Because the Jets reached the AFC championship game with a rookie quarterback and a rookie head coach, it was only a matter of time before someone decided that, with this experience under their belt, they’d take the next step next season and reach the Super Bowl for just the second time in franchise history. (Rather than explain ourselves why this is not a foregone conclusion, we’ll direct your attention to Will’s post on the topic, from last week.)
Anyway, we had assumed that these predictions would trickle out closer to the beginning of the season, or perhaps when training camps opened, or maybe even at the draft, if the Jets were to have a particularly good weekend. But we were way off. Folks, the Jets-in-the–Super Bowl hype has already begun. Gary Myers, take it away:
They say everything is bigger and better in Texas, so Super Bowl XLV will have an all-time first: The Cowboys will be the first team to play the game on their home field.
And their opponent? The J-E-T-S.
Seriously.
If the time stamp on the article is to be believed, the Jets’ Super Bowl expectations officially began just hours after this year’s game ended. Now, in Myers’s defense, this day-after forecast is an annual gimmick, and he bases it on the assumption that they’d draft a wide receiver and keep this year’s team largely intact because of changes to the free-agency system this summer. Unfortunately for the Jets, Myers has them losing the game to Dallas, which only makes sense since it’ll be on the Cowboys’ home field. But one step at a time, right? If this actually plays out, we fully expect someone to pick the Jets as champs exactly one year from today.