Gangrene

I am officially numb.

There is nothing more the Jets can do to upset me this year. This is why every time the expectations are high going into a season, they collapse under the weight of their own curse.

And the whole country realized tonight how futile the Jets are. They are like the Chicago Cubs of football, only just depressing. There's nothing to love about them. But they keep finding new ways to break your heart. Right from the beginning, you knew this was going to be another one of those hideous nights.

Atlanta drives 48 yards and instead of going for a 52-yard field goal, they punt. OK, good break. First play of the game. You figure it'll be a run with Curtis Marin up the middle as always. No it's a pass! Laveranues Coles, 9 yards. Not bad. Second play on offense. Our center, Kevin Mawae, one of the best ever, is done for the season. So Pete Kendall, a guard, plays center. Vinny can't handle the snap, the ball bounces on the Georgia turf, Falcons recover on the Jet 19. You knew they were in trouble right there. Michael Vick eventually scores, 7-0.

Next Jet possession, Antawn Lake (and people think hockey players have weird names?) sacks Vinny and the ball comes loose again! Atlanta recovers again on the Jet 47 and returns it 26 yards. Todd Peterson kick a field goal and it's 10-0 and I'll tell you right there, you could have shut your TV off. It was only 12 minutes into the game, the Jets were done.

Two possessions later, another Atlanta sack costs the Jets 11 yards. Actually, it would have just been 11 yards, but Vinny loses the ball AGAIN! Chauncey Davis returns it 24 yards. Touchdown. 17-0.

And there were more beautiful moments to come. Justin "Butterfinger" Miller actually returns a kickoff 95 yards. It's called back on a holding penalty! They did overcome that as they did score a touchdown on a 1-yard Vinny scamper. But the offense only did anything at all because of Vick's two interceptions in the fourth quarter. Bollinger attempted 20 passes and completed 12. Only 3 went for more than 9 yards. Being down by 20 points, on the road, don't you have to take at least one shot down the field? And Curtis gains 28 wonderful yards on 14 carries. Where was Cedric Houston to give him a breather? And Doug Jolley. Is he still in Oakland? Our genius general manager gave up a number one draft pick for this "All-World" tight end?! Again, not one catch for him!

Yeah, the Jet defense did a good job on Michael Vick. They picked him off three times and held him to a passer rating of 16.3 out of a possible 158.3. But Warrick Dunn ran for 155 yards. I mean that looked like the run defense of Ted Cottrell of 2001! And has anyone seen Dewayne Robertson, our all-world defensive tackle who was going to make everyone forget about Warren Sapp? Because I sure as hell haven't. Shaun Ellis. I hope you enjoy your 40 million dollar contract. You must be home with all of it, because I haven't seen you on the field in weeks!

What else. Vinny injures his Achilles and Wisconsin's Brooks Bollinger takes over. I guess that means all passes are now 7 yards or shorter. Laveranues makes 9 catches for 96 yards. Great game. One problem. He hurt his elbow and could be out for a while. And Eric Barton, a very good athletic linebacker. He's missed 4 weeks with an ankle injury. He promptly comes back and tears his left tricep. Done for the year. Reading about the Jets in a newspaper is like reading the Medical-World News.

The best thing to hope for a lot more losses and thus, a good draft choice. This team is 2-5 with a good defensive coordinator in Donnie Henderson. That's it. I hate to see Coach Herman Edwards under the gun, but I wonder if management will want to make a change. I know the fans want him gone. And a lot of times I don't understand his in-game management skills. But he's a good leader. And he has the best press conferences that don't include profanity!

It's halfway through and the year is over. It's absolutely over for this team. And let's see the remainder of their schedule. After the bye week, they host San Diego. Think the Chargers will have revenge on their minds after last year? Then they play at Carolina. At Denver. Two more excellent defensive teams. They host New Orleans on a Sunday night which is maybe the only reasonable game I see. Then they go to Foxboro to play the lovely Patriots, host Oakland with Randy Moss and our old buddy Lamont Jordan (how many yards will he run for?!). They travel to Miami, which is not necessarily a gimmie. Then they finish at home against New England and Buffalo! Oh just a week at the beach! What do you have down for them? 2-6? 3-5 at best! This team is on their way to 5-11. Hopefully this will lead to a good draft position and more than that, the realization that this is not a championship team. They need help almost everywhere.