Two weeks left in the season. For some teams, their future has already been decided, for others, their playoff future has yet to be defined. The New York Jets is one of those teams. With just two weeks left to go, they hold their destiny in their hands. Unfortunately, they way they’ve played the past few weeks has put their playoff hopes in jeopardy, not necessarily in whether or not they’ll make it, but if they’ll be able to play good football once they get there. Favre and the Jets have two weeks to get it together and go into the playoffs running rather than limping, and that starts this week with the Seattle Seahawks. It’s a tough game on the road in hostile territory, but the Jets need to make a statement here and now. According to our Madden 09 sim, that’s exactly what they’re going to do.
The Seahawks started the game with an impressive drive. They moved down the field with a steady mix of pass and run and punched it into the endzone on their first possesion. The Jets, undettered, answered right back and tied the game. Then, on the Seahawks second possesion, they threw and interception that was run back for a touchdown. It was the momentum change and moral lift the Jets needed, and they never looked back. Favre threw for 264 yards, completing 12 of 20 passes for 3 TDs and O INTs. His relentless pass attack and the inablity of the Seahawks to convert on third down made all the difference in the game. The Jets kept a steady pace for a change, putting up seventeen points in the second quarter and then scoring again on their first possesion of the third quarter when usually they’ve had some trouble making anything happen in the third. With the playoffs in sight, the Jets wanted to make a statement and did with a 34-21 win over the Seahawks. Now we’ll just have to wait and see if the real Jets can make a similar statement.
[Update] Our Madden 09 sim didn’t simulate the snowy, cold conditions of the actual game against the Seahawks. It also didn’t simulate how the freezing conditions apparently froze the Jets resolve to finish off a strong playoff run. I said the Jet needed to make a statement in these last couple weeks to prove that they are a team that contend in the playoffs. Our Madden sim said that they should be able to do that, but unfortunately, the Jets don’t seem to read this column. Instead, they came out and froze - literally and figuratively - agains a team they should have handled easily. Favre put up some ugly throws, two of which were picked. He complete 18 of 31 pass attempts for 183 yards, 2 INTs and 0 TDs; that’s about as opposite of our predictions as I’ve seen this season. The turnovers combined with the lack of a solid running game seemed to do in the Jets, a hot team that’s now as cold as the weather as they bumbled and lost 13-3 to the Seattle Seahawks. Next week they face division rival Miami as the Jets last gasp for the playoffs. What will the result be? We’ll try and peek into the future with our Madden 09 Favre Watch, so be sure to check back later this week.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:02 am
Oh, how I wish this was a week when the prediction was accurate. There is still a chance though!