Icelandair study reveals travel distance advantage doesn’t matter for Jets

A recent study done by airline provider Icelandair has indicated that despite their limited travel frequency, the New York Jets gain no advantage in the win column.

The New York Jets are a team that needs all the help they could get when it comes to winning games. The franchise is fresh off three consecutive seasons with five wins or fewer so they are desperately in search of any advantage they could find.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that that advantage is going to come from their cumulative travel distance.

Icelandic airline provider Icelandair recently did a study on the travel distance of every team in each of the five major U.S. sports leagues. To the dismay of fans looking for an excuse for their lowly teams, the study found no direct correlation between travel distance and winning percentage.

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This was especially true for the Jets who despite traveling the fourth-least distance out of any NFL team had an atrocious 25% winning percentage. As compared with the teams around them, the Jets had the lowest winning percentage by a good margin.

Two of the Jets division rivals had it pretty easy with their travel schedule as well, but it led to very varied results. The Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots were in the two spots directly above the Jets in terms of miles traveled but while the former finished with just six wins, the latter finished with 11 and went on to, of course, win the Super Bowl.

On the other hand, the Miami Dolphins traveled the seventh most miles with a whopping 18,532. This makes sense given their geographic isolation from the remainder of the division, but it’s hard to say that this had any impact on their final 7-9 record given the rest of the results.

The Jets are fresh off a disappointing 2018 campaign in which they finished 4-12. Although expectations weren’t particularly high, it’s safe to say that the team failed to meet any expectations that were placed on them. Rookie quarterback Sam Darnold struggled early in the season and issues with the coaching staff and just a lack of overall production led the Jets to their flop of a 2018 season.

The team is hoping for a better 2019 and with the No. 3 overall pick and almost $100 million in cap space, they will have ample opportunity to improve upon their record.

They just can’t hope for their travel schedule to bail them out.