Ecurb, comparing Herm’s 9-3 start in 2004 either shows you have a short memory, haven’t been a Jets fan for very long, or are simply looking to be argumentative. Herm lost to every team we played with a winning record in that 9-3 start (the exception being the Chargers who were 1-0 after beating the sucky Texans in week 1).
I’d much rather have a pair of hiccups (losing 1 & winning 1) against the likes of Oakland & KC – with a team full of new faces – and then hits its stride & beats the 1st-place Pats & undefeated 1st place Titans, BOTH on the road.
This team, while I don’t know how far they’ll go, I feel CAN beat anyone. Herm’s teams, 2004 included, you kind of knew that the class teams of the division or conference were going to beat us up (unless we had ridiculous luck like 2 non-offensive TD’s vs Pittsburgh in the playoffs).
Here’s the 9-3 start in 2004:
W Cincy in Carson Palmer’s first NFL start. They started out 1-4.
W SD who didn’t exactly resemble the team that got hot 2 weeks later. Hell, Brees left the damn game.
W Miami, who lost their first 6 games & finished 4-12.
W Buffalo, who was 0-3
W 49ers, who finished 2-14
L NE – the first real team we played. We lost.
W Miami – again. They didn’t just start out 0-6. They also went 1-9. So 2x we beat a team otherwise 1-7. Yay.
L Buffalo. A team with a 2-5 record.
L Baltimore. Another opponent with more than 1 win = another loss for the Jets
W Cleveland. Team would finish 4-12.
W Arizona – was game 2 of their 4-game losing streak. Their next 2 losses were to Detroit & the otherwise 1-15 49ers. Yeah, they were awesome.
W Houston. Another team with a losing record.
The next 4 were against Pittsburgh, Seattle, NE, and the Rams. Two games against top teams, and a game each against a team 1 game over .500 and 1 game under .500. We lost 3 of those 4.
In 2004, the first 12 games was the easy part of the schedule. The first 5 and last 3 in particular.
Something about that team – you knew we were no match for the elite AFC teams.
This year, the first 12 games included the difficult part of the schedule.
We just knocked off a pair of 1st place AFC teams on the road, including one that was 10-0. Whether we do or don’t end up winning every remaining game is not the point – you know we can compete with & beat anyone.
And the team knows it, too.
There’s no more “well, chalk this one up as a loss because it’s the Steelers (or the Patriots or whoever)” – the excuses are over. This is the best the Jets have looked since ’98, which is the last time we knew we could beat anyone without getting unbelievably lucky.
