The NFL Season Has Peaks and Valleys: How to Cope

Today a friend who is a Jets fan asked me whether I am worried about the team. I answered that of course I am worried. I am not sure how somebody could have watched the last two games and not be worried. He said that he agrees and knows the team is done. That seemed ridiculous to me.

It is logical to assume that the Jets got their brains beaten in last Monday in the biggest game of the year against the Patriots, lost all of their confidence, and will fall apart. That might happen. There is a problem with that kind of reasoning, though. It assumes logic in a place where logic does not always apply, the National Football League. This is the league where Cleveland can beat New England and lose to Buffalo. It is a league where the 2001 Jets could lose at home to 3-13 Buffalo in Week 15, be left for dead, and win on the road the next week against a Raiders team fighting for a bye to clinch a Playoff spot. Weird things happen all the time to change a team's fortune. Sometimes a devastating loss destroys a season. Sometimes a team recovers out of the blue.

Maybe some tipped ball will bounce into Braylon Edwards' hands on Sunday that he will take to the house for an early lead. Maybe this will restore Mark Sanchez's confidence, and the team will never look back. Who could have ever seen the effort a struggling Giants team put forward against the undefeated Patriots on the last game of the 2007 season giving them the confidence to win it all?

It seems like the people who are giving up have just become miserable following the team. I'll give you one extreme case in the past few days where somebody on GGN left a comment, "I can't think about it too long otherwise I'll want to drive my car right through their practice facility." If you ever get to a point where you have that much misery, you should probably find some other way to occupy your time. I know this probably sounds silly from a grown man with a real job who wastes so many hours maintaining a website about a professional football team, but this is supposed to be fun. Sure, there are disappointing moments. I'm not saying these last two weeks have been enjoyable for me. It's only football, though. It's supposed to be a diversion. It's not the end of the world.

People who get frustrated like this are the ones booing at the first sign of trouble at the stadium. They're the ones who left early during the Houston game. Their anger cost themselves a chance to witness the kind of moment we all hope to see as fans.

Some of the best moments of my childhood came spending time with my dad watching the Jets. Those teams were horrible. Bruce Coslet, Pete Carroll, and Rich Kotite coached them. Looking back, we still laugh at how bad those teams are. A very good friend of mine from high school is a season ticket holder. We have laughs over the bad Draft picks and bitter losses of the past. We're part of a unique club, albeit one that seems like a voyage of the damned at times.

I'd love for nothing more than to be sitting in Jerry World the first Sunday in February celebrating a long awaited championship. Only one team's fans get to do that each year. There's a good chance it won't be the Jets. If it doesn't happen, we'll all come to GGN among our friends and plot together how the team will make it happen next year, and with the young foundation on the roster, the Jets will be in a better spot than most.

For now, there are at least three weeks left before that long offseason. I will not promise you that this team will turn it around. Honestly, they may not. All I can tell you is to enjoy the ride. This game is supposed to be fun, and you never know what will happen. Even if we make assertive statements, all we are really doing is guessing. If the way things appeared according to conventional wisdom always decided things, the Baltimore Colts were Super Bowl III Champions.