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It isn’t often that the New York Jets get something right.
They currently boast the longest active playoff drought in the NFL at 10 seasons and counting. Although every blind squirrel eventually finds a nut.
This offseason though it seems that lightning might have struck twice in the same place, a rare but not impossible feat.
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It Has to Hurt Being This Right All the Time
Everyone this offseason suggested the team should acquire an experienced backup, but the Jets continued to say no we’ve got Mike White.
Most of us rolled our eyes and were waiting for that inevitable moment where the Jets would be forced to call upon this relative unknown guy so we could rub it in their faces that they were wrong.
Well of course an injury befell the team as Zach Wilson suffered a PCL strain and was knocked out for a batch of weeks.
White was forced to step in and far exceeded even the most optimistic person’s expectations with his performance vs the Cincinnati Bengals. Then in the limited time, he played against the Indianapolis Colts, before exiting the game due to injury, White showed even more chutzpah:
- 7-of-11 for 95 passing yards and a touchdown. He also averaged 8.6 yards per clip and finished with a 90.8 quarterback rating.
Although what was even more impressive was their late investment of veteran Josh Johnson.
He has bounced around professional football more than any other player in history and was forced into action on Thursday Night Football and totally impressed.
Johnson hadn’t started a game since the 2018 season and despite that delivered a rock star performance of his own:
- 27-of-41 for 317 passing yards and three touchdowns.
These stats would be impressive for an entire game, let alone one he didn’t enter until the second quarter.
It’s time for the Jets brass and coaching staff to take a victory lap. Everyone on the outside begged them to acquire a proven option and instead they stuck by their own decisions and it has worked out exceptionally well.
Lightning Has Struck Twice in the Same Place
That of course isn’t the only time the Jets organization has got something right this year. They also absolutely nailed the cornerback group.
It was a similar song and dance where the media strongly suggested seemingly on a daily basis that the cornerback room needed a veteran presence to steady that group and to give it a proper facelift.
Again the Jets said we believe in our guys in the locker room.
At the time it sounded like nothing more than coach speak. What else were they going to say? Yet once again it appears lightning has struck twice in the same place and hell has indeed frozen over.
The Jets got it right and all of us are eating crow.
There are a lot of impressive stats you can point to throughout the course of the 2021 season, but the one that really stands out is the results from the Week 8 matchup vs the Bengals.
When the Baltimore Ravens corners faced that talented trio of Tyler Boyd, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins they allowed over 326 yards to Cincy.
When the Jets a week later faced that same exact group they only gave up six catches for 71 yards, per Michael Nania of Jets X-Factor.
This is another victory lap for their coaching staff and also somewhat surprising.
We all thought the Jets defense heading into the year would struggle and it certainly has, but not for the reasons we thought it would.
The Gang Green defensive line has had multiple no-shows this season and the corners have been special. This team is still 2-6, so there is still much to be fixed, but at least the Jets coaching staff can feel good about two important decisions from this offseason.
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