If the prospect of facing the Patriots is a bit scary, the idea of having to depend on Johnny Manziel is a full-blown slasher movie.
But that’s the position the Jets are in right now, with two weeks left in what should be an enthralling (if possibly heartbreaking) conclusion to the NFL regular season.
Manziel and his woeful Browns play Kansas City and Pittsburgh over the next two Sundays, and a Cleveland W in either contest would be a huge boost in Gang Green’s fight to make the playoffs.
The Jets won this weekend, carving out a 19-16 victory over the Cowboys by stepping up when it counted most after a ho-hum effort for the better part of three hours. But they also lost, as they fell behind the Steelers in the postseason race when Pittsburgh dominated Denver in the second half to pull out the 34-27 win.
At the moment, the Jets, KC and Pittsburgh remain knotted, with identical 9-5 marks, but the Jets are still on the outside looking in -- and the view isn’t pretty with the Pats coming to town just after Christmas.
But whatever happens, the view on the Jets’ 2015 campaign couldn’t look much better. Coming off a disastrous 4-12 season, Gang Green was knocked back -- with a suckerpunch from one of its own --before play even started.
Still, the team got off to a very strong start under new QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, with a ton of help from RB Chris Ivory and a defense that may well have been the league’s best in September.
Sports
After that, though, they floundered. The defense wasn’t stopping anyone, Ivory started running more like a ballerina than a battering ram, and (brace yourself…), Geno Smith emerged for a bit following an injury to Fitz.
At 5-5 with six left to play, the Jets were still much better than a year before -- but they were also lying on the canvas, with the count at least halfway to 10.
Then they got up. They haven’t lost since then, and while it’s true that they haven’t beaten anyone good over the past four weeks, they’ve generally been playing the kind of football that made them at least resemble a contender earlier in the year. And when they haven’t -- as in the first three quarters of the Dallas game -- they’ve still made plays when they had to.
At this point, it’s an uphill climb to the postseason for New York, but still, it’ll be disappointing to the Jets’ faithful if they fall short after such a promising start. Hopefully, though, whether or not they get in, the team’s fans can keep in mind how fun the ride has been in 2015, and how their team came back after another punch in the face -- this one coming in mid-season.
