Hearts and Minds

Yikes.

It's not often that a 9-3 team has to spend the week before their Week 14 game trying to prove they're legitimate. But, this is the position the New York Jets find themselves in after last week's misery in Foxborough.

Without rehashing the abomination, the Jets failed in every phase of the game. There were portions of the second half where the defense appeared to quit, which was somehow a better performance than the offense had. The offense appeared to quit sometime after the first possession.

There is far too much football remaining in the regular season to let last week's 45-3 loss destroy what had been built in the first 11 games. The Jets secondary looked completely lost without injured safety Jim Leonhard, and they have 4 games left to find a solution for the total breakdowns that took place Monday Night. The primary concern for the team for the rest of the regular season is to fix the glaring issues they're having and be playing the best football they can by wild card weekend.

This week, the Dolphins come to town clinging to their playoff lives. Chad Henne always seems to play well against New York, although the Jets were without Darrelle Revis in the first meeting of 2010. If Brandon Marshall's hamstring is healthy enough for him to go for Miami, he will have to cope with Revis outside, and should have a more difficult time on Sunday. The confidence of the entire offensive team, particularly Mark Sanchez, hangs in the balance this week. In their 3 losses this season, the Jets have scored a total of 12 points. Against New England, Sanchez missed even the easiest throws, badly missing short passes designed to gain yards after the catch. If Sanchez struggles with these types of throws, it makes you wonder if he'll be able to handle downfield passing if there is wind and cold in January.

If Sanchez continues to struggle, Jets fans may see a repeat of last January's game plan, with Sanchez throwing about 20 passes per game as the Jets try to run the ball down everyone's throat. It's a solid gameplan, as long as you don't fall way behind early. The running game was effective for most of the first half, but it wasn't enough to avoid a 3 TD deficit at halftime.

Which Jets team will we see on Sunday? Will it be the confident team that won 9 of 10 before last week? Or will it be the team that failed to show up last week, suffering the franchise's worst defeat in 24 years? The truth lies somewhere in between. I believe this team is not ready to be the best team in the league yet, but it certainly is better than losing by 6 touchdowns on national television. The weather forecast is calling for rain at the NMS, so the Jets will attempt to play caveman football and control the clock. This may be the way they have to play to compete the rest of the season, as Sanchez has regressed over the past few weeks.

There are multiple collapses littering the New York Jets history. They have become rites of passage for a battered fan base that has been led down the primrose path before. Waiting for the other shoe to drop has become too common a custom for Jets fans. The fans deserve a far better effort than they got last week. If the Jets want to be taken seriously as a football team, they must get a victory against Miami. After Miami comes Pittsburgh and Chicago on the road, so the opportunities don't get any easier. Step one in saving the Jets season kicks off at 4:15 pm on Sunday.