Opinion
In the 2021 season the football world fell in love with the Cinderella story that was the Cincinnati Bengals. As they took down the mighty Chiefs in the divisional round we dreamed of a world where cigar-smoking Joe Burrow flaunted his extreme swag in a locker room that contained a recently acquired Lombardi Trophy.
Even after their loss to the Rams it was considered a successful season, especially for those who remember their previous run of terrible team after terrible team.
With the glow now firmly faded from that year many of us are looking for who will restore that part of our hearts that says, on any given Sunday, in any given season my terrible team can make a dream run.
We have been gifted that team in the New York Jets.
I had actually begun writing this article before they downed the Buffalo Bills in northern New Jersey for the world to see, and I regret not completing it before then because I don’t want to look like a bandwagon fan.
The reason for that is because the Jets fanbase has long endured terrible teams, more so than the Bengals, and just about the only fanbase that’s gone through more pain is the Cleveland Browns. So, they deserved a write-up that didn’t predict a crushing blow out to Josh Allen and co. Alas, here we are – sorry, Gang Green.
Last year when Robert Salah took over there were calls for his head as he fielded a historically bad defensive unit.
But those calls have been silenced with this newly reformed Jets defence and I have to start by talking about the home run draft pick that is Sauce Gardener. Before the season commenced coach Salah said he doesn’t call him ‘Sauce’, he calls him by his name Ahmad because he had to earn that nickname.
Well, Bobby, it’s time to start shouting Sauce from the mountaintop.
This kid is an absolute knock out. The stat that absolutely blows my mind is this: through the first seven weeks he had allowed 26 yards passing. Twenty-six… over seven games. That’s not a typo, nor is it allowed per game, it’s cumulative over seven weeks.
(Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
For those who are new to NFL (and I have a pet peeve for when I first got into it: sometimes stats are thrown around without any explanation), this means that when the Sauce is covering a wide receiver, they’ve only caught balls worth a total of 26 yards. That is insane.
Adding to their defense is Quinnen Williams, who leads all interior defensive lineman with seven sacks. There’s plenty more flowers to go around for the defence but I’ll just say this: they held the NFL’s most powerful team to a second half of 63 yards and 3 points. Compare that to their average of 215 yards and 14.5 points and it starts to paint a picture.
Throw in DJ Reed, C.J. Mosley and rookie Jermaine Johnson II – that unit is packed full with high octane studs.
On to the offence, and we can’t move on without saying that if anyone holds this team back from a Cinderella story for the ages it will be young QB Zach Wilson. He’s no Burrow and we know it. The catch with that is as long as he doesn’t actively hurt them with poor decision-making, being average is enough with the weapons and defence to support him.
Except for his game against Green Bay, Garrett Wilson is basically catching everything thrown at him (okay, he might get one incompletion some games) but otherwise for a rookie he has some Justin Jefferson vibes and if he can keep pounding out this kind of efficiency the ceiling on this kid is super high.
We can only hope that the bleeding injuries can stop. Breece Hall and Alijah Vera Tucker were a bit of a dagger for the Jets, I do hope they can bounce back and love the aggressive move to sign Robinson. And it might be banished to the memory of the off-season but Mekhi Becton being out again sucks (serious Bahktiari vibes here).
Are the Jets going to fly their way into the Super Bowl? Probably not, let’s be honest, but theres a glimmer of hope and for a fanbase that has endured so many losing seasons, so many busted draft picks and head office choices that always missed the mark, I’m honestly thrilled for that glimmer!
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