Can the Jets become the Mets?
Can the Jets, after an uneven start to this season, rebound the way the Mets did after losing their first five games, being 11-games under .500 on June 3 and now playing in the National League Division Series as darling comeback kids of the 2024 baseball season?
Can the Jets find their way to the postseason and make some noise once they get there as the Mets are currently doing?
Can they actually become a team we celebrate, one that we embrace the way we’re embracing the Mets?
The Jets are not a very embraceable team at the moment.
Underachievers are never embraced.
Teams that play below their potential and expectations, which is precisely where the 2-3 Jets stand after losing to the Vikings Sunday in London, are never celebrated.
Instead, they’re reviled by their fans, who call for their head coach to be fired, which is a place where Jets fans currently stand united with regard to Robert Saleh and his 20-36 record in three-plus seasons.
The Jets entered this year with Hall of Fame-bound quarterback Aaron Rodgers healthy after losing his 2023 season to the torn Achilles. With a healthy Rodgers come Super Bowl expectations and much hype.
Receiver Garrett Wilson was going to emerge as one of the most prolific pass catchers in the league with a healthy Rodgers throwing to him. Running back Breece Hall was going to become one of the most dynamic two-way backs in the league. The rebuilt offensive line was going to serve the running game and protect Rodgers.
And, after five weeks, this is what we have: An offensively bumbling Jets team looking very similar to the editions that have disappointed and aggravated their fans for the past 13 years.
Through five games last season, with Zach Wilson at quarterback, the Jets were 2-3 and had 93 points scored. Through five games this season, with Rodgers at quarterback, the Jets are 2-3 with 93 points scored.
Weird.
Alarming, too.
Rodgers has struggled. Wilson is still uncomfortably and inexplicably not on the same page with Rodgers. Hall is averaging just 39.4 rushing yards per game. Rodgers has been sacked eight times and endured 26 hits in the past two games.
Yet, as bad as the Jets have been in the past two games — that inexcusable 10-9 home loss to the Broncos and then Sunday in London, where Rodgers threw three interceptions, the revamped offensive line looked like it’s never played together before and the running game continued to go backward — the Jets are lucky.
Yes, lucky.
They’re a mere one game out of first place in the broken AFC East thanks to the 3-2 Bills’ loss to the Texans on Sunday, the 2-3 Dolphins’ injury-ravaged quarterback situation and the 1-4 Patriots, the worst team in the league.
The Jets’ next game comes against the 3-2 Bills, Monday night at MetLife Stadium, where a victory would put them in first place in the division at 3-3 and with the tiebreaker over Buffalo.
“I’m not panicked,” Saleh said Monday. “Nobody in the building is panicked. There’s always going to be a sense of urgency to go out there and find wins and find efficiency on offense and continue to play great defense and special teams.
“But Monday night’s a great opportunity to play football and do our best and try to get the result that we’re seeking.”
It is early. Too early to panic. But that doesn’t excuse the way his team has performed the past two weeks. Other than right tackle Morgan Moses having missed the past two games with a knee injury, the offense is healthy.
The fan base is pissed off, and it has a right to be. Yes, the Vikings were 4-0 entering Sunday, and yes, Sam Darnold was playing as well as any quarterback in the league.
But the defense did its job and limited the Minnesota offense. The lack of creativity and efficiency of the offense is difficult to watch.
“I said it last week — the NFL is built for chaos,” Saleh said. “Either the sky is falling or you’ve got Super Bowl aspirations [and] there’s no in-between anymore. The reality is what the standings look like now are going to be completely different at the end of the season.
“There’s so much football to be played. There [are] so many things that we can get better at and there’s so many things that we can continue to build on, the things that we are doing well.”
Rodgers, after the loss to the Vikings, said he still has “a lot of confidence in this team.’’
He also insisted, “I think it’s a team that’s going to make a run.’’
The 2024 Mets made their run.
Can the 2024 Jets do the same?
