Regional Sports

Same old song with Jets

This Jets season can’t end soon enough. It already has been a long season that won’t end.

It’s the third straight season this Jets team has been unwatchable. They know how to lose in all those three years. It’s a problem they have yet to rectify, which is why there will be a new coaching staff next season. Is it any wonder there were many empty seats Saturday afternoon at MetLife Stadium? Who wants to waste a Saturday afternoon watching an awful team?

For those that did not go to the game, give yourself an applause. For those that attended the game, what were you thinking? The Jets’ overrated defense failed to protect a lead once again as they let Houston Texans quarterback DeShaun Watson engineer a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.

Even when the Jets gave their fans in attendance something to enjoy with rookie quarterback Sam Darnold engineering a couple of touchdown drives that put them in the game and a touchdown drive that gave them the lead, they found a way to disappoint in the end. That’s a mark of a losing team right there.

The Jets fans knew this was too good to be true when the Jets took a 22-19 lead with five minutes to go in the game. They saw enough of Todd Bowles-coached teams to know better than to think their team can close the deal.

It’s hard to enjoy when this keeps happening over and over again. It’s hard to be encouraged about the Jets moving forward when time after time they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It’s hard to say this is a moral victory when it becomes predictable.

This is what we call a culture problem. There’s not enough guys who know how to win, and there’s not enough guys who are angry enough to do something about these losses. They have been trained to accept losing just by the way they go about these games. This stems from lack of discipline that is fostered by the coaching staff. The coaching staff clearly can’t teach these guys how to win and how to be accountable.

The Jets haven’t had a head coach like that since Eric Mangini, and this is why they will hire another coach once again to be that guy. It’s why they need to hire an experienced coach that knows how to win such as John Harbaugh or Mike McCarthy. A coach that has the answers, and a coach that will not panic when the going gets tough. A coach that will actually know how to lead in tough times. A coach that will bring in a coaching staff that knows what to do.

This is not Bowles. It’s hard to take him seriously as a head coach when he has this confused look on the sidelines almost every game. This has gone on for years, and it’s not getting better. This is why it’s hard to see him be the head coach heading to next season. This is such a bad look, and the Jets ownership and management team can’t bring this coach back for another year. It would ruin and waste Darnold’s development, and it would waste another season. After having the record of 24-38 in his four seasons as Jets coach, one has to say enough already.

Even Bowles has to admit that he needs a change of scenery for his own good.

It would have been nice if a Jets player was angry after a loss like yesterday instead of having a nonchalant attitude about it. A loss like this should irritate someone on the team. One can only take so much of it. Saturday was the right time for it after the Jets played good enough to win.

It’s another reason why there has to be a culture change. Until a player gets angry and do something about all this, it will be the same old story. The players on the Jets roster need to be tough enough to play through adversity and handle another team’s run. They need to respond when the other team scores touchdowns, and they need to find a way to get stops. At least, Darnold has showed he can will the Jets in the game, but they need more than just him. It has to be everyone on the Jets roster.

The Jets are 4-10, and odds are great that they are going to finish the season at 4-12 with the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots as their two remaining games of this season. It’s hard to be optimistic about things getting better with this record. It’s a good bet next season will be as bad as this season, even if the Jets spend money on free agents such as Le’Veon Bell and Jadeveon Clowney.

Something has to change. This can’t go on. It will take an established coach and a new general manager to change all this. Maybe Darnold will continue to grow as a leader. Maybe Bell or Clowney can change the way the Jets do business.

The answers are out there. It’s on the Jets to figure it out.

This season was boring again. It was a waste of everyone’s time. Even Darnold’s development never did much for anyone.

Until things change, Saturday’s loss is another reminder why the Jets earned the moniker of “Same Old Jets”.

Related Articles

Check Also
Close