New York Jets Excel in Adversity Against Denver
The New York Jets are 5-1.
They own the best record in the NFL and have found ways to win games in every way possible.
When Rex Ryan and his players boasted that they were the favorites to win it all during the off-season, everyone laughed. "You can't win the Super Bowl in July," a lot of people criticized. "All the Jets do is talk," remarked others.
In Week One, Ray Lewis, the Ravens' future Hall of Fame linebacker, said that Ryan was writing "blank checks" that his players would have to sign and warned them to tighten up their 
chinstraps for the bumpy ride ahead.
The Jets had the bulls-eye on their backs from their wonderfully entertaining run on HBO's "Hard Knocks," where a boastful Ryan said, "I want to lead the league in...(bleeping)...wins."
Then, bad news provided more distractions in the form of the Darrelle Revis' holdout and eventual hamstring injury, the Santonio Holmes suspension, the Ines Sainz situation, and the Braylon Edwards DUI arrest.
By October 17, the only one laughing is Ryan and the Jets, after they pulled a rabbit out of their hats in a 24-20 victory over the Denver Broncos at Invesco Field in Mile High to capture the league's best record. If the season ended that night, the Jets would be the number one seed in the AFC playoffs, even though the Jets did everything humanly possible to lose the game:
- Mark Sanchez had his worst game of the year with two interceptions, and it could have been four if the Broncos didn't drop a couple of his passes early in the game.
- The Broncos, who owned the 32nd-ranked rushing offense, carved up the Jets for 145 yards on the ground.
- Kyle Orton was under ZERO pressure for most of the day. The Jets sacked Orton once, and whenever they got any pressure on him, he would get out of the pocket and eat up yards with his legs.
- Tim Tebow scored his first NFL touchdown.
- The Jets were flagged for six penalties.
- The Jets turned the ball over three times, after turning it over once all season.
Suddenly the tide turned. When facing a fourth and six at midfield, Sanchez heaved a pass down the sideline to Holmes, then Renaldo Hill made himself into a Jets trivia question by first pushing Holmes and then grabbing his facemask to commit a 46-yard pass-interference penalty.
On the next play, LaDainian Tomlinson plowed his way through for the go-ahead touchdown. Then on the Denver's next possession, a bad snap by the center put the final nail on the coffin as the Jets recovered the loose ball.
Luck? Yes. Divine intervention? Maybe.
A year ago, or any year for that matter, the Jets would have found a way to lose the game. Jet fans know that the quarterback, whether Sanchez in his rookie year, Chad Pennington, Vinny Testaverde, Brett Favre, hell, even Richard Todd would have thrown a costly interception right there, breaking the hearts of Jets fans everywhere.
And even if the Jets scored a touchdown to take the lead, in any other year, the Jets defense would have choked and allowed the Broncos to pull off a last second miracle. Dan Marino and the fake spike anyone?
"It wouldn't have gone our way," Sanchez said when comparing these games to last season. "Last year, I would have kept nose diving; this year, I am doing everything to pull the nose right back up."
Justin Edmonds/Getty Images
Sanchez is absolutely right. A year ago he would have forced the ball into coverage or held the ball a second or two too long, taken a big sack, or even tried to run for extra yardage and gotten stripped of the football.
This is the third time this year that Jets have pulled one out of their hats. Against Miami, Chad Henne carved up the Jets secondary for 363 yards and was on the doorstep of throwing a potential game-tying touchdown, when his final pass was picked up in the end zone by Drew Coleman to solidify the Jets victory and end a three-game losing streak to Miami.
Against Minnesota last week, the Jets offense stalled five times deep inside Viking territory, and were forced to settle for five field goals to take a 15-7 lead into the fourth quarter.
Then Brett Favre, who the Jets defense smacked around for three quarters, woke up and threw a touchdown to Percy Harvin to cut the Jets lead to 15-13.
In any other year, the Jets would have shrunk under the pressure and lost, but they didn't. They rammed the ball down the field, as Shonne Greene galloped into the end zone from 23 yards out to give Gang Green a 22-13 lead.
After Favre drove the Vikings in for another touchdown to cut the Jets lead back to two, and after the Jets offense went three and out on their next possession, Favre was given one more chance to stick the dagger into his former team's heart.
Last season, adversity = a loss. This season, adversity = no problemo.
Favre was picked off by Dwight Lowery, who went coast to coast for a game-clinching touchdown, sending a defeated Favre home beleaguered, and the Jets victorious.
Credit is due to Rex Ryan. For all the boastful speak, the coach has kept his team focused on each and every game. If a team has Super Bowl expectations, then every game is a must-win game, just to keep pace with other top flight teams in the battle for AFC home field advantage.
A few weeks ago against Buffalo, the Jets could have laid down a bit against the lowly Bills, but Ryan was quoted by CBS as saying that "our most important games are division games."
The good teams win games they are supposed to win. However the championship teams win the games they are supposed to win, and win the games they have no business winning.
The defending Super Bowl Champion Saints won a lot of games last year where they didn't play well; their 33-30 overtime win in Washington last December, and their 46-34 come-from-behind win at Miami are examples.
The 2008 Steelers, who won the Super Bowl in the greatest of adverse conditions, had five wins by five points or less, including a wacky 11-10 victory over San Diego.
For a team to have the "IT Factor," they have to be able to persevere through the toughest times and the toughest of circumstances to pull games out. The more often they do it, the harder they are to beat as the season moves on.
Every game matters to Rex Ryan and the Jets, and if that attitude continues, the Jets could find themselves in the very spot Ryan expected when he took the job.
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