If You Can Play Quarterback, the Jets Are Accepting Applications

It’s not a good time to be a New York Jets fan.

The Jets were supposed to be a Super Bowl contender last season. They were supposed to be the team who finally knocked the Patriots off their AFC East perch.

Brett Favre was supposed to be the solution to their quarterback problems. He was supposed to lead the Jets to the promise land.

Instead, the Jets did EXACTLY what I predicted prior to the season: They won nine games and barely missed the playoffs.

Not to toot my own horn, but here’s an exact quote from my August 20th preview:

"

The Jets will go 9-7, barely missing the playoffs. Then Favre will retire.

Then he’ll un-retire.

"

We’ll see about the second half of that prediction.

The Jets were very easy to predict last season. Their defense was OK. Their offense was OK. But their quarterback situation was, to be kind, shaky.

Anyone who’s watched the NFL for more than a season or two understood the Jets weren’t winning anything with Brett Favre at the helm.

Unless they do something soon, they risk going into next season with an even worse quarterback situation.

You think Favre was bad? How about this motley crew:

Erik Ainge, Kellen Clemens, and Brett Ratliff

Of the three, only Kellen Clemens has any real NFL experience.

In his three seasons, he’s started eight games (all in 2007) and played in 14. He has the same number of fumbles (five) as he does touchdown passes. He’s thrown 2.2 interceptions for every touchdown pass. His career QB rating is a paltry 59.3.

Neither Brett Ratliff or Erik Ainge has ever thrown a pass in the NFL.

The Jets are moderately excited about Ratliff based on his preseason performance last season, but the NFL street is littered with quarterbacks who’ve looked good in the preseason.

Basically, their QB situation is an absolute mess.

The Jets are reportedly interested in trying to swing a deal for disgruntled Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler.

But not so fast.

Josh McDaniels doesn’t seem to be interested in dealing his QB just yet, and the Jets locker room doesn’t seem to be all that interested in welcoming Cutler to New Jersey.

ProFootballTalk.com reported a couple of weeks ago that the Jets might be interested in guys like Byron Leftwich, Jeff Garcia, J.P. Losman and Kyle Boller. They may also be waiting to see if Marc Bulger becomes an option.

But hey, according to Ron Borges of the Boston Herald, Rex Ryan is happy with the guys he has on his team.

From a Patriots’ perspective, that’s all good news.

Let me put it this way: If they Jets don’t resolve their quarterback issues before September, that’s one less team the Patriots will have to contend with in the AFC East.

For more Jets news, check out our two Jets examiners: Angel Navedo and Tyson Rauch.

This article originally appeared on the New England Patriots Examiner page. To read more articles like this one, check them out here.

Sean Crowe covers the New England Patriots for Examiner.com and writes a bi-weekly column for Sports-Central.org.

He is a Senior Writer and an NFL Community Leader at Bleacher Report. You can email him at [e-mail].