By Paul Sondhi
Now that the Mets have established themselves as fringe contenders in the National League, it seems like the yearly group of NYC sports embarrassment is down to just the Knicks and the Jets. Yet, Gang Green seems readily prepared for such a joke of a season that will surely make up for the Mets being good.
Trouble got started early this year when QB Geno Smith got punched in the face over a $600 dispute by linebacker I.K. Enemkpali, taken in the sixth round of the 2014 draft. Nothing like having your starting quarterback (who is also one of the worst in the league) getting sucker punched by a guy who was waived in the blink of an eye. To add insult to Smith’s injury, former Jets head coach and current Bills head coach Rex Ryan promptly picked Enemkpali up.
Oh, the Jets.
Last night was their last meaningless preseason game before kicking off games that actually matter.The Jets beat Philly 24–18, wrapping up the preseason with a record of 3–1, with wins against the Falcons, Giants, and aforementioned Eagles. They face perhaps the equally lowly Browns in their first taste of regular season action September 13th.
With Smith out, Ryan Fitzpatrick is the de facto starter at QB. Don’t get me wrong, Fitzpatrick is actually a decent NFL starter and probably should have won the top job over a healthy Smith. He even has good options to throw to in wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. But with a weak run game led by Chris Ivory and backups Bilal Powell and Zac Stacy, defenses will be able to focus on the Jets’ passing game, effectively shutting down the offense.
On the defensive side of the ball, the return of Darrelle Revis, arguably the second-best defensive player in the NFL behind J.J. Watt, and the naming of Todd Bowles, former Arizona defensive coordinator, as head coach will help the defense immensely. I expect the Jets to vault from being 21st in Football Outsiders’ DVOA rankings last year, to in the Top 10. Revis and Bowles are that good.
I’m sure we’ll see more instances this season of the Jets doing Jets-y things. There will be bad losses at times (look out for the invigorated Patriots), a whole lot of low-scoring, close games, and probably no blowouts in the Jets’ favor. In the end, hoping for 6–8 wins would be a reasonable ask from Jets’ fans. Equally possible is a catastrophic season of despair. What else do you expect from the Jets?
