Coming back from my self-imposed year and a half hiatus here's what has happened:
1) The Sanchize- the team obviously did not heed my advice and traded up to draft USC Quarterback Mark Sanchez who showed flashes of greatness in a fairly rough rookie season while leading the Jets to within a game of the Super Bowl.
2) The Playoff Run- The 2009 season provided a roller coaster ride after a 3-0 start the Jets began to sputter and needed a few "gift games" from the Colts and Bengals at the end of the season to finish 9-7 and capture the AFC Wild Card and the 5th Seed. The Jets went on to become road warriors, dismantling the Bengals in the Wild Card round and followed it up with a dramatic win against the Chargers in San Diego and then went on to face Peyton Manning and the Colts in the AFC Championship game. The Jets played an impressive first half, prompting fans to begin making travel plans to Miami. However; in the end injuries to Thomas Jones and several defensive stalwarts proved to be too much as Manning single-handedly torched the Jets secondary en route to being crowned AFC Champions.
3) A Tumultuous Off-Season- Coming off their improbable playoff run the Jets entered the off-season handcuffed by the collective bargaining agreement's "Final Four rule" that stipulated a team in the NFL's final four could only sign a free agent when one of their's was picked up by another team prohibiting the Jets from going after the likes of Julius Peppers or Karlos Dansby. However; Mike Tannenbaum did what he always does and made an immediate splash by trading for former pro-bowl cornerback, Antonio Cromartie to go opposite Darrelle Revis, then he went out and signed future hall of famer, LaDainian Tomlinson and in turn jettisoned Thomas Jones coming off the best year of his career and entering the final year of his four year contract. Tannenbaum was not done there, he let reliable kicker and vocal team leader, Jay Feely go in order to sign 36 year old, former defensive player of the year, Jason Taylor and then signed Nick Folk to replace Feely, who had fallen out of favor with the Cowboys. Arguably Tannenbaum's biggest steal of the off-season was his acquisition of former Super Bowl MVP and NFL Elite wide receiver, Santonio Holmes for a fourth-round draft pick. However; Tannenbaum began to execute a series of controversial moves including several draft day moves including: trading fan-favorite Leon Washington who was arguably the team's best offensive player before enduring a brutal leg injury in Oakland in 2009. Perhaps the most controversial move was releasing All-Pro Guard Alan Faneca who served as the anchor for the left of the side of the best offensive line in football despite the fact that 5 million of his 7 million dollar contract was guaranteed. In the draft the Jets selected Boise State cornerback, Kyle Wilson in the first round, raw offensive lineman, Vlad Ducasse out of UMASS in the 2nd round, embattled USC Running Back, Joe McKnight in the 4th round and the traded up to grab Kentucky fullback, John Conner dubbed the Terminator for his shared namesake with the movie character and his ferocious running style. In the spring the Jets agreed to be feautred in the HBO series "Hard Knocks" during training camp at SUNY-Cortland. Entering training camp, the hype machine was in full force and the Jets became the trendy Super Bowl pick.
4) Stumble then Rumble- With all the hype surrounding the team going into their season-opener against the Ravens on Monday Night Football. The defense played fairly well however, the offense was anemic with extremely vanilla play-calling and were only able to muster 9 points in a disappointing 10-9 loss. They then went on to reel off 5 straight wins, starting with an impressive home win against the Patriots going and ending with a nail-biting last minute win against the Broncos on the road, going into the bye week with a 5-1 record and control of the AFC East. And now here we are....
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