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NFL

Jets leave behind dark days of losing

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Lately, the "Same Old Jets" has meant a winning franchise.

The team known as much for flops through the years as for Joe Namath and the 1969 Super Bowl has become one of the NFL's biggest successes. Yes, the New York Jets.

Since the darkest days under Rich Kotite -- 4-28 in two seasons, including a team-worst 1-15 in 1996 -- the Jets have not had a losing record. First Bill Parcells set about changing the club's image as well as the number of victories, and he went 9-7, 12-4 and 8-8. The 12-4 season gave the Jets their first division crown of any kind since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, and they made it to their first AFC title game in 16 years.

They also went 9-7 under Al Groh in 2000. And in Herm Edwards' first two seasons as coach, they have gone 10-6 for a wild-card berth, then 9-7 this season to win the AFC East.

So the problems of the past, from long losing streaks to late-season collapses, from injury jinxes to a lack of effort, pretty much have been erased. That will be true even if the Jets lose Sunday's playoff game at Oakland.

"Every time you do something around here, you're either trying to kill a ghost or trying not to be a ghost," Edwards said after a 41-0 rout of Indianapolis last weekend sent the Jets to the second round. "Today, we killed a ghost."

Parcells began the turnaround, bringing the kind of work ethic and year-round dedication that disappeared under Kotite -- and barely existed under several previous coaches. Parcells also brought a boot-camp mentality to the team, something Groh embraced in his one season in charge.

Edwards and Terry Bradway, the general manager who hired him, did away with that closed-door approach. Today's Jets are not automatons, as Parcells preferred. They are far more relaxed and just as successful.

Which is kind of stunning, because they began the season 1-4 and 2-5. Now, they are among the hottest teams in football, where the Jets of regimes in the 1970s, '80s and pre-1997 likely would have folded.

"Everybody is playing together," said Richie Anderson, the fullback who has been with the franchise since 1993, Bruce Coslet's final season as coach. "We've pulled together tighter than we have ever been. You can tell when a team is really bonding by the communication between offense and defense and special teams. You can tell if a team is tight."

Tight as in camaraderie, not as in nervousness. That's another thing recent Jets teams have eliminated -- a tendency to lose their nerves down the stretch.

"We believe in each other, and we believe we can win," said cornerback Ray Mickens, a Jet since 1996. "All that stuff about what happened in the past, that's not us. That's not these Jets."

These Jets credit Edwards for keeping them on track and in the running despite the horrendous start to the season. He never has bought into the "Same Old Jets" mantra, and it appears he has completed the changeover in persona that Parcells started.

"I kept preaching," Edwards said. "You know, it's like the preacher that passes out the plate. You pass the plate out and it goes through the congregation for maybe 20 minutes, and the plate comes back. But there's only a few dollars in there. Everybody is not believing.

"For about three weeks, there was not a lot of money in the collection plate. But I kept passing it out. And I said basically they are going to figure this out."

And now?

"There's money in the plate, guys."

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