The New York Jets Are the Most Underrated Team in the NFL

Bill Simmons likes to say that a team (or player) is "so underrated that it is becoming overrated." The concept is simple: What begins as an original thought, like a team being underrated, quickly gets overpublicized by the media until it is no longer true. If everybody thinks a team is underrated, then there is nobody left to actually be "underrating" the team.

The 2012 New York Jets are currently a victim of the opposite phenomenon: So many institutions have jumped at the possibility to call them overrated that they are quickly becoming underrated. In fact, there is no football team that is more underrated right now than the New York Jets.

Following a three-year stretch in which they made the AFC Championship Game twice and finished 8-8 last year, the Jets are ranked No. 21 in ESPN's preseason power rankings. Of the four teams ranked ahead of the Jets, only one finished with a record better than 7-9 last year. One starts Jake Locker at quarterback, another starts a rookie and a third is the Buffalo Bills, whom the Jets have owned of late.

It's not just ESPN, either: In both ESPN and CNNSI's season previews, only one of numerous analysts picked the Jets to make the playoffs. In CBS' Week 1 picks segment, only two of the nine experts think the Jets will beat the Bills. One of those two "experts" is the website's computerized prediction machine.

Narratives can be a dominant force, and right now the narrative regarding the 2012 New York Jets is that they are too thin at offensive skill positions and have too much locker room turmoil, so they are bound to self-destruct.

Never mind that good line play is just as important as skill position production. Never mind that statistical analysis shows the Jets are likely to once again have one of the best defenses in football this year.

Never mind that all the same football analysts who rave about how good a person Tim Tebow is seem to also think he will cause a locker room to turn on itself. Never mind that the "Rex Ryan circus" has yielded two playoff appearances in three years and no losing seasons.

The Jets certainly have questions at quarterback and wide receiver, but while these are two high-profile positions they are not the only two positions on the football field. Offensive and defensive linemen impact the game as much as or more than their more famous teammates. It is in these critical areas where the Jets have always shone, and they remain strong at both positions.

Gang Green's right tackle problem has been extremely well-documented in the media, but the Jets offensive line still has three Pro Bowl-caliber players in Nick Mangold, D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Brandon Moore. If Austin Howard is merely passable, the Jets will have an elite offensive line.

New York's defensive line is strong as well. Promising rookie Quinton Coples and breakout candidate Muhammad Wilkerson join solid veterans Sione Pouha and Mike DeVito to form the base of the Jets' standout defense.

The Jets will not have to undergo much improvement to have one of the best defenses in football, ranking second in Football Outsiders' DVOA statistic in 2011, but their unit may get better nonetheless.

Darrelle Revis still heads what may be the best secondary in football, and David Harris and a rejuvenated Bart Scott lead the linebacking core. Add in new safeties and potentially improved line play, and the Jets have a case for the title of top defense in 2012.

The defense will carry this team, but the offense can be a league-average unit. Good offense starts with the offensive line, not with wide receivers. And while Mark Sanchez is a mediocre quarterback at this stage in his career, he is no less reliable than Jake Locker, Russell Wilson or Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Jets have proven that their model works with worse versions of Sanchez than the current one.

The New York Jets are not an elite team, but they are also not far removed from the 2009 and 2010 teams that made the AFC Championship Game. Those teams overachieved some, just as the 2011 Jets underachieved, and this year's version is a candidate to finish somewhere in the middle, at 9-7 or 10-6 and in prime position for a playoff berth.

The Jets open against the Bills, who happen to be this year's bandwagon sleeper pick. The football world expects the AFC east pecking order to change overnight. It wouldn't be a surprise to see the Jets restore order immediately this year.