New York Jets Can Forge Identity as Resilient Team in Week 8

It's not about how many times you get knocked down, it's about how many times you get back up.

The New York Jets hope to accomplish the latter after suffering their second loss of the season last week against the New England Patriots.

They can't afford to take too many more losses this season if they want to make the playoffs, though the AFC wild-card hunt doesn't appear to be headed for more than 10 wins or so. The Jets have already begun to forge an identity as a resilient team in 2015, and a win in Week 8 would only further establish that identity.

After winning their first two games of the season they took a tough loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3, but bounced back with two big wins again before being handed a loss by the Patriots.

So, this is the Jets' second opportunity to respond with a bounce-back win, but the Jets have even shown an ability to respond to adversity within games.

Week	Opponent	Final score
1	Cleveland Browns	31-10
2	Indianapolis Colts	20-7
3	Philadelphia Eagles	24-17
4	Miami Dolphins	27-14
6	Washington Redskins	34-20
7	New England Patriots	30-23

They were trailing by seven points in the second quarter against the Cleveland Browns, but came back to win in convincing fashion. They were down 24-0 in the second quarter against the Eagles, but came back to within seven points by the end of the game. They were facing a three-point halftime deficit against the Washington Redskins, but fought back to win that game as well.

In order to bounce back successfully, though, a team must be able to put the loss behind them—the players and the coaches.

"I think the coaches take losses harder than anybody," said head coach Todd Bowles. "The players have to talk to the media. They get a day off to move on. The head coach has to make sure everybody is fine, so they have to move on, but the assistant coaches know exactly what happened and it stews on them all the time, so you've got to make sure they can put it past them and move on to that next week. I think our guys are doing a good job."

Rex Ryan's Jets teams were always high on their ability to respond when their backs were against the wall, but short on their ability to string together the consistent, disciplined football that separates playoff contenders from pretenders.

This team is showing the same amount of fight but much more discipline than they did under their previous head coach. 

The question is whether the Jets can avoid the hangover that has hit several teams in their game immediately following a loss to the Patriots this season. Opponents of the Patriots are 2-3 in the game following their loss to New England. Two of those teams won by 25 points or more, and no team has lost by more than seven points.

Now the Jets have a chance to turn the page with a win against the Oakland Raiders, and to prove to the world that unlike the previous regime, they aren't just here for a good time, they're here for a long time. 

All quotes obtained via team news release.