CheeringMetFan
My Daughter is a Yankee Fan!
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(12/2/03 8:04 pm)
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Jets Chad is reason for hope
This will be the second year in a row when neither of the teams that went to the Super Bowl even get back into the playoffs.
So, the Jets, who made the playoffs in Herm Edwards' first two seasons, just blend into the overcrowded group that had success but couldn't sustain it. Of the 12 teams that made the playoffs last season, eight of them have losing records.
These days the NFL is all about one year having nothing to do with the next. And that means the Jets can turn it right back around and be contenders again in 2004 if they can make the right decisions in the offseason.
The Jets' impressive 24-17 victory last night over the Titans, who had won six straight and might have been the best team in the league, is an indication they don't have that much ground to make up.
"We believe we're a good team," Chad Pennington said after the Jets got to 5-7, the best record in New York.
Of course, they are not close to the playoffs and December is all about playing for pride and trying to build momentum going into the offseason. They are three games out of the last playoff spot with four games to go.
Getting this season into January is not going to happen, but the Jets have the most important piece in place to get there next season. Pennington is a special player, which gives the Jets a head start on getting themselves back into contention.
They would have been better than 0-4 if Pennington had not broken his wrist in the preseason. By the time he returned, the season was too far gone.
"I really don't think we are that far away," Edwards said. "Obviously, we've got a quarterback."
Pennington started slowly last night with two interceptions in the first half, one of them in the end zone. He had another interception in the end zone overturned by instant replay, which allowed the Jets to keep the ball and Curtis Martin ran it in from the 6 on the next play to get the Jets even at 7-7.
But Pennington bounced back in the second half. He was 8-for-8 for 134 yards and touchdown passes to Kevin Swayne and Curtis Conway. He outplayed Steve McNair, who had been the NFL's MVP through three months of the season.
Edwards thought the Jets were going to win this game. "I just felt it," he said. He called it a "playoff game for us," because "we're on a respirator now."
More likely, this was a playoff game for the Jets because this was as close as they are going to come to them. Edwards hasn't ruled out the playoffs. "If we keep winning, we'll find out," he said.
To get there next year, it will take a better February-to-June from Jets GM Terry Bradway than he had last spring, when it seemed like half his team went to Washington. Bradway must get Pennington a big receiver and he must get Edwards a defense.
Bradway has been defensive about losing Laveranues Coles, Randy Thomas, Chad Morton and John Hall to the Redskins. "I don't know how much of a difference that would have made," he said. "None of those guys play on defense."
Even though the Jets limited the Titans, who had been averaging almost 28 points a game, to just 17, the defense has been the Jets' biggest headache.
And there are indications that defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell, whose system never has meshed with Edwards' philosophy, may have to pay for the problems with his job. Three years in a row the Jets defense struggled early, but at least the first two years Cottrell got it straightened out in time to make a playoff run. Not this year.
If Cottrell gets fired, the leading contender to replace him is Rod Marinelli, who is Tampa's assistant head coach/defensive line. He was Edwards' first choice in 2001, but the Bucs denied the Jets permission to speak to him. That was three years ago. The Jets may be able to get him now. But they still need players.
The defensive personnel must be overhauled. Mo Lewis will be first through the exit door and the Jets will go from there. Bradway has been watching college tape for the last eight weeks and he's been to 10 college games this season. His pro personnel department has been rating the upcoming free-agent class and prepared tapes. The Jets need playmakers at linebacker and in the secondary. They have enough players up front.
But you can't buy a Super Bowl. Daniel Snyder keeps proving that. Free agency is nothing more than a short-term solution. The Jets probably will have a top-10 pick in the draft. They should use that one and all the rest on defense.
'I'm not going to tip my hand," Bradway said. "We will take a look at every possible avenue to get better."
The Jets have their quarterback. Now Bradway has to get a defense.
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