New York Jets: Loss to Patriots still proves team is for real
Despite a perception that the New York Jets lack individual talent, they’re playing as a team in 2017 and have proved to be a legitimate threat every week.
Through the first two weeks, the 2017 season looked bleak for the New York Jets. They had a hard-fought loss in Buffalo, followed a demoralizing 45-20 defeat at the hands of the Oakland Raiders. They started to show some positive signs at the end of the game in Oakland, however.
They were able to turn what they did at the end of the loss in Oakland into a 20-6 shellacking of the Miami Dolphins the next week. New York then earned brilliant team wins, despite facing adversity, against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns.
Then, the New England Patriots came to town. Despite two egregious officiating mistakes, one non-call and one bad call, the Jets were in the game to the bitter end. It’s a loss in the official records, but in terms of perception, it’s far from that.
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The Jets are performing well, and that’s despite not having one major star on the team. Marcus Maye and Jamal Adams are becoming stars, but it’s too early in their careers to anoint them as such. And Austin Seferian-Jenkins hasn’t been in New York long enough, but he’s making his presence felt.
Every game this season has had different players step up and make his presence felt in that game. It was Maye, Seferian-Jenkins and Jermaine Kearse in Cleveland, Bilal Powell and Elijah McGuire against Jacksonville, and Robby Anderson against Miami.
There’s an old adage that football is the ultimate team game. The Jets are epitomizing that in 2017. Without a single star, and a perception that they’re lacking individual talent, they have come together as a team and win games.
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Even better, they’re growing together and proving the naysayers wrong. Football is about how pieces fit together, not how good each piece is on an individual level, and the Jets are proving that this season.