Jets continue to disappoint New York with yet another slow start

Roll the clock back to the 2010 NFL season, and you will see the New York Jets’ last playoff appearance—not only was it the Jets’ most recent last playoff game, it was also the beginning to the longest active playoff drought in the NFL. When a team has only one winning season in the last decade, something is clearly wrong. It can be quite difficult to place your finger on the problem when the team is so underwhelming, but, in the case of the Jets, the front office is the culprit.

People often try to blame the head coach for a team that has been struggling, but which one is to blame? The Jets are on their seventh coach since 2000, with none lasting longer than six seasons. Following Rex Ryan’s firing in 2014, it feels as if the team gets whoever has no other plans on Sunday to take the reins. The current coach, Robert Saleh, is off to a typical New York start with a 4-14 record through his first 18 games. Winning 22% of games is par for the course with this team, and everyone would be surprised to see that number increase.

It is common knowledge that the quarterback is the true leader of any football team, so perhaps they are to blame; but similar to the coaching dilemma, inconsistency may be the problem more than the players themselves. In the last 13 seasons, there hasn’t been a consistent starter for more than three years. While Zach Wilson, a second-year player, was expected to take control of the dumpster fire, his injury has brought Joe Flacco seemingly back from the dead. At 37 years old, Joe Flacco has found his fifth team in four years.

So, the real problem with this team is not a coach or a quarterback, but the front office who refuses to keep people in the organization. The current longest-tenured player with the Jets is defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd, who is only going into his fifth season as a Jet. Even the general manager, Joe Douglas, is only on his fourth season with the team. Instead of getting rid of players and coaches who underperform, they need to let them stick with the team and get better; constant change leads to constant failure.

Perhaps the biggest surprise from the Jets this season is the single win they eked out against the Cleveland Browns in the second week of the season. Aside from that fluke, they have lost by 15 points to both the Bengals and the Ravens to assemble their 1-2 season thus far. Playing without the typical starting quarterback is not an easy task, but regardless of who is lined up behind center, the Jets are doomed to be no better than a below .500 team, as they have been for the past six seasons. 

The inability to stick with coaches and players has led to this team’s downfall, and the downfall of any poor rookie who is sent to the “J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS.” The Jets will nonetheless drudge on into week four, playing their next game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Oct. 2.