Super Bowl 50: Reaction by a fan of the NY Jets

As a fan of the NY Jets, Super Bowl 50 reiterated one of football’s oldest truisms: defense wins championships. As a fan of Gang Green, it can drive anyone nuts. 

Even if you had the Carolina Panthers as a lock to win Super Bowl 50, did you ever, really, truly doubt the defense of the Denver Broncos would dominate? You probably thought it’d come down to the wire, Von Miller and the rest of the Broncos’ defense impressing as they should, but coming up a dab and yard short of the title.

What we got instead was an offensive snoozer, which probably prompted many to dismiss the game completely, and a defensive gem, on both sides really. Only Cam Newton threw for a touchdown while Peyton Manning now has consecutive Super Bowl appearances with zero touchdown passes and a grand total of two touchdown passes in his four Super Bowl appearances.

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Anyone else catching the trend here? Stellar quarterback play isn’t necessary to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, and as a Jets fan that drives me up the wall.

Sure, it was fun watching the Jets break offensive records this season, but check the quarterback stats out of the now reigning Super Bowl champions. We made a lot of fuss over our quarterback situation this year, and for what?

Newton couldn’t catch a break last night, and as the Broncos’ pass rush walloped and contained Carolina’s freshly minted MVP, I couldn’t help but think damn, why couldn’t the Jets’ defense play like this, down the stretch? I think Gang Green relied a bit much on the Fitzmagic to bail them out.

More jets: Colin Kaepernick isn't a realistic option for Jets

Most frustrating is that with rumors flying around about Colin Kaepernick or Geno Smith fighting for the starting spot in training camp, the focus will land once again on the Jets’ quarterback situation.

General manager Mike Maccagnan had a fantastic first year in the front office, now it’s time to see if he can really solidify a true championship caliber defense. Defense cannot be the Jets “silver lining” anymore. It has to be top priority.