Why New York Jets Fans Went Toxic After They Finally Won A Game In A Previously Winless Season

Why New York Jets Fans Went Toxic After They Finally Won A Game In A Previously Winless Season
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The New York Jets were on the way to an 0-16 season and many of their fans could not be any happier about that. Then they mucked everything up by finally winning a game. This is the Reddit postgame aftermath…

For the most part, nothing ever breaks right for the New York Jets. In 1997 the Jets had the first pick in the draft and generational quarterback prospect Payton Manning, choose to go back to college for another year. Two years ago when the Jets needed an offensive head coach who could help unlock their second-year field general Sam Darnold, because of a glowing recommendation to the Jets owner by the now football legend Payton Manning, ended up hiring Adam Gase, who is universally viewed as the worst coach in Jets history.

A photo of Payton Manning with an Superbowl MVP trophy.
Why does Payton hate the Jets so much? No really, why?

 

In addition to those two things not breaking right for the Jets, there is being quit on by the greatest coach of all time after one day in the organization, Joe Namath horny on television, one of the coaches tripping an opposing player during a game, losing on a fake spike, the team’s most famous fan quitting, and of course, the butt fumble. All these things, absolutely Payton Manning’s fault…

Being a fan of all three “lol insert team name” New York teams, the Knicks, the Mets, and the Jets, by far I have been broken the most by the Jets. Although all these teams seem to reinvent new ways to embarrass themselves and disappoint fans, for some reason the Jets ineptitude feels the most crushing. The team has one of the most passionate and loyal fanbases in the NFL and year after year things only seem to end in horrible disappointment. But there could be promise on the horizon!

The Golden Child and Rooting for the Worst Record

In the NFL, the following season’s draft order is based on a team’s performance from the year before. The team with the worst record gets the first pick in the draft, and so on, until playoff teams, which are ranked in order of playoff exit. In the case of a tie in record, there are tiebreakers, like strength of schedule. If two teams are tied, the team with the easier strength of schedule would receive the higher pick.

Preseason predictions had the Jets, who had finished the 2019 season with an 6-2 record, as a fringe playoff team. But only a couple of games into the 2020 season, it was clear the team was dogshit and Jets fans almost universally began rooting for them to lose. Fans wanted to “Tank for Trevor.”

A photo of Trevor Lawrence

Clemson quarterback, Trevor Lawrence is projected as one of the greatest quarterback prospects of all time. His college rank is right up there with John Elway, Payton Manning, and Andrew Luck. Trevor is seen as a can’t miss pick.

A quarter of the way through the season there were about six teams seriously in contention in the Trevor sweepstakes. Halfway through there were four. And with three-quarters of a season down, there were two. It was down to the winless Jets, and the 1-11 Jacksonville Jaguars. By virtue of the strength of schedule tiebreaker, the Jets needed to keep a game back of Jacksonville in order to secure the first pick. In week 15, the Jets actually won, upsetting the 17 point favorite Los Angeles Rams. Screw you Rams! (Bias and unprofessional fandom in full view…)

Prior to the win against the Rams, many Jets fans were literally praying every game for the Jets to lose so they could secure the number one pick.

A photo of Trevor Lawrence as Jesus
Not gonna lie. I was on the Tank Brigade…

 

But then the Jets won and all hell broke loose…

After the win I immediately went to r/nyjets to see what the sentiment was, and by and large was it negative. Here is some of the top reaction from the New York Jets at Los Angeles Rams Post Game Thread:

“What the actual fuck?” – kbutters9

“Pure pain” – officerbigmac

“One of the worst days in franchise history” – RyanRiot

“God fucking damn it” – TheRealJamesHoffa

“I’m fucking dead inside” – Ethan069

“Fire Everyone” – DionWaiteress

“The dream is dead” – LIONEL14JESSE

“Ima pick a new team outta hat. Wish yall the best Edit: lmao I got the Lions fuck me” – TheNotSoPro893

“I fucking hate this team” – Normanfire98

“Fuck this team, fuck this franchise and fuck Adam Gase.” – arhombus

“Only the Jets could fuck up tanking.” – yankee4357

“sorry boys but I’m out, this franchise is too much” – SpongeSmith

“Hope you morons that wanted a moral victory are happy.” – Nadtastic

“Numb. Worst win in sports history, can’t believe we did that.” – AndyPantyLoobyLoo

“Worst franchise in football. I’m jumping ship, I can’t do it anymore. Can’t even get a #1 pick properly.” – LordJiraiya

And my personal favorite:

“If you weren’t always expecting this then you are not a lifelong Jets fan.” – YouHaveToBeRealistic

There are also a lot of suicide-type statements, which one would assume are in jest but we are keeping those out of this piece. Also, in fairness, there are lots of comments from people who are happy about the win, but for the most part those are drowned out and downvoted to the bottom.

Still promise on the horizon?

While looking back in the subreddit today there does seem to be more positivity than yesterday. The team can still land the number one pick with a Jacksonville win and even if they don’t there are still many reasons to be optimistic, as outlined in this post from earlier.

Is a reverse order draft good for the NFL?

This is the big question here, right? Is a reverse order draft good for the NFL? Here we have two teams’ fanbases, the Jets and the Jaguars, pitted against each other rooting for their teams to lose. It’s not good. Should the NFL move to more of a weighted lottery system like the NBA? I think so. As much as I do want the Jets to pick Trevor Lawrence, I did not want the team go down in history as owners of a winless season.

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Steven Richard

Steven Richard is the publisher here at Unruly Stowaway. He has written a memoir which will be released one day.

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