New York Jets playing for now and that is OK too

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - OCTOBER 15: Members of the New England Patriots and New York Jets (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - OCTOBER 15: Members of the New England Patriots and New York Jets (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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The New York Jets are playing for now and that’s OK.

How about these New York Jets, huh? Even after the loss to the Patriots, they sit with a 3-3 record and an excellent chance to go back over .500 when they face the Dolphins this weekend. Sunday was a tough 24-17 loss to the Patriots and we can rail against the bad call as long as we want. Just remember, however, there are no guarantees. Even if they close to three points, the Jets aren’t guaranteed a win there and it didn’t have to come to that.

Who thought they would have even been competitive in this game? I mean, we are all Jets fans and want the Patriots to lose week in and week out. But privately, did anyone really think we had a shot? I know I didn’t and only hoped the game wouldn’t be embarrassing. Under that criteria it was a good day. Winning the game would have been icing on the cake, but the Jets still surprised everyone by making it a game that wasn’t over until the final drive.

But is this doing damage to their future? The NY Post speculated about this in a recent article. The premise is that the success of today is keeping the team from answering questions for tomorrow. The biggest obviously being the quarterback. Todd Bowles is not going to send Josh McCown to the bench if the Jets are in the playoff hunt. Where does that leave the situation with Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty, right?

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You know what? The Post is probably right. There are answers that are getting delayed due to the unexpected success of the team. However, does that make this wrong? Is 2017 a waste if they can’t get the answers?

No, absolutely not. The year is not a waste. The Jets are playing for now, and that is OK too.

First of all, it only helps out Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan. If you hadn’t noticed there are a lot of folks that believe that one or both of them are on the hot seat. If the team shows that it is coming together that only increases their chances of having a job in 2018. Maybe the roster isn’t SO bad and maybe Todd Bowles isn’t THAT lifeless as a head coach. If he can get some production out of this young bunch, wait until they supplement this better constructed roster with some free agents.

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Granted, the quarterback issue is an important one. If Josh McCown starts the entire season, the Jets will know nothing more about Christian Hackenberg and/or Bryce Petty. On its face that is a problem. But take it another way. Say they make a decision to go in a different direction next year. They take someone in the draft. How do we know that player won’t be a bust? There have been plenty of those. The fact is that we don’t know what is going to happen.

So, play for now. We should all be in the now anyways. It’s a good way to look at life.