Jets Lose By Winning Game vs. Rams

 JETS 23 - RAMS 20 

What in the name of Joe Namath was that? 

A win?!?!? An actually victory for the New York Jets?!?!?! Yes, indeed it has happened, the Jets won a game 23-20 over a LA Rams team that needed just a win over the lowly, winless Jets to clinch a playoff spot. Instead the victory parlays the Jets to not only their first victory of the year, but possibly the lowest moment in Jets history. 

We could one day look back at December 20, 2020 as one of the worst moments ever if Trevor Lawrence, the presumed number 1 pick in the 2021 draft winds up living up to the hype, not as the quarterback of thew New York Jets, but, rather as the quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars, or some other team that winds up trading for the number one pick. 

That's right the Jets cost themselves a shot at the top pick in the draft with this victory. Due to strength of schedule the equally inept Jaguars (1-13) now own the pick. If the Jets and Jaguars both end up tied by seasons end, the Jaguars, not the Jets will be the top pick in the draft. 

This means the Jets will have a lot more questions than answers about their future under center as well as head coach this off-season. Will the Jets stick with Sam Darnold, who looked solid today for the Jets completing 22-of-31 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown? Or do they really believe that Ohio State's Justin Fields is the future? 

While no quarterback is a sure thing, Trevor Lawrence is head and shoulders above Fields in his make-up. A lot of scouts and analysts believe Lawrence will be the better pro. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen. Still Jets fans wanted to find out.

This is a franchise that has missed so often on the franchise quarterback, many were hoping a winnless season would give them Lawrence to rescue them. That of course, if Head Coach Adam Gase is coaching elsewhere in 2021. 

If the Jets stick with Darnold in '21 they will have to eat $25 million and pick up his option for a fifth year -- a pill not many are certain the Jets want to bite down on. 

Then there is the Gase factor. Is he really going to get fired? At 1-13 one would think it's inevitable that Gase will be a goner in two weeks, but these are the Jets we are talking about. Beat writers who cover the team have written that Gase has friends in the building; remember he did assist in getting GM Joe Douglas his job in New York, and Christopher Johnson loves Gase. If Jets were to win out or win another game here, whose to say Gase won't find a way to convince the Johnson's to keep him? Stranger things have happened especially with the Jets. 

Without the allure of the number 1 pick, the Jets job by itself is not very attractive. Douglas will return as the Jets GM, and with owners like Woody and Christopher Johnson, both of whom have proven to be pretty clueless when it comes to orchestrating a competent football operation is not appealing. Who the heck would want to be apart of this fiasco? 

Remember the Jets have an archaic power structure where the head coach and the GM are on the same wave length and must report to the Johnson's.

 The Jets have fouled up Head Coach/GM relations way too many times before. 

See Rex Ryan and John Idzik, or Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan, or how about Maccagnan and Gase. When the Jets fired Todd Bowles, other candidates like Mike McCarthy and Matt Rhule lost interest in the job because the Johnson's wouldn't let them have any say in personnel. 

Good luck passing off the Jets Head Coaching job to another group of candidates without the shot at the top quarterback prospect in the draft. 

As for this game against the Rams, you have to feel good for the players. The Jets came to play, especially defensively, where they sacked Jared Goff three times, and held the Rams superstar quarterback to 209 yards passing. It was a huge day for Quinnen Williams who recorded a sack and four tackles. Bryce Hall also had a key interception that set up a Jets field goal to make it 13-0 in the second quarter. 

The Jets even blocked a punt earlier in the second quarter that set up Sam Ficken's first field goal of the day. 

Offensively, the Jets had moments. Yes there were some horrible play calling decisions by Gase, but the biggest drive of the day for Gang Green came on New York's opening drive of the second half where they drove 72-yards on 11 pays for a Frank Gore touchdown to make it 20-3. 

After the Rams cut the Jets lead to 23-20, New York converted a third and six at the Rams 48-yard line on a short pass from Darnold to Gore to convert the play and send the Jets to their first win of the year.