After losing their 8th straight game at Kansas City against the Chiefs 24-10, the New York Jets find themselves at the stage of an NFL season that is every team’s nightmare. Gang Green has to run the table the rest of the season and go 7-0 just to finish at .500 on the year. Though 8-8 would be the same record as last season, this season has gone a lot worse than their 2013 campaign. Geno Smith, who was supposed to make significant strides in becoming a franchise quarterback this season, has been benched for veteran QB Michael Vick. Geno has thrown for 1370 yards and seven touchdowns this season against ten interceptions, making his career ratio 19 touchdowns to 31 interceptions. Though he has been practicing fully after his shoulder injury, he will most likely be the backup on Sunday when the Jets host the Steelers. The Jets face a red hot Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday and if they can’t cool him down, the Jets may lose their already slim hopes of finishing .500 on the season.
Big Ben and the Steelers had been called out by former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher and retired wideout Hines Ward for being “soft.” Like the Patriots earlier this season, many people wrote off the Steelers after their slow start. However, the Steelers seem to be playing their best football of the season and are firing on all cylinders offensively. Ben Roethlisberger has thrown for 862 yards and 12 touchdowns in his last two games. The Steelers have scored 94 points in two games, defeating the Indianapolis Colts 51-34 and their AFC North rivals, the Baltimore Ravens, 43-23 last week. The scariest stat if you’re a Jets fan is that Big Ben has thrown for four more touchdowns in his last two games than Michael Vick and Geno Smith have thrown all season.
The Jets come into this week’s game a 2.5 point underdog though some argue it should be more. Regardless, the fact of the matter is the Jets shouldn’t be 1-8. They’ve outgained and outrushed their last three opponents and have still managed to lose. The reason is simply insufficiency in the redzone. For example, the Jets failed to score on 5 possessions in Chiefs territory last week. The Jets outplayed the Patriots in Foxboro in almost every facet of the game, outrushing them 218 to 63 and still managed to lose that game as well. Fans have stopped blaming Rex Ryan and have started pointing fingers at GM John Idzik.
Banners saying “Fire Idzik” have been flown over the last few Jets practices. With morale low, Rex Ryan did what only Rex Ryan would do. At practice on Thursday, Rex flew in a toy helicopter with a banner that read “Go Jets” off the back of it. Rex insists that the Jet’s remain “all in it” together this season, as he has preaching since training camp began In Cortland this July. If you’re Rex Ryan, laughing is the only thing you can do at this point. The Jets offense has actually improved since last season as they are running the ball very well and stopping the run on defense. However the Jets secondary has managed to force just one interception this season, ranking worst in the NFL. When you lose the turnover battle, you lose football games and that’s a big reason why the Jets are 1-8. The Jets have a chance against the Steelers this week if they can run the ball effectively, control the clock and keep Big Ben off the field. The Jets have a chance to match last season’s record at 8-8, and as long as Rex is the head coach he’ll have everyone believing that the Jets can do just that.
