NY Jets vs Seattle Seahawks
Seahawks 26, Jets 21
Life is tough as a Jets fan. The team hasn’t been to the playoffs in 15 years. They continually botch the draft and no premium free agents want to play for this clown show of a team. I thought that when they signed Aaron Rodgers and drafted Sauce Gardner, Breece Hall and Garrett Williams they would at least make the playoffs (I wasn’t delusional enough to have Super Bowl aspirations) but for Rodgers to blow up his Achilles 4 minutes into game 1 of the 2023 season was the most Jets thing to ever happen.
So cut to 2024 – Rodgers is back and they’re looking pretty good in training camp. Then Hassan Reddick decides to hold out leaving us without a premium edge rusher. He holds out until almost 3/4 of the season is over and comes in very rusty and has little impact at all. They fire Saleh 5 games into the season and elevate Jeff Ulbrich as head coach. That is not the move of a serious team. That’s the move of a petulant owner in Woody Johnson whose ego can’t stand the team continuing to lose.
So the Jets who up to that point were playing well and with a few lucky bounces would be 4-1 instead of 2-3 (These are facts – against my better judgement I watch every game) fall off a cliff. The defense which was good under Saleh starts to degrade. The offense is still putting up scores but not enough. They usually hang around in games but find small ways to lose (Well the bills put up 40 on them but that’s an outlier.. Oh wait the Steelers put up 37? My mistake)
Then they go full Jets and win a few of the final games to fall further back in the draft. That’s a classic Jets move that they pull out at the end of almost all their terrible seasons.
Take all this backstory and lets focus in on this game. It’s December and it’s really cold. Mid 20’s at MetLife feels like planet Hoth due to the constant wind. We were in the upper deck for this one and even chemical hand warmers weren’t doing much to keep the frostbite at bay.
The Jets go up early with a classic Rodgers to Davante Adams touchdown. The extra point is blocked (classic) They follow this up with a shovel pass for a touchdown. The Seahawks counter with a long drive for a touchdown then on the ensuing kickoff it’s returned by the jets for 98 yards and the touchdown. On the kickoff the Seahawks receiver fumbles the ball, picks it up starts to run and fumbles it again – Jets recover! So exciting.. I was pumped up – barely feeling the cold!
That’s when my friend turned to me and said “Hey man.. Hey. I know how you’re feeling it right now and yes this is exciting. But these are the jets and they will fuck this up”. I refused to let his negativity affect my good mood and told him “Nah man – this game is all Jets we’re gonna go up 28-7 here and that’ll be that”
Two plays later Leonard Williams picks off Rodgers and rumbles all the way down the field for a pick 6. Let me be clear: a 291 DE Picked off Rodgers and managed to return it all the way down the field for a touchdown. I mean – that’s peak Jets. He’s an ex-Jet too which makes it even more depressing. (To add a cherry to this insult Sundae Leonard Williams also sacked Aaron Rodgers late in the 4th quarter to end a pretty exciting comeback attempt. )
The second half was all Seahawks – they tacked on a touchdown and the Jets couldn’t muster any more points and the game ended on a 4th and forever that Rodgers had to launch early because the defensive line was about to murder him.
This game as an instant Jets classic and I mean that in the worst way.
At least we’re getting a new coach, a new GM, and probably a new QB unless Aaron returns from the darkness 20 years younger somehow.. But I doubt that’s going to happen.