Where Does 2011 Rank Among the Most Disappointing Seasons in NY Jets History?

The selective amnesia shown by the New York Jets fandom may be the most fascinating aspect of the media circus revolving around Rex Ryan and his New York Jets these days.

Not too long ago, a playoff contention season that included as many Jets wins as Jets losses would have been nothing short of a miracle. Thousands of Jets fans would have walked away from an 8-8 season with their heads held high, thinking their team had finally become competitive.

Oh how history—recent history even—is so quickly forgotten. I am here today to remind all Jets fans of how things could be, and have been much, much worse.

2011: Promises Unfulfilled

For the sake of this column, the performance of the Jets this past fall will be our benchmark for Gang Green disappointment.

I will start by saying that I believe much of the doomsday prophecies being tossed about these last few weeks by fans and analysts alike are amplified because of many people’s distaste for Rex Ryan.

Perhaps only second to the man under center in Denver, there may be no more polarizing of a figure than Ryan. Supporters will go to any length to prop up their over-sized leader and detractors will find any reason to condemn him.

The Jets did suffer a meltdown under some of the brightest lights the organization has ever experienced. Their lofty expectations woefully unattained, the Jets imploded both on and off the football field on a scale few could have foreseen.

Under a head coach who once again promised an ascent to the winner’s platform on Super Bowl Sunday with trophy in hand, the Jets managed to underachieve in nearly every position. The Jets suffered through yet another season with an anemic offensive squad that sputtered like a flooded ‘66 VW Bus on its last tank of gas.

They have disposed of their signal-caller in exchange for a former head coach who has zero experience as a coordinator.

The Jets locker room is in such disarray that I would be hard pressed to think that without a substantial reshuffling of the roster, an 8-8 season in 2012 will be an even bigger miracle.

2008: The Favre Experiment

After discarding fan favorite quarterback Chad Pennington for a one night stand with disgruntled former Packer legend Brett Favre, the Jets were poised to make a move in 2008 to claim the top spot in the AFC East.

Unfortunately for the Jets, Favre treated New York like the first conquest after a bad relationship breakup. The Jets were never going to be in the Favre business for long, and their brief romance with No. 4 was forgetful.

What compounded the issue was the disintegration of Eric Mangini as Jets head coach.

Mangini somehow managed to salvage a post-NFL career as an expert analyst on ESPN in spite of his botched NFL head coaching career. He led the Jets to early success in his final season in Metropolis only to watch it vanish as the lack of leadership and Favre’s increasing wear and tear were exposed.  

The 2008 Jets meltdown ranks among the most legendary in team history. Interestingly enough, castaway quarterback Chad Pennington’s Dolphins engineered the greatest single season turnaround in team history—claiming the 2008 AFC East division title.

2005: A Legend's Farewell

Interestingly enough, the Jets have suffered through seven four-win seasons since their inception in 1960— two of them coming in the last seven years.

The most painful of those came in 2005, a season most painful for one of the best rushers in NFL history and far and away the best rusher in NY Jets history.

The math that results in 2005 ranking among the most disappointing in Jets history is simple: Hall of Fame tailback Curtis Martin plus team-leading passer and nine-game starter Brooks Bollinger equals complete disaster.

Martin was likely on pace for his 11th consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season before a Week 12 injury against the New England Patriots ended his season and consequentially, his career.

I consider the 2005 season—a campaign that many wouldn't consider memorable for any reason—one of the most disappointing because of the disservice it did to one of the greatest careers in league history. Curtis Martin deserved better than what he got to close his career, but a 4-12 season under head coach Herman Edwards was his sad parting gift.

1999: A Season Ends in a Snap

Only months removed from an AFC Championship game and a return to prominence thanks to coaching legend Bill Parcells and a rejuvenated culture in New York, the Jets 1999 season collapsed in one split second: one snap of a ligament.

As journeyman quarterback Vinny Testaverde stepped back to pass (oddly enough again against the New England Patriots) in Week 1 of the 1999 season, the Jets fortune took a drastic tumble as Testaverde’s Achilles snapped and he crumpled to the ground in agony.

The Jets—a team whose coaching staff included an All-Star cast of Parcells, Charlie Weis, Bill Belicheck, Romeo Crennel, Todd Haley and Eric Mangini—could not overcome the loss of their primary signal-caller and fell dreadfully short of fulfilling the promise established the season before.

A goof troop of replacements could not carry the Jets beyond a disappointing 8-8 outcome.

A veritable list of never-weres including Ray Lucas, Rick Mirer and even punter turned passer Tom Tupa lent their hand to the Jets futility.  

A team that fell just 30 minutes short of defeating the Denver Broncos to advance to the Super Bowl the season before, now could not return to former glory in spite of Curtis Martin rushing for nearly 1,500 yards and Keyshawn Johnson’s 1,170 receiving yards.

1995 & 1996: The Attrocity

There are a few terms found in the archives of professional football history that when spoken, evoke boiling hatred within true longtime Jets fans.

No team will ever suffer the humiliation of falling victim to a fake spike without the mention of the Jets Meadowlands collapse against Miami as a footnote.

Point of fact: The mere utterance of Marino can send a Jets-obsessed fan into cardiac arrest.

Beyond any reference to Jim Kelly, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, there may be no name that is more deserving of blacklisting because of the damage inflicted to the Jets organization than...Richie Kotite.

Kotite, a recycled former head coach from Philadelphia, led his Philadelphia Eagles in the preceding two seasons to 8-8 and 7-8 records and was inexplicably chosen by well-aged Jets owner Leon Hess as the heir apparent to the Jets Head Coaching throne.

The next two seasons under Kotite were the worst in New York Jets history. The Jets lost 28 out of their 32 games with Kotite at the helm, including a disgusting 1-15 campaign in 1996.

There is no doubt that the Kotite-era Gang Green deserved the record they earned. The 1996 Jets allowed a shameful 454 points by opponents in 16 games—the most allowed by any Jets defense in team history.

I need to stop typing that man’s name. I suffer post-traumatic symptoms just seeing his picture again.

1975-77: The Darkest Ages

Although it may have been before my time, I still reference this period in Jets history as reason to believe that things are not nearly as bad as they seem in 2011.

The three Jets seasons between 1975 and 1977 rank among the worst in league history and are among the lowest points in team history.

The inadequacy of the Jets at this time reached almost comical proportions, resembling an on-field comedy as they trudged through five coaches in a ridiculous 29-game span.

College coaching legend Lou Holtz wandered outside the confines of South Bend and Notre Dame University to try his hand at the pro rank. The Holtz experiment in the NFL lasted all of 13 games and ended with Holtz’ abrupt resignation one week before season’s end.

The Jets woes continued on the stat sheet as well: Their defense surrendered a massive 1,116 points to opposing offenses at a time when the NFL only conducted a 14-game season.The Jets also scored a feeble total of 169 points—still the worst in team history. The Jets ranked last or second to last in every measurable statistic the league recorded at the time.

An important aspect of this historical reference point in Jets history is that it occurred all while the Jets still took to the field with Joe Namath as their marquee superstar in 1975 and 1976. Perhaps this may explain Broadway Joe’s resistance to sacrificing Mark Sanchez to the football gods.

For a time, he did not fair nearly as well as the third-year quarterback who has yet to suffer his first losing season.