With both New York teams out of the running for the Super Bowl, many local sports fans have turned toward Spring Training as the next event that matters to their teams. That's not quite true, however. Jets fans should be watching Sunday's AFC Championship Game and throwing their full support behind the Pittsburgh Steelers.
If reports are true, Rex Ryan will get an offer to coach the Jets immediately after the Ravens are eliminated from the playoffs. Assuming he accepts, that means the Jets can fully turn the page on the Eric Mangini era and start working toward the 2009 season in earnest. Given how quickly assistants are getting snapped up by teams, the Jets need Ryan (or whoever is going to be their head coach) to start assembling his staff ASAP.
Beyond that, free agency and the draft will be upon us quickly and the Jets need to start figuring out who they're keeping and what they need for next season. The offense may not change much as it looks like Brian Schottenheimer will be back running the offense, but Ryan will almost certainly have some moves in mind to implement his defensive schemes.
The Jets invested too much money in Kris Jenkins, Calvin Pace and others to allow for a backward step during transition to a new coach. They've got too big a decision to make about Brett Favre's future with the club to allow for many more discussions without the guy who will be on the sideline when the games start up again.
If the Ravens win on Sunday, it will be two full weeks before the Jets can move forward. So pull your old James Farrior jerseys out of mothballs and fashion yourself a Terrible Towel, Jets fans, because a Steeler win is the best thing for your team.
