N.Y. Jets: Long Island Dreamin'

Oh man....what a ride. I have driven from Dallas to Houston today, contending with the soccer moms driving Dodge Caravans on steroids, rich folks in expensive cars that want to play chicken on the highway and looking out for that elusive state trooper that we all know is somewhere on the shoulder of the road in which we are obliterating the speed limit on. And of course we cannot forget the people who are doing 55 mph on a 70 mph limit highway that insist on staying in the fast lane no matter how many people they slow up or cause to stay stuck behind them. Yes, that trip is always a challenging adventure that I look forward to. Needless to say, Happy New Year to all of my readers (all five of you), and here's to wishing a yule log, more money, hope, prosperity and a better go 'round this time than in 2008.

While I was on the highway today, I picked up sports talk radio while looking for a new CD to play. The topic de jure, which has been beaten to death was the Brett Favre and N.Y. Jets situation and the fallout from the team's late season collapse. For those of you who have read my last entry, I firmly believe the firing of Eric Mangini by owner Woody Johnson in concert with Mangini's PNC (partner n crime) Mike Tannenbaum (Christmas tree), was the wrong decision by a franchise that structured its entire operation around Mangini's management, personnel and system requirements. After shelling out a massive amount of money to sign free agents in order to bolster a 4-12 '07 roster, and trading for a grizzled, yet experienced star studded quarterback, I believe that the coach deserved at least one more season to get the team to jell under his watch. I am not sure if it is good business to bailout on such a huge overhaul of talent on the roster after just one season while not knowing who is going to replace deposed coach and whether the new system fits the players you just blew out the market for in order to sign.

I decided to read the New York papers and national media websites searching for a reporter or writer to hit on this point especially in light of the salary cap ramifications. Nothing. What I also noticed is that everyone seems to be dumping on the long and sordid histories of perennial cellar dwellers in the Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals, but yet nobody has taken the liberty to throw the Jets into that discussion. The Jets' only Super Bowl title came in 1969...Super Bowl III for those who are too young realize. The Jets have had such a long history of ineptitude and mismanagement, I question why they are not thrown into the same category as the Lions, Bengals and Saints as teams that are more consistently thought of based on their failures and high draft picks than wins and title runs. Indeed, the history of the New York Jets is just as or even more depressing than the Lions. I mean, at least the fans knew that ownership was selling them crap...the Jets have always led the way in dressing garbage up in the fanciest of clothing and selling it to the people like it is a privilege to buy it...like they are doing the favor. The far fetched promises always have seemed to earn them the likes of Dwayne Robertson, Marvin Jones, Jeff Lageman, Browning Nagle or Blair Thomas.

I remember back in the day, my uncle had season tickets to the Jets. He got them right after the Super Bowl victory in...yup 1969. Back in 1982, the Jets played in Shea Stadium and my uncle and cousin welcomed my mother, father and me to see them play the New England Patriots. All I have to say is, what an experience. Johnny 'Lam' Jones, Wesley Walker and Co. tore up my beloved Pats that day. This was back when Mark Gastineau and Joe Klecko were doing their thing....back when Marion Barber III's and Jabar Gaffney's fathers were on the team. And team still couldn't win. In my lifetime, the Jets have been to two conference championship games and lost them both. In the years following the appearances, they fell back into mediocrity and subsequent disarray. Little did I know even then that the Jets were playing, and still are, second or even third fiddle to the NY Giants, no matter whether they had the same coaches or personnel.

The Jets have tried everything possible to change the direction of an otherwise rudderless franchise...the hiring of Bruce Coslett, with hopes to create a new 49ers type offense, the hiring and firing of Pete Carroll (yes, that Pete Carroll) after just one 8-8 season, the sad and sorry affair of the Rich Kotite era, which included a 1-15 season and earned them Keyshawn Johsnon in the 1996 NFL Draft, the Bill Parcells era where the Hall of Fame head coach took them to the AFC title game in 1998, lost, then was snake bitten by injuries and Rick Mirer the following season, which was supposed to be the big Super Bowl run. Now that's bad luck. Bill Belichick wanted nothing to do with being 'HC of the NYJ' and Al Groh didn't fare any better than Parcells' predecessors. How is this any better than the Lions or Bengals? Is being a New York team an exemption from membership to the dregs of NFL futility?

Lets look at the records of the Jets going back to 1990:

2008: 9-7------>1999: 8-8 ----->1990: 6-10

2007: 4-12----->1998: 12-4

2006: 10-6----->1997: 9-7

2005: 4-12----->1996: 1-15

2004: 10-6----->1995: 3-13

2003: 6-10----->1994: 6-10

2002: 9-7------>1993: 8-8

2001: 10-6----->1992: 4-12

2000: 9-7------>1991: 8-8

Total: 136-168. Not exactly world beaters huh? I am not even counting the ill-fated 1986 season when the Jets started off 10-1, lost their last five and snuck into the playoffs as a Wild Card. The point I am trying to make is that the New York media and many writers seem to look at the Jets as a team that has a history of doing something tangible enough to warrant the type of attention they are getting. In reality, the franchise is one that has been mired in instability from ownership all the way down to sideline going back at least two decades. So when I hear all of the Favre bashing coming from players and media, I have to admit that this seems to be a culture that goes far back even before the current roster was composed. Maybe Mangini tried to change the culture and was met with resistance...maybe Favre did not react well with the ingrained culture or the attempts by the coach to change it. One thing is for certain, and this is my opinion folks, (pre-blog), Favre was never a good choice for this team due to his penchant for making critical mistakes at the wrong time. In the AFC East, if a team expects to win consistently, it needs an efficient QB that does not turn the ball over and manages the game...Favre has NEVER been that kind of player...was the brain trust that shortsighted to believe he would change from his gunslinging ways? It is that shortsightedness that has defined the NY Jets whether it be the jettisoning of one of its all time best players in Chad Pennington for nothing in return or trading a first round pick to the Oakland Raiders in 2005 for TE Doug Jolley...that's right, a tight end...who hasn't been heard from or seen since.

The main point of this article is that the Jets will continue to make the same mistakes unless they start thinking outside of the box when it comes to running the organization. Hiring coordinators from competitors with hopes to replicate successes that the said coordinator had in a different culture and organizational structure has never worked in professional sports. In reading the blogs written by season ticket holders, the Jets, with their new stadium set to open in 2010 have instituted exorbitant prices for PSLs (personal seat licenses) charging fans large fees just for the right to purchase tickets. The Jets have always had a down to earth, moderate to upper class fan base (I know because we ate smuggled in sushi and sausage sandwiches in the stands); these fans are now being being pinched by the country's economic crisis and they now ask in unison 'why alienate them, especially now?' It is clear to them that the Brett Favre trade was a fiasco to build excitement in order to get those PSLs moving...however, sound planning and an eye towards putting together a team that the fans can embrace is what could have moved those PSLs and maybe even not made the play so obvious. I am not even a Jet fan but look back to that 1998 season where Vinny Testeverde, Curtis Martin, Wayne Crebet, Anthony Pleasant, Aaron Glenn, Ray Mickens and Bryan Cox made them downright scary to watch. I felt that team because I was connected to the way the team was constituted and the way they played...that is what the fans buy Mr. Johnson. That is what makes them spend money better spent somewhere else to experience the journey of a team that is a product of sound management/coaching that always has a chance to win, and when in defeat, points the finger within, not at each other.

So when looking for the next individual to build the organization Mr. Johnson, focus on a guy that you know touches an accord with the fans and has the ability to do the same with his players. Resorting to gimmicks in order to buy a playoff spot or sell a stadium has never worked in the NFL...just ask Jerry Jones. Mr. Johnson, look at the team's history and the moves the front office made in the past...such as signing a washed up Tony Eason from the Patriots, throwing the mother load at mistake prone Neil O'Donnell, and in essence trading a capable head coach in Herman Edwards for a draft pick, which nobody does in professional sports. I hope that they find their man, but I believe that they already fired him. Mangini needed a chance to grow into a head coach the Jets envisioned. However in these days, owners are more concerned with the bottom line NOW, rather than giving a first time head coach the support he needs in order to develop his own philosophy among a revolving door of personalities from year to year. As long as the Jets are looking to make the big splash, without taking into account the less than stellar history and problematic culture within, the organization will always be Long Island Dreamin'.