might be one hell of a good coach. The other more logical conclusion is that destiny is merely taking its own sweet time, the better to REALLY cast the Jets into the outer darkness of the NFL when it finally shows up.

Logic also says the Pats beat the Jets by 17 or more this afternoon. Logic, however, has also been a stranger as far as the Jets are concerned. If New York wins again, I won't know whether or not to be surprised.

posted by Michael Gee @ 8:50 AM