Tuesday's Topic

What do you do when your team starts out 0-2?

Reactions range from the unlikely to the downtrodden. Some fans might already be throwing in the green towel and gearing themselves up for another Jets season of yesteryear. I'm talking the days of Mickey Schuler and Al Toon and Kenny OB. Instead of Dan Marino and John Elway hogging all the glory and the playoff games, now its Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Still, other fans are blithely wagering that the hand of God will descend and that the Jets will run the table all the way through.

Me? I think it might be one of those years for NY. The way it is shaping up now is that they better become second half of the season monsters or they are done. Now, the NFC is CONSIDERABLY weaker and you can possibly get a playoff shot at 8-8. That's right folks, .500 ball. The AFC is a much taller task, friends. 10-6 is probably the low figure for the playoffs, you basically need an 11-5 record to nearly guarantee a spot. Then there is the daunting task of punching your way through the Patriots and the Colts. Then you look down at your roster, think back to the games on Sunday and realize............

Here is the upside! Each NFL season is like A Tale of Two Cities with the first half of the season and the second half. Anybody remember the Steelers a few years ago drop a few games early on, are 5-5 at Week 10 and then never lose again -mind you, on the road almost the whole time-and become a buzzsaw of a team that rampaged its way to the Super Bowl?

The kicker to the Jets is that there is a genuine quarterback controversy going on. Chad is one of the best game managers in the NFL, he is by far the most underrated NFL quarterback, he is year-in and year-out ranking among the most accurate QB's with well-over 100 rating at his position. So, what's the controversy?
The savior with the gun.

Kellen Clemens really showed that he was a gamer in that spunky performance at Baltimore. Justin 'Doghouse' McCairens blew chances to advance the team and tie the game late in the 4th quarter. Clemens has a live arm and can make every throw on the field, most importantly to waking up the offense: sideline routes with velocity and the deep ball. In Clemens, on has a sense that the wide receivers would undergo an awakening of sorts. The Jets have very athletic wide receivers, neither the biggest nor the fastest in the league, Coles and Cotchery and even McCairens have a nice mixture of size, athleticism, route running ability and good hands.

An awakening in the passing game would do everything for the running game to get going. Which does everything to help the offensive line, which does everything to help the defense and special teams with field position.

Me? I live in Denver and just witnessed the Broncos draft and supplant a starting QB who won 70% percent of his games in his 4-year duration and took his team to the playoffs every year, advancing once so far as the AFC Championship game and becoming the first guy in history to beat Tom Brady in the playoffs. Why would a team that is a year-to-year contender do that to the most crucial position on the field and jeopardize a tried and true thing?

Jay Cutler, that's why. Jets fans, go with the youth movement now. Give Chad a few weeks to heal his ankle and see what Clemens can do. If he drops the ball, Chad trots back on the field with a healthy foot and dinks and dunks the Jets into some wins and re-energizes the team, fans and the highlight reels.