Drink Discussion: Realistic expectations for the 2010 New York Jets
Salacious off the top: I know a girl who (purportedly) slept with Nick Mangold. ("There wasn't much sleeping going on!") The funny thing about said tale of intertwined limbs and non-platonic shrieking is this: the girl in question is affiliated with both a rival of Ohio State and a rival of the New York Jets. If that doesn't tell you that sex trumps all, I don't know what does.
Alright, basic thing about the Jets is simple: hype. QB is a hot young man on the scene. Two solid RBs, including one chasing a title seemingly forever. Their coach is fat and speaks his mind. Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards are odd ducks. The team is featured on "Hard Knocks." It got to the AFC Championship game when it had no business getting there. They open this season on Monday Night Football.
So, hype is high. Usually in sports, when hype is high, the team flops. That could easily happen here. I mean, they open with the Ravens (aforementioned MNF game). The only perceptible weakness on the Ravens is the secondary; Mark Sanchez can't throw. So, maybe they get smacked in the mouth in that game and it goes downhill from there. That could happen; I doubt it actually will.
An NFL season is 16 games -- let's do this in four 4-game increments. Seems reasonable. Here's their schedule.
The first four are Ravens, Patriots, Dolphins, and Bills; first two home, second two away. This is tougher than you think. Ravens could be 12-4 this year; that might be a loss, but I'll go ahead and say "win" because of being home. Pats? It's in New Jerzee, but Belichick does not want to lose that game. Jets won the Jerzee game last year. Let's say Jets again, headed to 2-0. If that happens, they will lose in Miami; that Fins team is crazy underrated. Brandon Marshall? Yes, please. 2-1. Bills? Ha. Worst team in the NFL by far this season. Jets in a walk. 3-1.
The next four are Vikings (home), Broncos (away), Packers (home), Lions (away). Solid four here again; Vikings and Packers have NFC title contention talk out the wazoo. Going to Denver won't be easy. Here's what I'd say: beat the Vikings, lose to Broncos at Mile High, lose to Packers at home (Packers are a pretty legitimately nasty team), crush Lions away. That's 2-2 in this stretch; 5-3 overall through eight.
Next four: at Browns, Texans and Bengals at home, at Patriots. Browns have a lot of talent, but Mangini is a clown. He'll want to win this game badly, but shall not. Texans? Dang, yo. So much firepower -- signifying nothing. Bengals? Excellent team, and nice pair-off of the last two teams to be on "Hard Knocks." At Patriots? Loss. I'd take them 3-1 in this stretch, although dropping one of those two home games, to either Houston or Cincy, isn't out of the question. If we're saying 3-1 in the third four-game stretch of the season, that's 8-4 through 12; could be 7-5 at this juncture as well.
The final four are Dolphins at home, away at Steelers, away at Bears, and Bills at home. Let's go reverse order: Bills at home? HaHa! No contest. Bills will be playing for the Jake Locker sweepstakes at that point. Bears at Soldier? Something tells me the Bears are a sleeper this year and the NFC North becomes really competitive -- plus, this game is in December, and it'll be cold as balls there. Bears win that. Steelers in Pittsburgh? If they tank through the first four to six without Big Ben, they'll need these late wins bad. Steelers there. Dolphins in Jerz? Split, just like split with the Pats, so give the Jets that game. That's 2-2 in the final four; we're saying 10-6 overall now.
10-6 should get them back into the playoffs out of the AFC East; Bills are an utter joke (I'm really piling it on them, eh?) and the Fins and Patriots should each be in the same general area. This time, though, I think NYJ gets dropped in the first game of the playoffs, rather than making a run.
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