Playoffs Notwithstanding, Jets’ Ability To Maintain Positive Vibes Rests In Own Hands
The Jets technically do not control their own playoff destiny. As the ninth-place team in an AFC that takes seven into the postseason, New York is going to need some help.
Of course, the odds that the Dolphins, Patriots, and Chargers all run the table at 4-0 down the stretch is not only low, it’s impossible, because Miami and New England face each other in Week 17.
So, there’s a crack in the window for the Jets (7-6) to sneak in for the first time in 12 seasons, the longest drought in the NFL. A loss to Detroit at home on Sunday, however, would be devastating.
Simply put, it’s a game they have to win against an opponent who may be ascending (5-1 in its last six games after starting the season 1-6) but is majorly flawed on defense. The Lions have surrendered the second-most points and yards per game in the league.
It’s bad form to look ahead, but the Jets then host Jacksonville on a short week before finishing the season with games at Seattle and Miami. All of them are winnable, giving fans hope that this is not an impossible task.
Yet, any long-time Jets fan who won’t acknowledge trepidations about Sunday’s affair is lying. This team has disappointed too many times in its mostly ignominious history, even if none of Sunday’s combatants were involved in those painful defeats. I mean, the last time the Jets played a game of this magnitude this late int he season was in 2015.
Those that remember that season—and how it ended with a 22-17 debacle in Buffalo—understand that success for teams without a top-line quarterback have high variances. Schedule, injuries, and defensive luck are never the same year-to-year. In 2016, with much of the same cast, the Jets weren’t so blessed in terms of facing a string of backup/bad quarterbacks and finished 5-11. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick’s Circle of Life rotated from “dazzling to earn a new contract” to “horribly underperforming” just like that.
The same thing can happen to Gang Green in 2023. No one’s taking away any of the Jets’ victories this season in games against substandard QBs in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Miami, Denver, and Chicago. However, it’s fair to project that they may not be as fortunate when their 2023 schedule includes many of the game’s top gunslingers in the AFC West and NFC East.
That’s why, despite the euphoria over the franchise’s shocking development this season after six years in the basement, failing to capitalize on this opportunity would be a familiar gut punch. The only exception would be if the Jets were 10-6 heading into the finale in Miami, which also needed the game to secure a postseason berth, and then dropped a hard-fought contest. Then fans could then at least try to reconcile that this group achieved as much a s it could.
For this week, the Jets will have to figure out a way to corral a red-hot Lions attack that has produced at least 25 points in all but one of their last seven games. Other than a 31-10 rout of the Bears in Week 12, that’s a point total Gang Green hasn’t reached since October 16.
They’ll likely have to do it without their MVP in interior lineman Quinnen Williams, who is nursing a calf injury, though quarterback Mike White is in line to play though sore ribs. My suggestion: Don’t play this one like the Vikings game three weeks ago, where the Jets fell behind with a conservative game plan and needed to air it out to catch up. Treat the first quarter like the fourth quarter and challenge Detroit’s shaky defensive backfield by throwing more often on first downs. Then use the run game to grind it out with a lead.
Who am I kidding? I totally expect the Jets to come out tight and need to overcome early self-inflicted mistakes. Hopefully, it will be enough to stay alive for another week.
Prediction: Jets 26 Lions 23