In case you missed it (you probably didn't): the Jets have finally been eliminated from postseason contention. Thus ends one of the most poorly-run calendar years in professional sports. It has really been amusing to follow because you could see it coming a mile away. Following is a time line of events for the 2012 New York Jets.
January 1
Despite rampant bravado about a Super Bowl, Jets finish the regular season losing their final three games, including one to the local rival Giants and the final to the division rival Dolphins. A single win from any of those would have been a playoff birth. “Team Captain” Santonio Holmes quit on the team, and Rex Ryan admitted he had lost the pulse of the locker room.
January 10-11
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is essentially fired, becoming the scapegoat for the team’s offensive woes. Tony Sparano replaces him.
In 2011 compared with the other NFL quarterbacks, Sanchez ranked 22 in yards per game, 23 in passer rating, 27 in yards per attempt, 28 in completion percentage, 30 in Total QBR, and #1 in most turnovers.
March 9
Yet after a year of regression, the Jets give Mark Sanchez a three-year contract extension, including $20 million in guarantees, instead of pursuing the available Peyton Manning.
March 21
Less than two weeks later, the Jets trade for Tim Tebow.
April 26
Jets trade up to draft Stephen Hill to make up for losing Plaxico Burress.
July
Jets say they are implementing a two-quarterback system, with 15-20 plays a game specifically designed for Tim Tebow.
July 31
Antonio Cromartie says he ranks himself as the second-best wide receiver on the team. (He’s a defensive cornerback and has never even played receiver.)
August 7
Jets players break out in fights during practice for the second day in a row.
August 13
Jets have top-secret practice to work on plays for the Tim Tebow offense.
August 30
Jets finish preseason 0-4, go their first three preseason games without scoring a touchdown, becoming the first team in 35 years to do so. In the fourth game, Greg McElroy and the third stringers finally get them one.
Regular Season
Week 1
Jets “silence the critics” by dropping 48 points on the Bills. Taking advantage of 4 turnovers and torching a defense that would have a record four games allowing 45+ points, Jets give illusion that they are actually competent on offense.
Week 2
Jets follow up win in opener with an embarrassing 27-10 loss in Pittsburgh, where they go scoreless in their final 9 possessions.
Week 3
Jets beat the Dolphins in overtime. In OT, the Dolphins missed a field goal (second of the game) and blocked a Jets field goal, but the Jets got another try because a timeout was called. Darrelle Revis gets hurt and is out for the year.
Week 4
49ers shut out the Jets 34-0. Sanchez goes 13-29 for 103 yards and Santonio Holmes gets hurt and is out for the rest of the year.
Week 5
Jets lose to Texans 23-17. Mark Sanchez throws an interception in the red zone with 20 seconds left in the first half, and then throws another after the two minute warning in the fourth quarter with the Jets down by 6 points. Sanchez finishes 14-31, his fourth straight game completing less than half his passes.
Week 6
Jets blast the Colts 35-9. Sanchez passes for 82 yards with two touchdowns while Shonn Greene runs for a career-best 161 yards and three touchdowns. Rex Ryan says, “We want to be a team no one wants to play, and we’re on our way.”
Week 7
Jets lose in overtime to the Patriots 29-26. The Jets kick a field goal with 2:06 left to tie the game, and on the ensuing kickoff, the Patriots fumble and Jets recover at the 18 yard line. The Jets are only able to run 24 seconds off the clock and after Sanchez is sacked on third down, they kick a 43-yard field goal. Tom Brady leads the Patriots down field for a game-tying field goal. In overtime, after the Patriots kick another field goal, the game ends when Mark Sanchez is sacked and fumbles.
Week 8
Jets lose to the Dolphins 30-9, despite Miami losing their starting quarterback early in the first quarter. Dolphins led 20-0 at halftime.
Week 10
Coming off a bye week, the Jets fail to score a touchdown on offense, losing 28-7 to the Seahawks. Sanchez passes for 9 of 22 for 124 yards and two turnovers.
Week 11
Jets have an impressive and efficient win over the Rams 27-13. Says Sanchez: “We can become a team that just doesn’t turn the ball over. That could be our identity, if you want it and if you work at it.”
Week 12
On Thanksgiving night with the whole world watching, the Jets put on one of the most embarrassing performances in NFL history as the Patriots go up 35-0 in the second quarter, en route to a 49-19 win. The Patriots scored three touchdowns in 53 seconds. Included in that, coming off a timeout, is the play where Mark Sanchez and the running back botch a hand off, Sanchez runs into his own offensive lineman, drops the ball and the Patriots run it in. What they were talking about during the timeout I have no idea. Jets finish with 5 turnovers, and Mark Sanchez played the whole game.
Week 13
Playing a Cardinals team that had lost 8 in a row, went 0-15 on third downs and gained only 137 yards of offense, Mark Sanchez throws 3 interceptions before getting benched in the second half with the Cardinals winning 3-0. Greg McElroy came in and led the Jets on a touchdown drive that won the game 7-6.
Week 14
Mark Sanchez remains the starter, Greg McElroy is deactivated for the game, and the Jets defeat the 2-10 (now 2-11) Jaguars 17-10. Relying on the ground game with Bilal Powell and Shonn Greene, Sanchez threw for 111 yards. The win moved the Jets to 6-7 and mathematically still have a shot for the playoffs as long as they win their remaining games against weak opponents.
Week 15, December 17 (Monday)
Mark Sanchez remains the starter in the must-win game against the 4-9 Titans, one of the worst defenses in the NFL, on Monday Night Football. Greg McElroy wasn’t in uniform. Rex Ryan said that they planned to use Tim Tebow for the third offensive drive, “no matter what.” And they did, even though Sanchez was 3-3 the previous drive. Trailing 14-10 with 47 seconds to go, the Jets got the ball at the Titans 25 yard line after a 19 yard punt. On the first play, Mark Sanchez fumbles the snap, the Titans recover and the game over. The fumble was the 5th turnover of the game for Sanchez, including one on each of the final three possessions of the game. Hard to believe, but the actual game film is worse than this description.
December 19 (Wednesday)
Rex Ryan announces that Greg McElroy will be the starting quarterback in their next game.
December 20 (Thursday)
Jets reveal that they will explore trading both Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow after the season.
In 2012, Mark Sanchez is ranked 30 in yards per game, 30 in yards per attempt, 32 in completion percentage, 33 in passer rating, 36 in Total QBR, and #1 in most turnovers.
Come on, Tim Tebow couldn’t even play that poorly.
The entire year has been like witnessing a terrible car accident unfold; watching a wreckless driver heading full steam off the side of a cliff. Not one move the Jets made this year made sense. In the offseason they threw more money at a below-average starting quarterback, immediately traded for a controversial backup and pledged a significant share of the snaps. When the starter struggled mightily in game, Rex Ryan replaced him with a third quarterback, who actually had success. The next two games that third quarterback didn’t even dress. Despite the fact that Sanchez was the worst starting quarterback in the whole league, Ryan stuck with him for 14 games. And now when their season is officially failed, he doesn’t even give the ball to the backup, Tebow, he goes with the #3 guy McElroy. Why they got Tim Tebow in the first place I have no idea.
And it’s not just the decisions that are backfiring. New York is struggling at the fundamentals of the game—hiking the football, handing off, protecting the ball on kick returns, punt block protection, and a litany of bad throws that are thrown off the back foot off line into double and triple coverage. Says Trent Dilfer: “This is dysfunction at its highest level in the National Football League.”
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