DURING the sullen moments inside the Jets’ locker room immediately following their 20-13 loss to the Ravens on Sunday, Eric Mangini delivered an unexpected message to his players.
“I was proud of the way they fought,” Mangini said. “It’s a good team that works hard.”
Make no mistake, Mangini wasn’t happy with his team’s inconsistency (a poor second half against New England and a poor first half against Baltimore sabotaged those games), but his postgame spin was positive, not the negative many in the room were expecting.
So today we deliver a message to Jets fans, who undoubtedly are feeling uncomfortable, frustrated, worried, and even a bit angry at their team’s 0-2 start.
Our message: The green-and-white sky is not falling; the bottom has not fallen out of the season. There is hope.
The Jets will right themselves, and they’ll do it Sunday against the Dolphins, whom they play at home, because the Jets are a better team than the Dolphins, they’re desperately hungry for their first win, and because they know if they lose, 0-3 would be cause for panic.
Here are some reasons not to panic about the Jets’ 0-2 start:
* They’ve played two of the better teams in the AFC, with the Patriots being the best team in the NFL, period.
* They’ve played perhaps the two best defenses in the AFC, with the Ravens probably owning the best defense in the entire league, as they did last year.
* They nearly pulled out the game in Baltimore with a backup quarterback making his first NFL start against the vaunted Ravens’ defense.
Now here are some reasons to be cheerful with a look at what’s ahead:
* Their next four games are against the Dolphins, Bills, Giants and Eagles, all also 0-2.
* The Jets are going to get Chad Pennington back behind center Sunday, which will make them better.
* And their defense, despite having pass-rush issues, showed signs in the second half in Baltimore of becoming more of a force.
Whether it’s because they were bolstered by the positive-reinforcement vibe delivered by Mangini after the game Sunday or because they’ve truly not stopped believing, the Jets are in a good state of mind despite being 0-2.
There was a surprising positive feeling coming out of their locker room Sunday and it was felt even more Monday.
“We’re fine,” wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said. “We laid it on the line (in Baltimore). Everyone feels confident we can work through this. Yeah, we’re 0-2, but we played two great teams. We made some huge strides. Looking at the film, we did some great things. We just need to be more consistent with our execution throughout the game.
“I told a lot of the guys I feel like the talent is here. We’ve just got to continue to work hard and continue to make strides.”
Cotchery, speaking of the Jets’ second-half performance against the Ravens, coming within three dropped TD passes of erasing a 20-3 fourth-quarter deficit, said, “If we’re going to begin to win ballgames, that’s the type of effort we need.”
Wide receiver Laveranues Coles, who as a co-captain has become more of a leader this year, stood in the middle of the locker room Monday and did what he could to calm the masses.
“There’s no need to panic,” Coles said. “We’ve played two of the better teams in the NFL the first two weeks of the season. Yes, we’re 0-2, but we’ve got a lot of football left. I ain’t never seen a season decided by playing just two games.
“We’ll get things going the way I feel we can. We’ll be fine. Look at who we played: two playoff teams from last year that went deep into the playoffs, two very stout ball clubs, two excellent teams, especially defensively.
“We’re not there . . . but we’re trying.”
The resilience the Jets displayed in Baltimore in the face of a miserable afternoon has to bode well.
“The morale of this team is great,” safety Kerry Rhodes said. “We know that one got away (Sunday), but we’re going to be fine. We’ve got Miami (this Sunday) and we’ll be ready to play.”