It may not have seemed like it, based on all the commotion that has taken place the last few days pitting quarterbacks against late night television hosts and head coaches against defensive coordinators, but this is about as quiet as it gets in New York football for this time of the year.
In fact, it’s been about a decade since we’ve witnessed this kind of silent equilibrium in our neighborhood. To find the last time the Giants and the Jets both ended their regular seasons without making the playoffs and also without firing a head coach, you have to go all the way back to January 2014, when Tom Coughlin and Rex Ryan were still clinging to their final years on the job.
In fact, there are only seven teams in the NFL that find themselves in the strange cove between limbo and stability — limbility? — that the Giants and Jets are in, having not made this postseason while sticking with a head coach who is not coming off his first season with the organization. The Bengals, Jaguars, Vikings, Bears and Saints are the others. There are more franchises that already have committed to coaching changes (eight, with the potential for more depending on how this wild card weekend plays out) than there are ones that are home watching the postseason while also having a head coach getting ready for at least his third season.
Enjoy the tranquility while it lasts. One way or another, it surely won’t be here next year.
Both organizations seem headed toward a 2024 season that will end either with that rare postseason berth or more sweeping changes.
It certainly feels as if the Jets have less wiggle room in this regard. After a season in which they put everything into Aaron Rodgers and came away with almost nothing to show for it, they’re going to try again. If it manages to succeed? Great. If it leads to another ghastly result? The entire framework of the team — general manager, coach, quarterback — could pay the price.
“Obviously, we’re all going to be on the…
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