The New York Jets were supposed to have a terrible season in 2013. Coach Rex Ryan was expected to fall flat on his face and get fired at the end of the journey. Yet, the Jets played better on offense than many anticipated. They weren’t great, but they weren’t the total disaster they seemed to be on the precipice of becoming. The Jets held things together, and Ryan legitimately earned another season on the job in New York, especially since he’s taken this franchise to two AFC Championship Game appearances while he’s been on the job. How can the Jets take the next step and become a playoff team after being average last year, and not merely bad?
Strengths
The Jets will always have a solid defense under Ryan, who is one of the better defensive minds in all of professional football. Ryan knows how to attack quarterbacks. This is an offense-friendly league, and it’s a league in which passing is the preferred method of ball movement for almost every team. Ryan knows that the quarterback has to be disrupted on a large majority of plays if the defense is to have a reasonable chance of being able to prevent touchdowns and then stopping the run in short yardage. The Jets’ mixture of blitzes and disguised configurations is able to confuse a lot of quarterbacks, and even the ones it doesn’t confuse, such as Tom Brady, are often forced to check down to the safety valve instead of being able to take the downfield shot they really want to go after. The Jets are good at taking away an offense’s best option and making that offense move slowly down the field. New York thinks that if it can apply pressure often enough, an offense will get frustrated and not show the patience it needs to score touchdowns against the Jets.
Weaknesses
The Jets’ offense remains a problem, though Michael Vick is still talented, and with the veteran coming in to fight Geno Smith for the starting quarterback spot, the Jets could have a signal caller who will enable their offense to grow. The problem with Vick, however, is that he is such an injury-prone player. His body is brittle, and since he runs out of the pocket so often, he subjects his body to big hits. Vick courts trouble at every turn, and it’s hard to take that personality out of a quarterback who rose to prominence in the NFL for that very reason. Vick, even if he does win the starting job, might not last the season.
Schedule
The Jets play the NFC North in interconference action. They visit Green Bay, a likely loss, but they host Chicago and Detroit and could sweep those two teams. They could also win at Minnesota, which is not expected to be good this season. The Jets’ other non-division AFC games are mostly against the AFC West, which is a tough break, since three of those four teams are playoff-caliber squads. The Jets also play Tennessee and Pittsburgh, probably splitting those two.
Outlook
The Vick story is an intriguing one, but do you really trust him to be healthy all season? You shouldn’t. Yet, the Jets are good enough to probably win eight games again. They won’t win nine, though. The AFC West will limit their win total and keep them out of the playoffs.
Pick: Over 7
