The Loop
Want to hear something funny? Sam Darnold thinks the Jets can still make the playoffs
What more can possibly be said about the 2019 New York Jets? Even by the Jets' laughably high (read: low) standards, this season has been a disaster—the football equivalent of a septic tank explosion at a garden party. Sam Darnold got sick from frenching and regressed under the crazy-eyed tutelage of QB whisperer Adam Gase. Le'Veon Bell became Bilal Powell. The front office flirted with trading their best player, pissed him off, and summarily became the first team to lose to the mighty Fish Tank. We could have copy and pasted this paragraph from a story following the Jets' grisly Monday Night Football loss to the Pats last month and you wouldn't even know the difference. In a New York minute, everything can change. Except for the Jets. The Jets eternally suck.
All of which is why it's even more hilarious when Darnold, fresh off the team's breakthrough second victory against an equally pitiful 2-8 Giants squad sans Saquon, told reporters he thinks the 2-7 Jets can still make the playoffs. Bahahahahaha. Sorry, sorry. Let's play the clip.
"We need every win from now on because we've still got a chance," Darnold told SNY. "If we get on a roll here and we win out, we've got a chance at the playoffs. Guys in this locker room know this. They know that, and we're just really excited to continue to get back to work."
The power of positive thinking will only get you so far Sammy, and that's probably 6-10. Best case. Granted they play some equally awful teams the rest of the way, facing the Redskins, Bengals, Dolphins in three of their remaining seven, but they also have to play actual AFC playoff scrappers in Oakland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo (at the Ralph on the final day of the regular season.) Three of those teams are going to be absolutely desperate down the stretch. One is actually good. The idea of the Jets beating their greatest foe (themselves), going undefeated, and sneaking in as a 9-7 Wild Card blowout waiting to happen isn't optimistic. It's comedy.
But don't worry Sammy, we hear NYC has plenty of open mics looking for talent...