Same Old Jets?

By Joe Brod

The New York Jets did something Sunday they haven’t done in 12 years. The New York Jets did something Sunday that they rarely have given themselves the opportunity to do. The New York Jets did something Sunday which is very out of character for the New York Jets.

The Jets beat the Buffalo Bills 38-14 in Buffalo and finished off a three-week clean sweep of their division for the first time since 1998, when they finished the regular season with a sweep of these same divisional opponents to go 12-4. The Jets are now 3-1 and more importantly, 3-0 in their division.

There are various reasons why this is a big deal. There are the obvious, such as how much easier winning divisional games makes earning a playoff berth. There are the not so obvious, such as this is only the fourth time the schedule has pitted the Jets against all three divisional foes in consecutive weeks since 1998 so you don’t get many opportunities to even do it. But the most important is this: this flies in the face of everything the Jets are supposed to be about.

The Same Old Jets don’t rebound from losing the way they did on the opening Monday night with such a disappointing offensive performance in their 10-9 loss to Baltimore. They certainly don’t do it by soundly beating the New England Patriots with the best QB performance seen by Jets fans in Lord knows how long. And they certainly don’t do it while being distracted by a manufactured sexual harassment controversy hanging around their necks.

The Same Old Jets don’t finish Miami the way they did last Sunday night. They certainly don’t do it by going on a 13-play, 80-yard drive to take an 8-point lead with less than two minutes to play and then picking off a pass at the other end for the final spike in the coffin. And they certainly don’t do it when every hypocrite sportswriter and talking head is acting like the Jets have some special responsibility to punish one of their players in a manner that no other team has ever punished one of their players in the past for identical transgressions.

The Same Old Jets don’t win trap games against winless teams while missing three starters on defense. They certainly don’t do it by absolutely dismantling the Buffalo Bills on the road by doing pretty much whatever the hell they want to do on offense and holding the Bills to 0-for-10 on third down. And they certainly don’t do it when they are looking forward to playing Brett Favre next week.

But these Jets did. These new Jets did all of those things. These New Jets.

These New Jets talk a big game and back it up.

These New Jets don’t just live up to expectations, they exceed them.

These New Jets have a nice mix of youngsters and veterans who seem to have each other’s backs and pick each other up.

These New Jets have a coach that everybody wants to play for.

These New Jets have a young quarterback that seems to be heading toward inevitable greatness.

These New Jets do the things we always wished the Same Old Jets would do.

The paradigm has shifted. The story has changed. The wicked witch is dead.

The Same Old Jets? They don’t exist anymore.

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