Tag Archives: Super Bowl

More Hard Knocks

Posted on by
Reply

By Jason Klein 

I remember watching that first episode of Hard Knocks with my wife.  The two of us bopped our heads to “Shivers” as we watched Aaron Rodgers launch training camp missiles with precision. “That boy is cold,” Garrett Wilson said at the time. 

The players were in awe.  I was in shock.  I turned to my wife and said, “I can’t believe this is real.  This guy’s a Hall of Famer and he actually wants to be on the Jets.”  Unless you’ve lived with a Jets inferiority complex, you can’t possibly understand what this meant at the time.

I hadn’t been this proud to be a Jets fan since those 2009 and 2010 seasons…1998 before that. Everything was in place to make a legitimate run at a Lombardi. There was hype. There was national attention. There was reason to believe the “Same Old Jets” were dead.

Then, I uttered those words. The ones us Jets fans always regret saying out loud: “This time it’s going to be different,” I said.  We ALL said it!  That’s why this is so disappointing…even for a fanbase that is routinely tortured and teased in the cruelest of ways.

This time, the football Gods did us dirtier than Lucy ever did Charlie Brown.  They pulled the rug out from under us just 4 plays into this experiment and everything changed. After that Achilles pop, we never got the Rodgers experience we were promised.

I’m optimistic that Aaron Glenn is the right hire at head coach, but that doesn’t make this empty feeling go away. It doesn’t make that Super Bowl III Trophy any less lonely, either. Not yet, anyway.  Quarterback purgatory is a tough place to be.  Jets fans have spent most of their fandom there.  I thought Rodgers was the one to get us out of the darkness.  We all did.  Maybe this next regime will finally find a franchise quarterback to get it done.

Life with Aaron Rodgers was just full of hard knocks.

Time To Jet Up

Posted on by
Reply

By Jason Klein

(Updated January 9, 2025)

When I was a kid, I used to spend time
Writing down notes about Jets games in rhyme.
I’d document things that happened each week
Some things were real good and others quite bleak.

I started the year they went 1 and 15.
That season was brutal for fans of Gang Green.
I wrote about Kotite, and Keyshawn and Wayne.
All of the losing and all of the pain.

With things looking up, the time just felt right
To once again give my Jets rhymes the greenlight.
In case this new season is really our year,
I chose to start up before Week 1’s premiere. 

This one just feels different. The roster is loaded.
A ring is the goal with a QB who’s GOAT’ed.
Rodgers is back from his ruptured Achillies.
Can he secure the team’s first since Joe Willie’s?

The legacy logo thrilled fans at release.
We can’t wait to see it on Sauce and on Breece.
This season is huge. There’s so much at stake.
It’s time for these Jets to go “All Gas No Brake.”

The ’24 Jets have pushed in all their chips.
They’re ready to tear up those tired old scripts.
The “Same Old Jets” are a thing of the past.
No longer the punchline or finishing last.

The Jets, through the years, have kept us all humble.
We’ve seen every fake spike and every butt fumble.
It’s time to get past it, it’s time to attack.
We’ve moved on from guys like Sam Darnold and Zach.

We’ve seen all the miscues, we’ve watched all the clips,
We’ve been through the Mud Bowl, the Mono and Yips.
We had to watch Belichick slither away,
Refusing to be HC of N Y J.

Heidi and Tebow, Idzik and Gase.
IK hit Geno real hard in the face.
Favre sending pictures and Sam seeing ghosts,
Doug Brien not able to split the goalposts.

Leon’s pass in Detroit and a darkness retreat,
Chad and his shoulder. Rex and his feet.
Planes over practice for Woody to see.
Vernon, Blair Thomas and then there was Dee.

Le’Veon Bell and the Prez went away,
Testaverde went down on opening day.
Gastineau’s gaffe and Byars’ dropped ball.
Too many moments so hard to recall.

We’ve been tortured and teased in the cruelest of ways.
They’ve given us heartbreak. They’ve given us greys.
But here comes a legend, the one and the only,
To make sure our Lombardi is no longer lonely.

Rodgers will lead us, no need to be leery.
Ignore every flaw and conspiracy theory.
He emerged from the darkness to answer our prayer,
And sit in the throne as Joe Namath’s heir.

Surrounded by players considered elite,
Mike Williams and Tippman are here to compete.
A roster with Quinnen and JJ and Garrett.
Saleh and Douglas have dangled that carrot.

By bringing in good dudes like Tyron and Quincy, 
We now can stack up with the Chiefs and with Cincy.
With CJ and DJ and AVT, too,
The Jets are prepared to go pull off a coup.

Forget ’68 and that Super Bowl drought,
The ’24 Jets are about to ball out.
The season is here. Pour a drink in your cup.
It’s time to Take Flight.  It’s time to Jet Up.

The Jets flew to Frisco to kick off Week 1,
McCaffrey didn’t play, still, they couldn’t stop the run.
Rodgers looked healthy and put up a fight,
Yet, they fell to the 9ers on that Monday Night.

Week 2 took the Jets out to old Tennessee.
Jermaine left the game with a tough injury.
Braelon and Breece showed they’re quite the duel threat,
While Aaron chalked up his first win as a Jet.

For decades the Pats showed the Jets no respect,
But flipping that script is a box Rodgers checked.
On Thursday Night Football, Gang Green turned the tide,
And Week 3 gave Jets fans a new sense of pride.

Everyone thought we were done with the pain.
Along came the Broncos…and so did the rain.
Coaching mistakes and the offense couldn’t score.
So they lost to Bo Nix in a soggy Week 4.

Sam and the Vikings were in the UK.
A Week 5 in London, but to our dismay,
The offense was sluggish and Rodgers threw picks.
Brand new continent. Same old tricks.

Two weeks in a row, the team looked uninspired,
So Woody went rogue and then Saleh was fired. 
In desperate need of a brand new approach,
The Jets made Jeff Ulbrich their interim head coach.

Throwback jerseys and a not to the past,
But the Bills beat the Jets. The good vibes didn’t last.
Flags and missed field goals. A sloppy Week 6.
Tons of bad habits for this team to fix.

Rodgers had wanted his pal from Green Bay.
So Joe D went out and he traded for Tae.
Davante’s a big star and everyone knows,
The Jets must win now or this window will close.

A Week 7 showdown in the Steel City,
The Jets were destroyed and it wasn’t real pretty.
Year after year it’s not hard to predict,
That we all buy the hype and again we get tricked.

The gloomiest Jets fan could not have forseen,
That our season would end just before Halloween.
A dysfunctional loss to the Pats in Week 8,
Had our fanbase disgusted, fed up and irate.

“Sell the team” chants in Week 9 out of spite,
Then a spooky thing happened on Halloween night.
The Jets beat the Texans with “Jumpman” G5.
His catch of the year kept the season alive.

Week 10 in the desert went horribly wrong.
A pitiful effort proved they don’t belong.
This year, the playoffs are not in the Cards.
The Jets, once again, kick us all in the nards.

1 o’clock with the Colts because it was flexed,
Showcased a Jets team that always seems hexed.
In this Week 11 they fell to defeat.
We’ll try again next year. Rinse and repeat.

The Bye in Week 12 is this year’s point of junction.
The Jets proved again they’re a team of dysfunction.
This franchise relentlessly puts us through hell.
Now they fired Joe Douglas. Sell, Woody! Sell!

Two weeks to prepare. The results were obscene.
A loss to the Seahawks capped off Week 13.
The Jets blew the lead and AR passed the blame.
We hoped things would change but got more of the same.

Garrett Wilson is sick of the Jets “losing gene.”
He made that well known, postgame, Week 14.
An overtime loss to the Fins was real gory.
Forever stuck in football purgatory.

The Jets could have easily pack up their bags,
And been a no-show for their date with the Jags.
But Davante went off Week 15 for the win,
Much to the pro-Tankathoner’s chagrin.

The Athletic reported Brick Johnson’s in charge,
And Woody’s reliance on Madden is large.
The Rams beat the Jets Week 16 in the cold.
This season’s a story that’s best left untold. 

In Week 17 the Bills swarmed and attacked.
They made Aaron Rodgers the all-time most sacked.
According to Sauce, some guys might be “checked out.”
Rock Bottom is something the Jets know about.

With little to play for AR was carefree,
By throwing 4 touchdowns he reached 503.
The Jets beat the Fins in a Week 18 clash,
Expectations were high, but this season was trash.

We thought they were ready, we thought they were ripe,
We all got excited and bought all the hype.
This was our shot to get out of the woods,
Instead Woody sold us the same bill of goods.

The Gods from above should have thrown us a bone.
Instead our Lombardi still sits all alone.
Rodgers maintains that he has no regrets,
Taking this challenge to rebrand the Jets.

Instead, after two years, it’s mostly the same.
AR’s not alone, there are plenty to blame.
The guy who said “thinking is so overrated,”
Must be found liable for the mess he created.

But Woody won’t sell, we’ll just have to sit tight,
And pray that they finally can get this thing right.
It starts with the search for a coach and GM,
To settle things down and stop all the mayhem.

Unlike past rebuilds, this roster’s not barren.
Will they run back with Devonte and Aaron?
Can Garrett be happy, avoiding a trade? 
Now is the time to make sure he gets paid.

No matter what happens, there should be no doubt,
The number one goal is to end this damn drought.
A return to the playoffs is long overdue.
Nothing has worked, so they’ll try something new.

We’ve been tortured and teased in so many ways,
It’s got to pay off for us one of these days.
Until then we’ll all pour a drink in our cup,
And dream of the day they can finally Jet Up.

Old Jets Logo Was Cool…Like Kevin Arnold.

Posted on by
Reply

By Jason Klein

I always thought Kevin Arnold was the coolest.

He had Winnie Cooper, but more importantly, he had that vintage New York Jets jacket.

Played by Fred Savage, Kevin was the star of The Wonder Years, a family

comedy/drama that was “appointment TV” for me from 1988-1993.  Well before Netflix or Prime, I made sure I was in front of a TV when it aired each week.  Back then, the only thing streaming were tears…each time an episode’s moral tugged at your heartstrings.

Change was a central theme of the story that took place during the turbulent late 60s and early 70s. There were political changes, social changes, and tons of personal changes that Kevin experienced over the show’s 6-year run.

Through it all, one thing remained constant for Kevin.

That Jets jacket.

I loved that jacket. There was something so endearing about it.  The Jets have never really had a place among pop culture.  Their players didn’t star in commercials.  Musicians or rappers never performed in Jets jerseys or caps.  The Jets were never even the most popular football team in their own city.  Yet, there was the star of a primetime network hit wearing a Jets jacket every week.

Taking place between 1968-1973, Kevin’s jacket featured the logo made famous during

Super Bowl III.  It was the same emblem Joe Namath wore the day he wagged that finger and delivered a Lombardi Trophy.  Namath was always so cool.  With that Jets logo on his jacket, so was Kevin Arnold.

As it turns out, Broadway Joe will be the only quarterback to ever win a title with that logo on his helmet.

That’s a guarantee.

Later today, change is coming to the New York Jets.  At 7:30 PM, Gang Green will introduce a new uniform and logo.  It will be the team’s first wardrobe change since 1998.  That’s when Bill Parcells pulled a Marty McFly and went Back to the Future – bringing those famous Super Bowl III jerseys back.

They wore the throwbacks for 21 seasons, but could never repeat what Namath did.

Vinny Testaverde got close, once.  Mark Sanchez had two shots at immortality, but came up short.  Even Chad Pennington made 3 playoff appearances in those Namath-style threads, but his ring finger remained bare, like the Jets trophy case over the last 50 years.

Maybe change is good. Perhaps a new identity will turn the tide, improve karma and provide some positive feng shui over in East Rutherford.

With a new head coach and two young cornerstone players in Sam Darnold and Jamal Adams, this feels like the right time to move forward with a renewed identity.

Still, there’s something special about continuity and tradition.

I watched Derek Jeter win five World Series in the same uniform my dad once watched Mickey Mantle win in.  Now, my daughters see Aaron Judge try to do the same thing.  The generations change, but the pinstripes never do.

There are rumors, and unconfirmed leaks on Twitter, that suggest this Jets update will maintain some elements of the old logo.  I’d like that.  We’ll know for sure after tonight.

If I can’t have that classic logo, or Winnie Cooper for that matter, I’ll take a Super Bowl victory in whatever uniform they trot out tonight.

That would be cool.

Even cooler than Kevin Arnold.

https://byjasonklein.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/instagram-circle.jpg?w=50&h=50

Like Parcells, Gase Has Chance To Change Jets Identity, 50 Years After Super Bowl III

Posted on by
1

By Jason Klein

Fifty years.

That’s how long it’s been since the New York Jets won a Super Bowl.

Hell, that’s how long it’s been since they even appeared in the big game.

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of Super Bowl III.  January 12, 1969 is this team’s identity.  It’s the defining moment in their franchise’s history and it happened 50 years ago today.

Yes.  Fifty!

Imagine being best known for something you accomplished a half century ago.

When will the narrative change?  Well, it’s been 22 years since their last, best chance.  In 1997, after winning just 4 of their previous 32 games, the Jets hired the coach they thought could rescue them from irrelevance and completely change everything.  This week, they did it again.

Tuna then. A Dolphin now.

There are a lot of similarities between what Bill Parcells faced in 1997 and what former Miami Head Coach, Adam Gase is about to take on.

Both inherited a floundering Jets franchise in desperate need of a new beginning.

Parcells’ rescue mission followed the team’s historically horrible two-year run from 1995-1996.  He began the makeover in his second season by introducing new uniforms.  He brought back a modern version of the team’s jerseys worn between 1964-1977, a tribute to that only Super Bowl team in franchise history.

Next, he added a ton of new players.  Game-changing players.  Names like Curtis Martin, Kevin Mawae, Keith Byars and Bryan Cox.  They brought a new attitude and gave the team instant credibility.

Finally, he found a top-level Quarterback.  Vinny Testaverde arrived, leading the Jets to a Division Title, a 12-4 record and a trip to the AFC Championship Game.  Though they fell one win short of a Super Bowl appearance, the team had clearly turned a corner.

When Gase is introduced as the new HC of the NYJ on Monday afternoon, he’ll also inherit a team coming off a historically horrible run.  Over the last three seasons, they’ve won just 14 of their previous 48 games.

Like Parcells, Gase will attempt to change the team’s identity.

New uniforms are coming this spring.  With the third overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, and close to $100M in cap space, Gase and GM Mike Maccagnan must find new, game-changing players like Parcells once did.  Lucky for Gase, he’s already got the QB in Sam Darnold.

Both Parcells and Gase took over Jets teams at pivotal junctures in franchise history.  They were both hired by questionable ownerships with limited football knowledge.  Gase also takes on an angry, skeptical fanbase who is tired of losing, just as Parcells did.

Parcells was able to quickly flip the script and almost get that elusive second Lombardi Trophy for the Jets.  Now Adam Gase has his chance.

“I’m excited about him coming,” said Joe Namath, the man under center 50 years ago today.  “I believe he can do it.”

If he does, according to acting owner, Christopher Johnson, he’ll be a “Freaking Legend.”  It’s been a freaking long time since this team had any real legends to celebrate.

Fifty years, to be exact.

https://byjasonklein.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/instagram-circle.jpg?w=50&h=50

Jets Waste Opportunity. “Nick & Brick” Window Now Shut.

Posted on by
Reply

By Jason Klein

Today, the Jets look towards the future without a very important piece from their past.

Bryce Petty gets his second start at quarterback just days after the team placed center Nick Mangold on season-ending injured reserve. The move could signal the end of Mangold’s 11-year run with the Jets. Even if he returns, this season’s injury woes proved that his best days are behind him.

One of the most dependable and talented centers in NFL history, Mangold has only one season left on his contract. He’ll turn 33 next month, and will carry a large salary cap charge of $9.1 million into 2017 – both reasons why the Jets could decide to move on.

If they do, it would be a wasted opportunity for a franchise that wastes a lot of them.

In 2006, the Jets drafted Mangold, and left tackle, D’Brickashaw Ferguson in the first round. Over the next decade, they would anchor a dominant offensive line and stabilize the team’s core. In all that time, the Jets failed to find a true franchise quarterback for them to protect.

Inexplicable.

It’s been almost 50 years since Joe Namath wagged his finger atop football’s highest peak. The Jets haven’t been able to replace him since. Perhaps most frustrating of all – the star-crossed franchise wasn’t able to do so within the 10-year “Nick & Brick” window.

Imagine a baseball team boasting an elite pitching staff, all healthy and in their prime, but unable to secure any top hitters to score any runs.

A waste.

Aside from quarterback, a center and left tackle are arguably the most important positions on a football team. The Jets haven’t had to worry about filling those holes for a decade now.

Before this season’s ankle issues, Mangold had been a rock at center, going to 7 Pro Bowls and missing only 4 games over his first 10 years. Ferguson retired in 2015 after a 10-year career with the Jets. He went to 3 Pro Bowls and played in all 160 regular season games, only missing one play. One play!

The only thing more reliable than these two has been the team’s lackluster play at quarterback.

The Jets thought they found their man in 2009 when Mark Sanchez took them to the first of back-to-back AFC Title Games. That was as close as they would come, though. Sanchez fizzled and the search continued.

Today, Petty gets his shot.

It’s too early to tell if he’ll be the answer.

It’s too late for him to do it behind “Nick & Brick.”

Wasted opportunity.

Connect With Jason

https://byjasonklein.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/instagram-circle.jpg?w=584

Same Old Jets? Not This Time…I think.

Posted on by
1

By Jason Klein

Same Old Jets?

This time was different.

Blaming Sunday’s excruciating loss on a “well, that’s just the way it is” mantra is silly. I’ll be honest, I’ve been guilty of it in the past. I’ve been consuming the same old nonsense for over thirty years. It never gets any easier.

Growing up as a Jets fan, the terms “would have,” “could have,” and “should have” were a part of my daily vernacular. I would pepper grade school friends with them trying to defend my team’s yearly failures. Now I plead my case to my wife and children.

But “Same Old Jets?” Not this time.

Like the previous 46 Jets seasons, this one ended without a trophy. Not since Joe Willie waggled that finger back in January of 1969 has this team finished on top. Sunday’s season-ender was disappointing, frustrating, mind-boggling, and typical, but something did feel different about it.

The Jets now have a competent General Manager, a level-headed Coach, a dynamic Wide Receiver tandem, a top defensive unit, and a ton of confidence. By re-signing Ryan Fitzpatrick, they’ll also have an intelligent and physically capable Quarterback who commands the respect of his locker room.

I’m not naïve. None of that guarantees a shot at Super Bowl run. In the NFL, luck is sometimes more important than talent and preparation. One minute you’re primed for a title run, and the next minute your scraping Vinny Testaverde off the turf with a torn Achilles.

It’s very possible, the Jets as presently constituted will never get another opportunity like the one they just lost. They took advantage of a soft schedule, and could have had a very realistic path to Super Bowl 50 in an anemic AFC. Next year could be completely different. Things fall apart quickly in the NFL – just ask Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez.

But I do know one thing. Heading into next season, I trust the people making decisions, and I believe in the process. Something I couldn’t always say about previous regimes.

So, no, I don’t think this is a case of the “Same Old Jets.” I may feel differently one day, looking back on it the same spiteful way I view Leon Johnson’s option pass in Detroit, Doug Brien’s missed field goals in Pittsburgh, or any other of the wacky and seemingly unfathomable ways I’ve seen Jets seasons mercilessly end.

But for now, I choose to view it differently. I choose to be hopeful instead of hopeless.

That kind of positive thinking will help get me through the next nine months.

That’s when I’ll pull out my green and white jersey again, take a deep breath, and put myself through the Same Old Thing all over again.

Connect With Jason

https://byjasonklein.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/instagram-circle.jpg?w=584

Dear Mr. Woody Johnson

Posted on by
1

By Jason Klein

Dear Mr. Woody Johnson,

I’m not angry. Really! I’m not.

No, I’ve long accepted that I root for a team allergic to success.

Instead, the 2014 New York Jets have left me feeling something much more damning:

Indifferent.

I believe it’s the final stage of coping with your team’s inadequacies.

I’m a life-long Jets fan and season ticket holder, but my Football Sundays are no longer filled with anticipation, pageantry, or hope. I just go through the motions, devoid of any passion. You know, sort of like your Head Coach during press conferences these days.

I don’t blame Rex though. No, I’d probably be relegated to a comatose puppet too if I had an incapable GM pulling all my strings. I can only imagine how difficult Rex’s job must be after his best player was traded, his franchise quarterback was bamboozled, his personality was muzzled and defense was handcuffed without the necessary tools to succeed.

Phil Jackson has the Knicks running “The Triangle” offense. Rex is forced to run “The Circle” defense.

No corners!

Rex’s stomach may be stapled, but it was clearly in knots when he called this now 2-11 season “a joke.”

He’s right. It’s a bad joke. The punch line is a punch to the gut each Sunday.

The other thirty-one teams are the ones laughing too. They look at your inept, incompetent, impossibly ineffective franchise and can’t help but giggle. Not long ago, you were the one chuckling…all the way to two consecutive AFC Championship Games. Back then, your coach was cocky, your quarterback showed promise, and your fan base believed success was inevitable.

Now, we look on in horror as flames slowly burn through your wretched green and white dumpster fire.

It’s ok though! I’m not mad. I’ve moved well beyond any feelings of fury. Instead, I’ll robotically meander through the next three weeks of meaningless football with the expectation that this offseason, you’ll emerge from your season long hibernation and finally get things right.

By now, I’ve accepted the fact that I won’t hear from you before then. Rather than reassure your disgruntled fans, mid-disaster, you prefer to cowardly duck the media and wait until season’s end. I’d prefer you be more proactive like Titans owner, Tommy Smith, though. Last week, he publically pledged to his fans that he is “committed to making this thing right” and that he’s “going to build a team that…the fans can be proud of.”

His team is 2-11. So is yours.

That’s ok, though, Woody. Really! I know you’ll address fans when you’re ready. You can take your time. No problem. I’ll be patient, because, I know you’ll finally stop chasing dollars and headlines and go chase that Lombardi Trophy after this kind of a season. Your political agenda should probably take a backseat too. Maybe consider spending less time with Mitt Romney and more time with people who know a little bit about football. It might lead to more victories…you know, if that sort of thing is important to you.

Unfortunately, the man on your staff who knows the most about football will most likely be the one to fall on the sword. Like Mark Sanchez before him, you’ve created an environment so toxic for Rex, it’s best he just moves on to succeed somewhere else – a place where he’ll receive the support he needs and can be his bombastic self again.

Speaking of support, it’s time to stop giving it to your General Manager. Filling your roster with talent and your stadium with fans should be the priority, not filling your wallet with unused cap money. Take this opportunity to start fresh. Bring in a credible, football-minded GM to make smart football decisions. I mean, you do own a football team, right?

After you’ve replaced your GM and Head Coach, please go find a real franchise quarterback. Go get a Duck, instead of somebody who throws them. Do whatever it takes to outfit Marcus Mariota in green and white. The kid is special. He’s professional, polished, confident and exciting. He’s everything your current team is not! He could be the face of your franchise for the next decade.

Those three moves – GM, Coach, QB – should be where you start. If you finally make the right football decisions in those three essential areas, it should provide enough deodorant to mask the stink surrounding your franchise these past few years.

Also, moving forward, try not to “Play like a Jet.” Play like someone else. Someone who wins! Also, no more “Jet decisions.” Make smart decisions! Football-minded decisions! Decisions that are in the best interest of winning football games.

Football-minded moves like these will again fill my Sunday afternoons with hope and begin to dispel any feelings of indifference. I want the Jets to matter again…matter the way they did when Rex first blew into town and made your franchise relevant again!

Change the losing culture around your team, and your fan base.

Right now, Rex is right, it’s “a joke.”

All fans can do is laugh.

Let’s shoot for fewer punch lines.

Just more punch.

Sincerely,

Jason Klein

Connect With Jason

https://byjasonklein.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/instagram-circle.jpg?w=584

Dear Mr. Woody Johnson

Posted on by
Reply

By Jason Klein

Dear Mr. Woody Johnson,

I needed an escape.

I’m a life-long fan, and season ticket holder, and typically, the New York Jets are my escape.  While I can’t escape the inclement weather inside your inexplicably roofless stadium, I do rely on your team to help me seek refuge from life’s everyday stresses, drama and nonsense.  Unfortunately, this season, your team stressed me out with a lot of its own excess drama and nonsense.

So, I needed an escape from my escape.

I wanted to personally thank you for providing me that retreat.  By going into hiding for nine days, you’ve given me the much-needed opportunity to cleanse my mind of the filth that was the 2012 New York Jets.  When you resurface, Tuesday morning, I hope you begin to show some accountability.  On the field, your team was bad.  Off the field, they were worse.

Just two short years after reaching back-to-back AFC Championship Games, your club has become an attention-seeking, controversy-creating, butt-fumbling disaster of a franchise.  Following some questionable offseason decisions, this season was dead on arrival.  With every day that passed, the stench of a decaying Jets carcass seemed to intensify.

Your roster was filled with no-name players and your staff was filled with unnamed sources.  When Peyton Manning passed, you couldn’t pass on a quarterback that can’t pass.  Hey, “you can never have too much Tebow,” right?

Your staff single-handedly sabotaged the season by bringing in, and then misusing, Tim Tebow.  It was a distraction that divided your locker room, and your fan base.  Things got so ugly in the stands, iconic super fan, “Fireman” Ed Anzalone, hung up his fireman’s hat and “retired” as the symbolic head of Jets nation.

I know Coach Rex Ryan’s stomach is stapled, but it was clearly in knots all season long as he uncomfortably answered Tebow questions each week.  He looked tired and beaten during his weekly pressers and did everything he could to avoid answering questions directly.  Tebow certainly has all the character in the world, but he was obviously the wrong character to play the role of “back up” quarterback for your club.

Constantly looking over his shoulder at a cult figure, Mark Sanchez regressed and seemingly lost all the confidence he had shown early on in his career.  I guess that was to be expected, considering he was provided the necessary tools to fail.

Your offense was “grounded” during the pre-season and “pounded” during the regular season.  You lost your best defensive and offensive players to injury, and Coach Ryan became defensive when offensive players anonymously ripped your “back up” quarterback.

I left a table full of warm turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving to sit in your cold stadium, and watch your Turkeys get stuffed by the Patriots.  Then, amid an uncomfortable and mismanaged quarterback carousel, I watched your team lose their last three games in embarrassing fashion, finishing up at 6-10.

You disrespectfully relieved your General Manager of 16-years by releasing a lame memo to the media and then let your Offensive Coordinator twist in the blustery Meadowlands wind.  Then, you allowed Coach Ryan to flee to the Bahamas, to reveal his ridiculous Sanchez tattoo, and leave an irate, confused and abused fan base left in his wake.

To top it all, it was apparent to every devoted Jets fan that you would have rather seen Mitt Romney elected President of the United States than see your football team hoist a Lombardi Trophy.  How do we know this?  Well, you told us, live, on Bloomberg TV in October.

Please, don’t mistake my harsh words for those of a Jets-hater.  I am a glutton for Jets punishment each and every Sunday.  I’ve been doing it since birth.  I’ve just reached a point of uncharted frustration, the depths of which Rich Kotite didn’t even navigate towards.

Over the next few months, as Jets fans, like myself, look to escape the carnival-like atmosphere surrounding your team, I hope you re-dedicate yourself, and your resources, towards building a winning product.  Go chase Super Bowls, not headlines!  The best way to sell through your precious PSL’s and win the back page is to win football games.  Win a lot of them!

Please, no more controversies, no more half-truths, and no more circus attractions to grab eyeballs and credit cards.

No more stress, no more drama, and no more nonsense.

Just give me a football team I can be proud of, not embarrassed by.

Give me an escape.

Sincerely,

Jason Klein

https://byjasonklein.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/instagram-circle.jpg?w=584

 

Jets Look Like Clowns as Tebow Circus Comes To Town

Posted on by
1

By Jason Klein

Originally Written For JetsTwit.com – 3/22/12

Tim Tebow can’t pass.  As it turns out, neither can Woody Johnson.

Rex Ryan, always talks about “chasing Super Bowls.”  Woody only chases headlines.  He can’t help himself.  Green with envy after watching the cross-stadium rival Giants win another Super Bowl last month, Johnson needed to make his New York Jets relevant again.  What better way to do so than trade for the most polarizing player in professional sports, Tim Tebow.

Congratulations, Woody.  Once again you own the back page, but not the city.

The Tebow acquisition will sell a ton of jerseys, maybe even a few of the PSL’s Brett Favre couldn’t in 2008, but will it win games, or titles?  Sometimes, Jets fans have to wonder if that’s even a concern of their attention-seeking, PSL-obsessed owner.

If Tebow is such an important piece, why were the Jets and the attendance-deprived Jacksonville Jaguars the only two teams interested in his services?  Why was John Elway so quick to ship him out of Denver?

Now he comes to a city where a fickle fan base will be chanting his name the first time incumbent quarterback, Mark Sanchez throws an incomplete pass on third and long.  It will be difficult for Sanchez to move forward when he’s consistently forced to look back, over his shoulder, at Tebow.

The Jets say they brought Tebow in to serve as a backup and run Tony Sparano’s Wildcat formation.  They continue to pledge their allegiance to Sanchez.  They will also tell you about the positive impact Tebow will have on their dysfunctional locker room.

It’s all nonsense.

Having Tebow on the roster inherently creates a quarterback controversy on the field, and adds another distraction off of it.  How will the overly religious Tebow react the first time he hears his head coach drop the Lord’s name in vain, followed by a flurry of expletives?

I doubt the two will discuss it over a God Damn Snack.

Frustrated Jets fans pray that this new “Meadowlands Messiah” can figure out a way to fit in and help win the franchise their first Super Bowl Trophy since man walked on the moon.

Though, just by signing him, Rex and the Jets finally get their ring.  Three rings, in fact.

Welcome to the circus.

Connect With Jason

https://byjasonklein.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/instagram-circle.jpg?w=584

 

Not Easy Being Green on Super Sunday

Posted on by
Reply

By Jason Klein

As Seen in In New York Magazine  – 2/3/12

Wait, there’s a game this Sunday?  Who knew?

OK, I admit it; I’ll watch the Super Bowl.

I don’t want to, but I will.

Let me explain.  This native New Yorker has the fanatical misfortune of rooting for the wrong team in town.  As a Jets fan, I admit that my allegiance is misguided.  I’ve accepted my role as a second-class citizen within New York’s football fandom.

Over the years, I’ve watched Jets teams lose games, seasons, and their minds in ways that would make the Bad News Bears blush.  I’ve witnessed Super Bowl dreams, seemingly within reach, decimated by injury, ignorance, and ineptitude.  This franchise is a bigger tease than a Kardashian.

Kermit the Frog had it right: It’s not easy being green.

Despite my eternal pessimism, I continue to passionately support them and hold out hope that one day, my Super dream of a championship might be a reality.

Until then, I’ll watch other teams compete for a Lombardi Trophy each February.  On Sunday, I have the distinct displeasure of watching New York’s more successful team, the Giants, battle the Jets’ biggest rival, the New England Patriots, for a Super Bowl Title.

It’s like being forced to watch your school’s bully and most popular kid fight to the death over the girl you have been chasing your whole life.

Yeah, I’m bitter.

I don’t dislike either team.  I really don’t.  I respect what the Giants and Patriots have accomplished this season, and in previous campaigns.  Yet, the perennial dysfunction that seems to infect Jets seasons past and present leaves me green with envy over the successes of my team’s two biggest rivals.

Even Jets Pro Bowl Center, Nick Mangold admits, “No matter who wins the game, it’s going to be a bad outcome for us as players and for the fans.”

It’s my obligation as a football fan to watch the Super Bowl.  I get it.  I’ll be more interested in the wings and beer than the game itself, but yes, I’ll watch it.

The cathartic viewing will tweak my pigskin inferiority complex, but ultimately build character.  When it’s over, I’ll emotionally hit the reset button, and await a new beginning in 2012.

There’s always next season.  The optimistic cliché represents all that is great about sports.  Especially in the NFL, a league predicated on parody.

Before that new beginning, there must be an end.

Apparently, the Giants and Patriots will do the honors on Sunday.

At least that’s the rumor.

Connect With Jason

https://byjasonklein.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/instagram-circle.jpg?w=584