I get people think like this, but it's just not how football works. There is no such thing as tanking once you get under the GM. It's all fans doing mental hurdles to convince themselves coach X or team Y did this certain thing so they are tanking.
There's no such thing as gambling on football games either by NFL personnel...Or bad/missed calls by Refs at bad times. JAX pulled off the perfect tank.
There absolutely is tanking, but it needs to come me from the owner. Do you think the Jacksonville coaching staff really thought Luton and Glennon gave them a better chance to win than Minshew in 2020? The Johnsons are too out of touch to see the big picture.
It's absolutely possible, with the caveat that players are always going to try hard. The job of a tanking coach and GM is to put suboptimal players in at the most important positions, namely QB. If you're tanking, your QB likely sucks anyway, and there's nothing to lose by benching him for the worst one possible. This is how the Jaguars got Lawrence, they benched Minshew because he was playing too well. We should've kept Boyle and started him the rest of the year. Coaches can also intentionally have bad clock management, not make adjustments to things the other team is doing well, etc. It's very possible to contribute to a tank everywhere above the player level.
if you're having a shit season you are better off tanking then you can always claim it as a genius move - the way the Pats will if they land a great QB in the next draft - you can see the media articles now "Of course the Pats once again out played everyone by working to ensure they ended up with the best QB in the draft"
So it looks like the Jets will probably miss out on the two franchise OL in this draft in Alt and Foshanu because they won a nail biter on Christmas Eve against the Deadskins. And the vicious cycle rolls on.
If Jets win this game they could drop all the way down to the #14 depending on the other outcomes. Tie breakers are not kind to us with the tough strength of schedule. As much as I would like to slay the dragon, it's just not worth it.
There is going to be a QB frenzy for this draft with all of the experience these guys coming out have because of the extra Covid year and transfers and waivers. There are also as many as 5 first round tackles. It’d be an unbelievable opportunity for the Jets to trade down, get a good player and a bounty of picks for whomever wants the 3rd QB on the board. But alas, we have fucked ourselves again.
I think a smart GM could still make this work. But I think Woody is committed to selling as many Rodgers Jets jerseys as possible so he can say, "I did that".
We can get as high as 5 and no lower than 12. Fortunately, the three teams we have to leapfrog to get to 5 all have stronger SOS so assuming there aren't major changes to that, if those teams win and the Jets lose we'd get to 5. The not so fortunate: all three are playing good teams that are either at the top or near the top of their divisions. Giants: home against Eagles Titans: home against Jags Chargers: home against Chiefs Chargers are the worst of the bunch but are the one game that has no real effect on playoff berths.
