Tag Archives: Woody Johnson

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.

If Aaron Rodgers Can Overcome Jets Wicked Past, He’ll Change Team For Good

Posted on by
Reply

By Jason Klein 

“I’ve heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason.”

After arriving in New York, Aaron Rodgers saw Wicked on Broadway and heard Glinda deliver this iconic line.  The future hall of fame quarterback came to the Jets for one very specific reason.  He’s here to make sure the historically cursed franchise has been changed for good.

It’s been 55 years since another Broadway star, Joe Willie, secured the franchise’s only Super Bowl victory.  Namath defied gravity – and the odds – to add that lonely Lombardi to the trophy case.  Since then, our fanbase has been tortured, teased and tormented in the cruelest of ways.  We’ve been mocked and mistreated.  We’ve been baited and beaten. We’ve been disappointed, disillusioned and disgruntled. 

Unless you’ve rooted for the New York Jets, or you’re another notoriously green outcast named Elphaba, there’s no way you can possibly understand.  You can’t empathize with our inferiority complex or comprehend our constant sense of doom.

Somehow, Aaron Rodgers gets it, though.  Maybe because he knows what it’s like to live in darkness.  This spring, Rodgers spent a few days in the dark.  Jets fans have spent a few decades there.  Together, they will try to see the light.

This isn’t the first time we’ve been promised a brighter future, though.

Ken O’Brien had his moments.  Browning Nagle never did.  Boomer Esiason and Neil O’Donnell had big reputations, but little success. Vinny Testaverde got close.  Chad Pennington got hurt. Mark Sanchez got Tebow’d. Geno Smith got punched. Sam Darnold got mono.  Zach Wilson got the yips.

This time will be different.  It has to be, right?

Aaron Rodgers is a 4-Time MVP and a Super Bowl Champion.  He’s the most accomplished and talented quarterback the team has ever had.  He also genuinely wants to be here!  Since the moment he announced that his “intention was to play for the New York Jets,” he’s embraced everything that goes along with it.  The expectations, the media, the fans, the mentorship role, the Hard Knocks, the city and the history.  He isn’t just the new face of the team.  He’s the new face of the entire franchise.

Give him a shovel.  He’s the right guy to finally bury the “Same Old Jets” and change our sad narrative.

No more Fake Spikes and Butt Fumbles.  Put the Heidi Game on hiatus and dig out of the Miami mud.  It’s time to say goodbye to shovel passes and seeing ghosts.

We’re done talking about Gastineau’s gaffe in Cleveland and Byars’ fumble in Denver.  We’ve had enough of the Idzik 12, burner accounts and googly-eyed head coaches.  It’s time to finally heal from Favre’s torn biceps, Chad’s torn shoulder and Vinny’s torn Achilles. 

Let’s focus on Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner and Breece Hall and stop talking about Vernon Gholston, Blair Thomas and Dee Milliner.  Tell homie-hoppers to bounce and give foot fetishes the boot.

Crumple up that “HC of the NYJ” napkin and toss it along with Lou Holtz, Rich Kotite and Adam Gase.  While we’re at it, give Namath’s interview with Suzy Kolber a big kiss goodbye.

No more Pick 6’s, PSLs or Peyton Manning advice.  We’re done rooting for top draft picks and flying planes over practice.  We’ve had “too much Tebow” and not enough real “brilliant offensive minds.” 

We’re tired of twitching over Leon Johnson’s pass in Detroit and Doug Brien’s kicks in Pittsburgh.  Please, give the legend of IK Enemkpali a right hook and stop calling Cover Zero Blitzes.

We’ve unfollowed Jamal Adams and Le’Veon Bell.  We’re done being humiliated when Favre throws picks or sends pics.  We don’t want to be branded by 3-13 or 1-15 anymore.

No more Mud Bowls and Snoopy Bowls.  Only Super Bowls from now on.

Starting Monday night, if Aaron Rodgers can perform football wizardry and somehow lead the Jets down the yellow brick road to victory, it would be the greatest accomplishment of his Hall of Fame career.  It would be the top line on his already legendary resume, forever.  It would also leave a lasting legacy with the Jets, ensuring that they’ve been changed for good.

Towards the end of Wicked, Elphaba claims, “Everyone deserves a chance to fly.”

No one deserves it more than Jets fans.

Aaron Rodgers could be the right guy, at the right time, to finally help us Take Flight.

Afterall, I’ve heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason.

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

Revis Makes Swift Return to New York

Posted on by
2

By Jason Klein

Taylor Swift, you were wrong.

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together? Think again.

Darrelle Revis returned, in Style, to the New York Jets on Tuesday night after short pit stops in Tampa and New England. He signed a 5-year, $70 million deal with $39 million fully guaranteed. Gang Green fans, punished for the last two miserable years, can Shake It Off now that they get their favorite toy back.

Welcome (back) to New York. It’s been waiting for you.

Jets fans are good at waiting – they’ve been waiting 47 years for a Super Bowl title. They waited two long years for owner Woody Johnson to awaken from his frugal slumber. They also waited for him to rectify the mistakes made by his former general manager, a man more concerned with counting pennies than title rings.

The waiting is over.

With his green and white hat in hand, Johnson acknowledged the missteps of the previous regime. Revis is not 22 anymore, but at age 30, he still deserves to be paid as the best corner in the NFL. Woody gave him what he was asking for.

He couldn’t save money, but at least he saved face.

Two years ago, while traveling down the road to ineptitude and indifference, Woody and the Jets decided it was best to rid themselves of the future Hall of Famer, rather than pay him. They knew Revis created problems for opposing quarterbacks, but overlooked the Blank Space he left behind upon his departure.

When former GM John Idzik traded him away in April of 2013, the Jets secondary went from being an organizational strength to liability. Former head coach, Rex Ryan was never the most accurate prognosticator, but he accurately predicted his corner-driven defense would suffer without a once-in-a-generation player like Revis. In Rex’s mind, he felt: “Darrelle, You Belong With Me.”

If Rex was upset when Revis was traded, he’s got to be hotter than a basket of wings now, watching this Revis Reunion from his new coaching perch in Buffalo.

Rex may feel Revis’s return to New York is a Mean twist of fate, but the fans he left behind are elated. They realize it was Woody’s wallet, not Darrelle’s heartstrings, that pulled him back to New York, rekindling this Love Story. They also recognize that it doesn’t matter why he came back. The only thing that matters is that he did.

The move restores credibility within the organizational hierarchy and returns Revis to the place where he was drafted in 2007. In all likelihood, his Super Bowl victory was The Last Time he’ll play in any other teams’ uniform besides the Jets.

Gone two years ago, Everything Has Changed, and he’s back Safe And Sound in New York.

Can his presence alone get the Jets Back To December with meaningful games to play?

Crazier things have happened.

Crazier things like Darrelle Revis returning to the Jets.

Welcome (back) to New York, Darrelle.

It’s been waiting for you.

Connect With Jason

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

Thanks, Rex.

Posted on by
1

By Jason Klein

Thanks, Rex.

Although you never delivered the Lombardi Trophy you promised, you made me believe it was always within reach. You once had everyone believing, back before your team’s talent slimmed down faster than your waistline.

If today is the last time you don that black Jets vest, let me just simply say:

Thanks, Rex.

Thanks for navigating the Jets to within one game of the Super Bowl.

Twice.

Thanks for giving my perennially stale team a refreshingly colorful, vibrant image.

Thanks for your lighthearted press conferences and your Hard Knocks defense.

Thanks for making the New York Jets a place where free agents wanted to sign.

Thanks for bringing stability to an organization that historically lacks any.

Thanks for humanizing the head coach position with your public displays of raw emotion.

You were the biggest star in a town filled with them, and for a period of time, you were able to mask the dysfunctional stink that permeates all things Jets Football.

Most importantly, thanks for making the Jets relevant and credible. Before your bombastic arrival, the Jets had no personality and no hope. They were a “little brother” franchise, stuck playing in someone else’s building.

You stepped in and put the entire league on notice: “Here come the Jets!”

You refused to kiss Belichick’s rings…you wanted to go get your own. You made guarantees, wanted to meet the President, take “swipes” at other team’s players, “lead the league in wins,” and “Play like a Jet.” You brought “Rexy Back” and then got a “God damn snack.”

You made the media laugh and opposing quarterbacks cry. From your players, you demanded maximum effort and commanded ultimate respect. You gave Jets fans hope, even when ownership and the front office gave you none.

Over this past miserable year, you lost your bravado, a ton of games, and most likely, your job. Management set you up to fail, and ultimately, that’s exactly what you did. However, you don’t escape all culpability. Along the way, you had your own faults too. Everybody does, though.

Should you lose your “dream job” for it? It’s debatable. It’s possible your act has just run its course in New York. It could simply just be time to move on. If so, the Jets willingly let go of a brilliant defensive mind. They’ll fire one of the most competitive and confident men in the game, and someone who is adored by his players. They’ll say goodbye to the man who brought the Jets as close to a Super Bowl as anyone since Weeb.

Twice.

For that alone, I offer my gratitude and simply say:

Thanks, Rex.

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,

Keep Rex.

Keep your players happy.  Keep your fan base happy.

Keep your team’s momentum going.

Earlier this month, you admitted you were “pretty happy with the way things were going.”  Here’s your opportunity to keep them moving in the right direction.

Keep your word.

Back in January 2013, when formally announcing Rex would stay on as coach for the upcoming season, you gushed: “…Rex Ryan is perfect for the New York Jets….I’m totally happy with Rex as head coach…I think it’s going to produce something really good.”  If anything, the last 12 months of Rex should have reinforced these positive feelings of yours.

Keep focused on football.

You love making headlines.  You also love money and politics.  Time to finally show Jets fans you love winning football games too.  I implore you to act in the best interest of your football team here.  There’s no one better suited to lead this team than the man you already have in place.  If you don’t want him, another team will snap him up faster than Santonio Holmes can walk out on the media.

Keep Rex.

I’m a life-long Jets fan, and season ticket holder, and like most, I struggle to think of any justifiable reason to let Rex Ryan go.  He keeps your team relevant, his players believe in him, and he clearly gets the most out of the talent he works with.

This season, you sent Chef Ryan into the kitchen with ground beef and asked him to prepare a filet mignon. With a rookie quarterback and a roster loaded with less talent than a Kardashian, he was still able to cook up a 7-8 record with one game to play.  It’s a mark that tastes pretty good to Jets fans who expected a sour season from the start.

Keep our trust.

Don’t let the 2013 season come off as a charade.  Ryan has done enough to warrant an extension.  Anything less would reek of predetermined peddling behind closed doors.  John Idzik believes in competition.  No one competed harder for his job than Rex Ryan this year.

When everyone else gave up on his ability to lead, and to coach, he stayed the course.  He’s successfully squeezed juice out of the rock you threw at him, and Jets fans like myself are thirsty for more

Over the last two years, he’s won with no-name players and risen above unnamed sources.  He outlasted the circus, yet, you would be a real clown if you let go of Rex now.

As we approach the final Sunday of this shockingly successful season, please keep in mind:

Your players want him back.  Your fans want him back.

Don’t take a step backwards here.  Keep things moving in the right direction.

Keep Rex.

Sincerely,

Jason Klein

@JasonKlein24

Connect With Jason

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

 

Sanchez Bamboozled Again

Posted on by
Reply

By Jason Klein

It fits.

You know, Mark Sanchez reportedly losing his job the way he did.

One final indignity for the man continuously bamboozled by his own organization.

Inexplicably thrown to the wolves during his 4th quarter preseason appearance against the Giants, Sanchez was done in, again, by the very team he once led to two AFC Championship Games in a row.  This time, he sustained an injury that could ultimately derail his career in New York.

Bruised Shoulder.

Broken Career.

It’s not shocking, over the last two seasons, that Sanchez has regressed.  It can’t be easy to succeed in the NFL when you have to battle an opponent, and your own team at the same time.

Seemingly on a weekly basis, Sanchez has been given every opportunity to fail.  After his first two successful seasons, Jets decision makers left him with a diluted supporting cast, flirted with Peyton Manning, and publically humiliated him when Woody Johnson told the world “You can never have too much Tebow.”  It was a statement, and a personnel decision, that divided the Jets locker room and fan base.

Then, Tebow left and Geno arrived.

They drafted Geno Smith and privately hoped he’d unseat the incumbent Sanchez.  New GM, John Idzik, ultimately got his secret wish…by default.

When Rex Ryan decided the Snoopy Bowl was more important than the wellbeing of his Week 1 starting quarterback, Sanchez sustained a hit to his throwing shoulder.  He now finds his status with the Jets more questionable than a Miley Cyrus performance.

Bottom line is, they haven’t treated Sanchez like a franchise quarterback, and consequently, he hasn’t played like one either.  He’ll never be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but Sanchez has certainly proven he can win in this league when surrounded by capable talent.  Plus, it’s easily forgotten, he played only one season at USC, and is only 26 years-old.  He’s still a kid.

To be fair, Mark hasn’t done himself any favors either.  In buttfumbling fashion, he’s turned the ball over 52 times over the last 2 seasons and proved to be mistake-prone at the most inopportune times.  Opponents have undressed the inconsistent Sanchez on the field.  Frivolous, camera phone-carrying party girls have undressed him off it.  Poor decisions during, and after, games haven’t helped Sanchez.  Again, he’s still a kid.

If this is the end of his stint in New York, it will mark a stunning fall from grace for the kid from SoCal.

It’s just a shame there was nobody from the Jets organization there to catch him on the way down.

For a team who always seems to handle things with complete ineptitude…it fits.

Connect With Jason

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

 

Drafting, Developing New Talent a Waste of Time For Jets

Posted on by
Reply

By Jason Klein

It won’t matter who the Jets select in tonight’s NFL Draft.

You can take that to the bank.

You’ll probably bump into Woody Johnson while you’re there.  He’ll be the one shamefully depositing your hard earned PSL money.

I wish I were wrong.  However, based on everything we know about this team and their owner, I’m not.

How can I be so sure?  It’s simple.  Woody wouldn’t open up his checkbook for Darrelle Revis.

Darrelle Revis!

He refused to pay a homegrown, game-changing, once-in-a-lifetime talent who single-handedly eliminates the opposition’s best offensive weapon every single week.  Revis doesn’t just dominate in some games, or even most games.  It’s literally every game!  He makes it a ten-on-ten contest every week! There is no other player in the league who can dominate their position like Revis can.

Injury aside, he’s a 27 years-old future Hall of Famer who was a leader in a clubhouse that desperately needs one.  Teams could spend decades searching for a player like Revis.  Woody had him and didn’t make any effort to keep him.  No phone call, no text message, no e-mail or tweet.  Woody was more isolating than a trip to Revis Island.

Why?  Because, he couldn’t justify giving $16M a year to a Cornerback.  OK, fair enough.  Revis isn’t a Franchise Quarterback.  Understood.  But this sets a very dangerous precedent for the two young players the Jets will select in the first round tonight.

Despite the Jets’ dubious draft history, what happens if one of tonight’s selections develops into a Pro Bowl-caliber talent and wants to get paid some day, just like Revis did?  Assuming they don’t take a quarterback, will Woody and the Jets sack them too?

How can any young player, who’s not a Franchise Quarterback, feel confident about a long future with the Jets?  Why should fans root for and support developing players who will be jettisoned, in their prime, before a big payday?

If you won’t pay Revis, who will you pay?

Jadeveon Clowney?  A victory-challenged Jets team will be in the running for the South Carolina stud next April, but he’ll want Revis-like money, or more, when his time comes too.

The bottom line is, with the acquired pick from Tampa Bay, the Jets hope to draft a player who can one day, possibly, be the type of star Revis already is today.

New GM, John Idzik, deserves a chance to try and find that elite player.  At the end of the day, will it matter though?

If the past week is any indication, it won’t.

Draft choice tonight.  Financial castaway tomorrow.

Take that to the bank.

You know Woody will.

Connect With Jason:

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