The New York Jets Are a Win Now Team
The New York Jets are backed into a corner due to the quarterback situation. That corner looms large because, despite what some think, they are a win now team.
Todd Bowles took over for Rex Ryan last season and brought the New York Jets back to respectability. Coming off a four-win season, the team turned things around with a high-powered offense(yes, Jets fans, “high-powered), and a stingy defense, that brought the team within a win of making the playoffs. They scored 24.2 points per game, good for 11th in the league. The fan base couldn’t believe it.
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Was this really their team?
But, instead of dreaming of playoff success, Jets’ fans have to worry about who will be under center. As the most important position on the field, it comes as no surprise that the quarterback situation has dominated the local headlines. Will Ryan Fitzpatrick be back? If you follow the social chatter, you would learn that much of the fan base is angry and ready to say “Good riddance!”. People who read this page know I disagree, as I have written pn these pages about why Fitzpatrick must be back.
It’s not only because “Fitzmagic” threw for a team record 31 touchdown passes. It’s because, whether we want to admit it or not, the Jets are a “win now” team.
We start on the defensive side of the football. Darrelle Revis, the darling of New York, returned to the team last year for big money to lead the rebuilding of the Jets’ secondary. At 30 years old, he wasn’t the same player that the fans remembered. He was good, posting five interceptions, but he didn’t shut down one side of the field like he did in previous years.
He was beaten by speedy receivers. In week 10, DeAndre Hopkins torched Revis for five receptions, 118 yards and two touchdowns. Sammy Watkins similarly schooled him in week 17 to the tune of 11 receptions for 136 yards. Revis is imperfect and he will be 31 by the time the season starts. Wouldn’t it be in the Jets’ best interest to make one more run before Revis’ skill set completely erodes.
What about Muhammad Wilkerson? No, he’s not old, actually he is in the prime of his career. He is 26 and coming off of a career-high 12 sack performance in 2015.
The trouble is that there is a strong chance that 2016 will be the last for Wilkerson in New York.
He was expecting a long-term contract prior to last season and felt that he had earned it. The team could not come to an agreement with Wilkerson. He showed them with the standout performance, and still couldn’t get a new contract, instead left to the “Franchise Tag”.
This has led to a great deal of animosity from the player, and he is all but gone after 2016. He doesn’t feel he has been treated well, and many believe he will play out his obligation under the tag and leave to play elsewhere. Coming off of a broken leg made the idea of making a trade nearly impossible. The two sides are stuck with each other.
The Jets have to maximize on his ability while he is on the team. If this is the last year, doesn’t that mean they have to win?
Now we turn to the offense, and the theme is age.
After a career high of 1,070 rushing yards, Chris Ivory was not retained and allowed to take his services to Jacksonville. The team was concerned about Ivory’s durability due to his rushing style, so in his stead came Matt Forte. Forte is a complete back, and a good one. At 30 years old, he is also an aging one. Running backs do not age like wine, they age like milk. They decline, as Forte’s numbers did 2013 to current, with his rushing yards dropping from 1,339 down to 898.
The Jets must win before Forte completely declines.
The key offensive players are getting older. Besides Forte, Brandon Marshall is 32 years old. Nick Mangold is 32 years old. Breno Giacomini is 30 years old, and Willie Colon (who still may return) is 33 years old. Even Eric Decker will be 30 when the 2017 season comes around.
The core of the Jets, on both sides of the football, is on the wrong side of 30. Football players decline after that magic number hits. That is why the Jets are a win now team.
That is not to say there haven’t been some solid draft choices that keep an eye on the future. Players like Lorenzo Maudin and Leonard Williams will be in the green and white for a long time. However the Jets may be building for the future, they are BUILT to win NOW.
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It is why I fight so hard for the team to bring the quarterback home. The Jets haven’t learned this over the years, but they need one of those quarterbacks in order to win games.