NYJ Season Preview 2015

I remember a time when football was not really talked about too much until baseball was over.
That is just not the case anymore.  The NFL has become such a monster business, transcending genres and becoming just as much pop culture as it is sport.

Heading into 2015, Jets fans ( I am one of them ), have a lot to be excited about.
New GM.  New Head Coach. Lots of new yet familiar faces.
I like the hire of Todd Bowles as Head Coach.  He was one of the top candidates that many teams were after this past off-season.  My favorite part about him is that he comes from the Bill Parcells' coaching tree, serving as a defensive assistant during Parcells tenures with Dallas and with Miami.

Some things won't change too much.  Coach Bowles is a defensive coach, which we are very familiar with after the last 5 years of the Rex Ryan era.  But one thing that he seems to bring in discipline.  There seems to be a very professional sportsmanlike atmosphere at Jet camp, very unlike the media circus that Rex Ryan loved to play into.

That's not to say that this year's training camp was drama free, with Geno Smith getting his jaw broken by a teammate's punch in the locker room.  Smith will miss at least the first few weeks of the season and is not guaranteed the starting quarterback job when he comes back,  The teammate who punched him, IK Enempkali, was released by the Jets and later on in training camp, by the Bills.
But this incident could be a blessing in disguise for the Jets.  Todd Bowles will not be forced to start Geno Smith just because he was a high draft pick.

The Jets should be pretty solid running the ball.  They don't have one single great running back but collectively, they are all pretty good.  Chris Ivory should get the bulk of the carries as he did last year,averaging 4 yards per carry.  He is a tough, ground and pound type back and he did a nice job last year.  Bilal Powell is a nice backup/3rd down back who can also catch the ball out of the background.  The team signed Zac Stacy from the St. Louis Rams to add depth and fellow free agent signee Stevan Ridley should be back sometime around mid-season.  He was a contributor to the Patriots offense the last few years so I am curious to see what he can do.

The Jets' receiving corps should be their best since they had Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes, and Jericho Cotchery in 2009-2010.  Brandon Marshall is a legit number one reciever.  Eric Decker is the perfect number two wide out and seems like a good guy to have around the locker room.  Veteran Jet Jeremy Kerley should still be a weapon in the slot.

The Jet defense should also be pretty solid.  They will miss Sheldon Richardson for 4 games (suspension).  Hopefully First Round pick Leonard Williams can step in and fortify the defensive line along with Muhammad Wilkerson.  Longtime Jet David Hrris will lead the line-backing crew.
But the big improvements this year should be in the secondary.  The team brought back former Jets
Darelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, and also signed free agent cornerback Buster Skrine from the Cleveland Browns.  If Revis and Cromartie can still play like they did a few years ago for the Jets, than the Jets have the potential to have a very strong defense.

As with most teams who don't really have a franchise quarterback, it's the success of the quarterback position that will be crucial to this team.  The Jets haven't really had a legit starting quarterback since Brett Favre and Chad Pennington before him.  Ryan Fitzpatrick may not be Brett Favre, but I think on the right team, with the right supporting cast, he can be very good.  He's had some success in this league.  He's a smart player and a veteran who hasn't exactly played for great teams.  Who knows?
We might catch lightning in a bottle and he can take this starting job and run with it all the way to the playoffs.
It's happened to this franchise before.  Vinny Testaverde was not exactly a great QB when he came to the Jets in 1998.  He had all the physical attributes one would want in a QB but he played on some bad teams and had some pretty bad seasons in his career.  Seven times in his career, he threw more interceptions than TD's for a season.  When he showed up in 1998, he was the backup to Glenn Foley.  Foley got hurt, Testaverde came in and had the best season of his career and took the team to the AFC championship game, and is still beloved by most Jet fans.

So I think the Jets have the potential to be very good this year.  If the right things fall into place, they can be a playoff team.  They are much improved and with the parity in this league, teams go from bad one year to playoffs the next all the time.

So I'll say they go 10-6 and get into the playoffs as a Wild Card.  After that, anything is possible.

-B.NOLAN