New York Jets: Recent history following the bye week
2009
Ladies and gentlemen, this guy! In 2009 we meet Rex Ryan, taking Eric Mangini’s place as to not “…kiss Belichick’s rings”. This is the early Rex, not the later Rex that many liked to call “neutered Rex”. This is the coach that said whatever he felt like, including that his team was going to the Super Bowl. We know now, but didn’t know then, how that turned out.
Anyway, onto the season. After a 3-0 start the Jets went 4-4 heading into the bye week. Coming out of it, the Jets lost their first two games, followed by winning their next three. However, after losing to the Falcons to mark their seventh loss of the year, Rex Ryan even declared the Jets were out of the playoffs. However, a come from behind win over the Colts followed by a win over the Bengals propelled the Jets into a Wild Card spot.
Two big playoff wins set the Jets up with an AFC title game against the Colts. Despite winning at halftime, Peyton Manning and the Colts came back to win and end the Jets Super Bowl dreams. We all thought that this was the beginning of something special for the Jets. This year they went 5-3 after the bye to end the season with a 9-7 record. It was the same record as the previous year but this year it was good enough for the playoffs.