New York Jets: The unsung hero of the first quarter of 2017

This New York Jets unsung hero takes a lot of grief from the fans. Time to give him some credit.

OK New York Jets fans, time for us to hand out some credit. If we are going to rip a guy for doing what we perceive to be wrong we must give him credit when he turns out to be right. It’s OK to admit when we are wrong. For those of you that aren’t married, learn the skill now as it will serve you well. Believe me. Ask your married friends.

But anyway, back to football. We talk about unsung heroes a lot in sports. They are the guys that may not see their name in writing all the time, but behind the scenes deserve a lot of credit for what’s going on. Often times we talk about players in this regard, but front office members sometimes fit the bill as well.

There is one man that has taken a lot of criticism from the fans, myself included, over the last several months. Granted, he has earned some of it due to his selection of young quarterbacks over the past two years. But, he has also put together a roster that has been far better than expected over the first four games. So our unsung hero, and one who deserves credit, is Mike Maccagnan.

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Now, this is not to say that the team is about to win 11 games. If I were to make that prediction I would be the biggest “homer” in the blogosphere. After the game against Cleveland, the Jets schedule gets much more difficult. Barring a miracle of epic proportions, this is not a playoff team in 2017.

However, it wasn’t supposed to be a competitive team either. There were experts that believed the Jets roster was the worst in a decade. That’s a pretty direct statement if you ask me. That statement makes no bones about the belief that the Jets would be historically bad.

Throughout the whole process, however, Mike Maccagnan believed in his roster. He never wavered from the idea that the team would be competitive in 2017. Maccagnan called the process a “competitive rebuild”. We were all skeptical.

But what has happened so far? He has been absolutely right. The Jets have been in every game so far and won two of them. Even in the game against the Raiders, they were in it until the muffed punt by Kalif Raymond. At no time have the Jets embarrassed themselves. That is a credit to the roster Mike Maccagnan has put together.

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Again, I am not calling this a playoff team. Not by any stretch. The schedule is about to get very difficult. But it is hard to argue the fact that this team is more competitive than anyone suspected. They have fight and they have heart. That is a testament to the roster, and the credit goes to Mike Maccagnan, unsung hero.