The schedule is favorable. The team has improved. Higher expectations are not crazy, but it is not easy for a rookie QB to succeed on a team with so many holes on it. I think (8-8) would be a pretty successful season and a reasonable prediction.
The fallacy of strength of schedule is that its based on how your opponents fared in 2017:..before trades, before FA upgrades and before the 2018 draft. There is also no accounting for player performance year to year. For example, with his rookie year under his belt Mitch Trubitsky of the Bears will be better plus he has a posse of good receivers they have added. Look a the Browns and tell me with the revamping, additions Dorsey made that they will be far from being a pushover.. Look at the Jets , (other than having a terrible HC who can't prepare/or manage in game plus an unproven OC ) we are IMPROVED on both sides with plenty of talent..starting with Sam Even with all this said, Vegas and the bookies (who have the most to lose) put us at 6 wins At first I thought we could manage 3 wins but I think it will be 6. Will this be enough to save Bowles? not sure Anything over 6 would be a complete shocker imo
Not all of them... I posted this a few pages back. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...owl-53-ranking-the-path-for-all-32-nfl-teams/
7-9, and anyone who thinks that makes me a darksider simply isn't paying attention. I've said it before and I'll say it again - if Darnold has as good a year as McCown did last year he'll likely win Offensive Rookie of the Year, so a presumption that the Jets will have an upgrade in QB play in 2018 compared to 2017 is questionable at best. There is little evidence to suggest that the Jets are any better than they were last year at the crucial positions, only hopes. And for the four billionth time, the Jets did not overachieve last year - the Vegas over/under on wins was 4 1/2 and they won 5 games. Constantly referring to a couple of morons on ESPN who predicted the Jets would win 0 or 1 game only makes you look as stupid as they are.
Really the beginning of the season is important. If they can go (2-1) or (3-0) to start the season, they will have a solid year. If they start (1-2) or (0-3), yeah (5-11) is realistic. Looking at the schedule, these are the tough games: -At Jaguars -Vs. Vikings -Vs. Patriots -Vs. Packers -At Patriots They are winnable too and 3 are at home, but if the Jets lost all 5 of those games, it would make sense. The other 11 are toss ups to me. So if the Jets do finish (5-11), I would find that disappointing and cause for Bowles to be fired.
I think one of the mistakes made often is that improvement is viewed in a vacuum not taking into account other teams. The Jets arent the only team that made improvements. We tend to overrate our changes and underestimate other teams moves. In the critical areas, I see marginal improvement at the QB and RB. I see status quo at WR and regression on the oline. On defense, our secondary and LBs will be the weak links in a otherwise ok unit on whole. If the Jets play over thier heads, 8-8. Otherwise, 5-11 at worst, 7-9 at best. No Playoffs.
7-9, too many big holes to expect a playoff team. Hopefully this season is a stepping stone to a playoff run in 2019.
Yeah, that is a good point. Great post. Some teams that we consider good, will be bad this year too. Just how it works. The O-line isn't great, but Spencer Long is a big upgrade over Wesley Johnson, who was terrible. Long just needs to stay healthy. I think most fans on this board have realistic expectations for 2018.
I see 5-6 wins. Darnold is great, but first, does he stay healthy behind this OL? Second, does the game plan/play calling help him? Third, will we ever find a pass rush, the second longest drought behind QB for this team. Fourth, does Bowles show that he's learned how to manage a game - time outs, fourth down and short, reasonable gambles taken when behind instead of punting? Will the Special Team show themselves to be the kind of "special" that rides the short bus, or an actual NFL squad? These are the major questions that need positive answers for the Jets to reach .500 or better IMO. AS to Tie Breakers, honestly, aside from Darnold, I don't see anyone on offense who is that good and dependable to predict how many TDs they could score. On "D", there is no one who I can forecast racking up a lot of sacks.
