That opportunity has dramatically changed how management, media, and the public view the 2009 Jets. Had the Colts left Peyton Manning and company in for the duration of the second half in Week 16, chances are that the Jets would have lost. A Jets loss would’ve immediately stamped “disappointing” as the adjective on the 2009 campaign; a loss in the resulting meaningless Week 17 game would have even turned the season into a losing one.
Instead, the postscript to the Jets’ season is that they came a few plays away from the Super Bowl; that they were a veteran here or a stop there short of a trip to Miami. The organization ran their offseason like they needed to stockpile veteran talent to turn a very good team into an elite one, sacrificing draft picks and roster spots that would normally be given to young players for veterans like Antonio Cromartie, Jason Taylor, and LaDainian Tomlinson.
The truth is that the Jets are neither the team people would have thought they were had they lost to the Colts in Week 16, nor the one that was perceived to be an elite unit after their playoff run. They were better than a standard 7-7 team heading into Week 16; the law of averages suggests that they should have won one or two of those five close games, which would have lessened their desperate exposure to luck in order to get into the playoffs. As we’ve made clear, we also don’t think they’re as good as their playoff run suggests.
