My dislike for them has NOTHING to do with anything. Even if the Colts and Bengals played their starters and the Jets still won... they ended up 9-7! The 2008 Patriots were better than that and they MISSED the playoffs.
Fact of the matter is their last 2 opponents layed down for them just to get them to the very mediocre 9-7 record. Hate or not, it is what it is. Stop trying to act like Colts and Bengals second stringers (or any team's second stringers) are fair competition for an NFL team fighting for the playoffs. Just stop.
It is 100% the object of the discussion. If the Jets had to beat a high school team would that still be earning it? Just because they persons in question were TRYING doesn't mean it was fair competition. I can go challenge Jordan to a 1 on 1 and try my heart out, that doesn't mean Jordan is really "earning" the win so to speak. I'm just nowhere near as good as Jordan so it's a joke of a competition.
Seriously your stance boggles the mind. 7-7 playing against 2nd stringers to get to 9-7, yea let's learn from that and try to replicate it