The NY Jets have gone from terrible to unwatchable in 2020

The NY Jets have officially gone from a terrible team to an unwatchable one.

NY Jets fans thought that things hit rock bottom in 1996 under Rich Kotite. But 24 years later, things seem much worse.

Please explain how an NFL team can play six games and have a -110 point differential? These Jets are so non-competitive, they are on pace for the worst differential in league history. They could be the worst team in NFL history.

Retired New York sports radio great Mike Francesa, who in 1996 experienced firsthand the disgrace of that 1-15 season, tweeted on Sunday: “The lowest level a team can sink to in pro sports is unwatchable. The Jets have arrived.”

Jets fans know better than anyone that top-tier draft whiffs reverberate for years. Not just in terms of roster depth and salary cap, but also the incredible wasted time, effort, research, and resources.

Relatively recent first-round picks in Dee Milliner, Calvin Pryor, and Darron Lee, second-round picks in Jace Amaro, Devin Smith, and Christian Hackenberg, and third-round picks in Dexter McDougle, Lorenzo Mauldin, and ArDarius Stewart no longer play pro football.

But the demise of John Idzik and Mike Maccagnan has not changed the direction of this franchise.

The NY Jets’ failures are a product of the current regime as much as the previous ones.

The feel-good of Joe Douglas’ “free pass” has expired. Sure, he received a healthy draft haul in the Jamal Adams trade and the recent swap of 34-year-old, soon-to-retire Steve McLendon.

But what was thinking behind saving a few shekels by replacing Robby Anderson (currently the NFL’s receiving leader with 566 yards) with the perennially injured Breshad Perriman?

So far, Douglas’  first draft has yielded a cornucopia of injured non-contributors. So if he can get so much as a late Day 3 pick for Avery Williamson, Pierre Desir, Henry Anderson, Ryan Griffin, or that struggling Chris Herndon (zero targets, zero receptions in Week 6), the GM must pounce.

Adam Gase, the “brilliant offensive mind” behind Christopher Johnson’s crumbling football operation, oversees an offense that shows no sign of progress.

He cut Le’Veon Bell ostensibly to take a long look at La’Mical Perine, yet handed the rookie back just one second-half carry. Gase’s receivers, be they flankers, tight ends, or running backs, lack blazing outside speed, but he refuses to throw over the middle.

This coach makes his discarded predecessor Todd Bowles looks like Vince Lombardi.

The “quarterback whisperer” got shut out by the worst team remaining on the Jets’ schedule. His vanilla play calling left Joe Flacco for dead, as the offensive line without Mekhi Becton, Chuma Edoga, or Alex Lewis fared worse than last year’s rejects.

There’s no physical push to the rushing attack and inadequate pass protection — while the complete mishandling of Becton’s ascending career borders on medical malpractice.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, once the driving force behind the Saints’ “Bountygate,”  has likely talked himself out of an interim coaching gig after taking a veiled shot at Gase’s offense.

As for Williams’ vaunted 2020 defense, the adage holds — those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Does all this mean that sixth-round rookie punter Braden Mann is this team’s most consistent on-field producer?

The most foreboding omen is that ownership shows no evidence of embarrassment regarding this complete morass. The Jets hired a head coach that nobody wanted and gave him the keys to the kingdom.

After this week’s game, Manish Mehta of the NY Daily News described Gase as “a malignant, duplicitous presence that trashes his players, coaches, and front office behind the scenes to shield himself from blame. A cancer to be removed right now.”

Where’s a good doctor when you need one?