Jets screwed up chance to steal AFC East from Patriots

The Patriots look shaky.

Now, we’ve seen this before and they have recovered, so don’t go overboard. They are not finished yet. But it is clear the end of the Belichick/Brady run is getting close to the finish line.

The key for the other teams in the AFC East over the last five years has been positioning themselves to be ready when the day finally comes when the division title is not a foregone conclusion before a game is even played.

Now that that time appears to be close, the Jets are not the team that is in the best position. They are not only looking up at the Patriots these days, but also the Bills.

Buffalo is the team with the young quarterback that appears ready to challenge the Patriots for the division. The Bills are only one game behind the Patriots for the division lead, with a showdown between the teams looming Dec. 21.

While the Bills are 9-3 and ready for a playoff run, the Jets are 4-8 and readying for another January at home. Not that long ago, the teams were in similar situations, but the Bills made several smart decisions and the Jets made several bad ones that have now left them behind their upstate rivals.

Both teams had a record of 15-17 in the 2015-16 seasons. They were two mediocre-at-best franchises. The Bills fired coach Rex Ryan before the 2016 season even ended and replaced him with Sean McDermott, handing him control. General manager Doug Whaley stuck around through the draft, but was powerless and then replaced by Brandon Beane in May.

The Jets, on the other hand, decided to stick with coach Todd Bowles and GM Mike Maccagnan.

Beane and McDermott saw a surprising run to the playoffs in their first year together — a 9-7 season that ended with them sneaking into the postseason. They wisely saw that season as a mirage, though, and decided to remake the team after the year. The most notable move was getting rid of quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

The Jets had faced a similar crossroads after a surprising 10-6 season in Bowles’ and Maccagnan’s first year in 2015, a season that did not end with a playoff berth thanks to those Bills. Instead of realizing the Ryan Fitzpatrick/Brandon Marshall Jets were a one-year wonder built on a shaky foundation, the Jets stuck with their older team and delayed rebuilding. The result was a messy contract dispute with Fitzpatrick, a team that fractured and a 5-11 season.

So, instead of the Jets beginning the rebuild in 2016, they waited until 2017 to tear the roster down. The plan was to find a quarterback in 2018 and then spend in free agency in 2019 to make a playoff push.

The Jets and Bills both drafted the men they hoped would become their franchise quarterbacks in 2018. The Jets took Sam Darnold at No. 3 and the Bills took Josh Allen at No. 8.

It is too soon to know what either Darnold or Allen will be, but the Bills did something to help Allen the Jets failed to do this offseason. Beane rebuilt the offensive line to protect his young quarterback. Beane signed six offensive linemen in free agency and drafted tackle Cody Ford in the second round. Buffalo went into the year with four new starters along the line.

The Jets traded for Kelechi Osemele and drafted Chuma Edoga in the third round. This decision has haunted the Jets all season. The line has been a disaster. They have given up 46 sacks this year, the third-most in the NFL.

Meanwhile, Allen has taken a leap thanks to the protection he is getting and the addition of receivers John Brown and Cole Beasley in the offseason by Beane.

The Bills have not been perfect in their decision-making (Nathan Peterman anyone?), but they drafted better than the Jets, made better free-agent decisions than the Jets and identified a coach/GM combo that was not working earlier than the Jets.

The Jets now have to hope the Joe Douglas-Adam Gase marriage works out as well as the Beane-McDermott one has in Buffalo.

Otherwise, the Jets will be looking up at the Bills in the standings for a long time.

For more on the Jets, listen to the latest episode of the “Gang’s All Here” podcast:

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