By Gianluca Colageo Milea
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New York Jets are winners of three straight and suddenly find themselves two games out of the final wildcard spot in the AFC. While the Jets are still a long shot to make the playoffs, they have new found swagger among their young core that should bode well for seasons to come.
Jamal Adams has quickly become one of the best safeties in the league. The 24 year old sixth overall pick always seems to play with a chip on his shoulder. On Sunday against the Raiders, the Jets ran out of the tunnel at their home stadium to a plethora of “boos”, which seemed to be a result of both the Jets’ recent woes, as well as many of the Raider faithful making the cross country trip.
Adams, who already plays the game with a fire and emotion stronger than many of his peers, admitted that he felt disrespected, “When we came onto the field, we felt disrespected… They [the Oakland fans] thought it would be easy.”
The Jets continued their hot streak with a 34-3 blowout of the Jon Gruden led Raiders. The Raiders could not get anything going on offense and Jets’ quarterback Sam Darnold was able to continue his strong play, finishing with 315 yards and 2 TDs.
Darnold has been able to bounce back nicely from his early season battle with mono. The young USC product has thrown for 838 yards and posted a 7:1 TD to interception ratio over the course of his past three games. Darnold has also boasted a passer rating of over 120 in each of his last two appearances (121.3 and 127.8).
With the likes of Adams and Darnold leading the charge, the Jets seem to be trending in the right direction. Although, this season may not be the year the team breaks into the playoff bracket, they still have a legitimate shot at finishing 8-8.
Gang Green currently sits at 4-7, with five games remaining, including one on a Thursday night in Baltimore. With that being said, the other matchups include the likes of Cincinnati, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo.
The Bengals and Dolphins are both teams that the Jets are more than capable of beating and will almost certainly find themselves as favorites heading into those games. Pittsburgh and Buffalo should be more difficult matchups, but are not completely out of the realm of possibility.
The Steelers lost starting QB Ben Roethlisberger for the remainder of the season during a Week 2 game against the Seahawks. Backup Mason Rudolph was benched this past Sunday for Devlin “Duck” Hodges after being unable to produce any type of offense against a winless Bengals team.
Buffalo is probably the most complete squad remaining on the Jets schedule, with the exception of the Ravens. The Week 17 matchup with the Bills could be a meaningless game for both sides, as Buffalo finds themselves at 8-3, with the next wild card team sitting at 6-5.
Should Buffalo secure the first Wildcard spot, perhaps the Jets could find themselves playing against second stringers with a chance to finish .500 after starting out 1-7.
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out, in any case the success will give the Jets faithful hope going into the off-season.
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