Absurd as it may sound just six weeks into the season, but today marks a last stand of sorts for the 2002 Jets.
The Jets either stand up strong against the Vikings today at Giants Stadium, block, tackle, play sound defense and put an end to their four-game losing streak or the rest of their season will dissolve into 10 weeks of insignificant garbage time.
These are the facts.
The stumbling 1-4 Jets must walk onto the field today against the 1-4 Vikings as single-minded as they’ve been in the Herman Edwards era, with one thing in mind: Win the game.
The focus cannot be on the big picture anymore for the Jets, because that very well may have gotten them in this mess in the first place.
They cannot dare to think about the playoffs and what their chances of getting in are, because without a win today there are so few playoff possibilities they’re not even worth talking about.
No team in NFL history has started a season 1-5 and advanced to the playoffs. As it is, only two teams in NFL history have started 1-4 and made it to the postseason.
“Right now we’re 1-4 and we don’t have many more that we can lose before we’re out of it,” Curtis Martin said. “And nobody here wants to be just playing games just to be playing games and we don’t want to put ourselves in that situation. We’re in danger of that right now.”
This game offers both hope and concern for the Jets. Defensively, they have to be concerned, ranked 31st in overall yardage allowed and 32nd against the run, and with Minnesota ranked sixth in overall offense and fourth in rushing offense.
The Jets have allowed an unsightly 11 rushing TDs already this season while producing only one themselves. The Vikings, meanwhile, have rushed for nine TDs already, including four from their QB with a fullback’s body, Daunte Culpepper.
Offensively, though, the Jets look like they should score some points against the Vikings’ defense, which is ranked 29th overall, including 31st vs. the pass.
The Jets are widely concerned about their poor turnover ratio, which is at minus-six. But there is hope there, too, because the Vikings, at minus-10, have a tendency to turn the ball over. Culpepper, for example, already has thrown nine INTs. Culpepper, in fact, has turned the ball over 12 times in all, resulting in 34 points scored by the opposition.
A few caused turnovers today by the Jets’ overdue defense, and they can turn a corner defensively, if not begin to turn around their flagging season.
After the loss in Jacksonville three weeks ago, Martin said the Jets’ ship is sinking. They’ve lost another game since, but still walked away from their 29-25 loss to the Chiefs with optimism, because they were at least competitive for four quarters.
“We have potential to be afloat,” Martin said. “We’re not there yet, though. I’m not going to say that every hole is patched up and it’s smooth sailing, because it’s not. We’re still in a bad situation. We’re still in danger. Only we can get ourselves out of this situation.”
Bet on Martin being as much a factor as anyone on the roster if the Jets are going to get this thing turned around. Look for him to put up a second consecutive 100-yard rushing performance today.
“I’m the type of guy that I strive and try to thrive in bad situations,” Martin said. “I don’t go down as things go down. I try to call on myself to rise to another level in a bad situation.”
Despite the hope the Jets cling to, they are, indeed, facing a struggle to merely return to respectability. And that’s going to have to start with a defensive stand today against the Vikings and their prolific wide receiver Randy Moss.
“We’re disappointed in what we’ve done,” Jets cornerback Ray Mickens said. “But we’re looking forward, trying not to look back. We’re looking at Minnesota.”
They have to stop Minnesota, or else this season of such promise will have turned out to be one of false hope.