NY Jets: Simply The Worst

This Jets team is not a good football team. Thank you Captain Obvious.  However, it may be even worse than you think.

The 2016 New York Jets currently have a point differential of - 116 points.  That's an average deficit of 8.3 points per game. That is the worst per game deficit by any Jets team since the darkest hours of the Kotite years 20 years ago.  With two games to go, one of them against perhaps the best team in the NFL, the New England Patriots, in New England, it's not out of the question this Jets team could exceed the 1995 3-13 Kotite Jets in point differential, leaving only the 1-15 1996 Jets out of reach among Jets teams of the last two decades.

This Jets team ranks 32nd and last in the NFL in turnover differential.  Despite having seen many turnover machine quarterbacks over the years, the 2016 Jets, if they finish the year ranking 32nd, will earn the dubious distinction of being the only Jets team in history to have done so.

This Jets team ranks 30th in the NFL in points scored.  The last time a Jets team ranked that low?  The 1995 Kotite Jets. Even the 1996 1-15 Kotite team ranked higher.  The 2016 Jets rank 25th in the NFL in points allowed on defense.  The last Jets team to rank that low? You guessed it: the 1996 Kotite Jets.

Pro Football Reference has a metric they call their Simple Rating System (SRS), which tries to quantify how much better or worse a team is than the average NFL team, based on point differential and strength of schedule.  SRS is expressed as a point differential, representing the theoretical point spread on a neutral playing field for any team against the average NFL team.  The 2016 Jets SRS stands at -9.3, meaning the Jets would theoretically be a 9.3 point underdog on a neutral field against an average opponent.  The -9.3 SRS is the worst mark for any Jets team since (say it with me now!) the 1996 Kotite Jets.  It is not out of the question that with a blowout loss to the Patriots this weekend the 2016 Jets could end up with an SRS even worse than either of the Kotite teams.

This is how low the 2016 Jets have sunk.  Two years and giant gobs of cap space spent since the current Maccagnan/Bowles regime took over a 4-12 Jets team, the 2016 Jets team by many measures is actually worse than the team this regime took over, even as the 2016 Jets have faced the 6th easiest schedule in the NFL.  The 2016 Jets are worse than the 4-12 2014 Jets. Worse than the 4-12 2007 Jets. Worse than the 4-12 2005 Jets.  The 2016 Jets are worse than any Jets team in 20 years.  That is a feat I would wager few if any Jets fans thought this regime capable of when it took charge two years ago.  For all the talk about a young core of talented up and comers, the stark reality is this team is currently worse than any predecessor in two decades.

You know the saying, this isn't your father's (fill in the blank)?  Well, if the blank is filled in with "Jets", then you can in fact correct whomever is saying this.  Yes, this is in fact your father's Jets team.  Your father's 4-28, thought you'd never see it this bad again, worst ever Kotite-led master of disaster Jets team.  This is your father's Jets team, and lord is that a statement I never thought I'd make.