So far, so good this post season for my beloved American Football Jets. Over the last two weeks, the Jets picked up two wins against two very good teams, on the road both times. While the first win was a little savory, the second was oh so sweet. The Jets went into Foxboro and beat their archrival after a full week’s worth of serious trash talking – they actually backed up their strong words which is incredible in this age of bloviation. The team known as the Jets that I am watching today is quite different from the one I grew up watching and I very much like what I see.
Slowly but a surely a culture of success has taken over the team which is astonishing for someone who is always accustomed to waiting for the other shoe to drop when dealing with Gang Green. From the saying “Play like a Jet” to the sweeping arm motions that many of the players make after big plays, or when they run off the field after a win, to the fact that the team never seems to quit and that they somehow someway manage to make big plays when they are so desperately needed, it is evident that a new mindset has taken root which I still, almost two full seasons into watching this little plant grow, am having trouble grasping and accepting as the present reality.
That being said, I think Rex Ryan said it best when he sarcastically quipped in his post-game press conference, “Yeah, same old Jets. Going to the AFC Championship game two years in a row.” The part about the Patriots game that made me believe that these Jets are truly different is that they won powerfully and convincingly. They didn’t have to rely on trick plays, or to have gotten lucky at the right moment by say returning a fumble for a touchdown. No, they beat the Pats by beating them down with old fashion smash mouth football. They ran the ball all day long, they employed a punishing defense which while spotty during the year has turned it on the past month or so. Second year quarterback Mark “he’s stealthy good” Sanchez already has in his short career as many road playoff victories as anyone else who ever has played in the NFL and, it just keeps getting better, he has more road wins that Favre and Marino combined. He was better than two surefire first ballot Hall of Fame QBs two weeks in a row. Who are these guys?
I’m cautiously optimistic for this coming Sunday. It’s going to be a very tough game to win. I have experienced heartbreak in this title game twice before as they were up 10 points at the half in ’98 (when I watched the game in Simsbury, CT) and 11 points at the half in ’09 (when I watched the game in NYC) but lost both games. Now, I’m going for the Tri-state area trifecta by watching this game in NJ. Hopefully the third time is the charm. If its not though, hopefully this culture of winning will continue for a long, long time. I don’t want these Jets to become the late 80’s Browns, always close (The Drive! The Fumble!) but never going to the Super Bowl, or the early 90’s Bills, making and then losing 4 Super Bowls in a row. But, I guess there are worse things, like just being happy to even make the playoffs, like they were back in ’91 when Raul Alegre’s field goal as time expired tied the game and then his next field goal won the game for them. I said it last year that I hoped Ryan was building a foundation and this season it seems that he has done so. I’m looking forward to not only next week but many, many future weeks to come.