Could Ryan's Jets become Elite?

With a consistently good head coach and a promising quarterback the Jets could become one of the teams of the new decade....

     This Sunday's AFC championship game is probably every Patriots fans worst nightmare. I haven't decided whether I'm even going to watch it or not. Why would I? What do I have to be happy about when the game ends? It cannot possibly end in a good way. My ideal situation would pan out in an endless series of overtimes, leaving the NFL to force the Saints and Vikings into a rematch for the Super Bowl. Seeing as this situation is impossible , only one of two awful results could come from Sunday afternoon. One, Peyton Manning goes to the Super Bowl and inches closer to catching up to New England's three rings. Great! Or even worse. Two, the New York Jets pull an upset and appear in the biggest game of the year. A Jets loss next week wouldn't turn my frown upside down but it would at least turn it into a straight line of apathy. The Jets have to be the Pats' fiercest divisional rival. Their success is painful for Patriots fans not only because of the Boston vs. New York baggage but because the Gang Green have always served as New England's subordinate this decade. Actually, they've held that role for nearly every team for the last 33 years. However, their appearance in the AFC championship game appears to have signaled their sudden break into the NFL's best. This season, at least. The main question is, win or lose Sunday, can the Jets keep their recent success going into the coming years? 

     My answer is, unfortunately, "Yes". Looking at Rex Ryan's Baltimore resume he's been consistently successful. As the Ravens' defensive coordinator his defense ranked 5th, 1st, 6th, and 2nd from '05-'08 respectively. Though Baltimore's overall records were inconsistent, jumping from 2nd in the NFL in '06 to 25th in '07, the case could be made that this wasn't Ryan's fault. He held up his end. Confirming this is the fact that he retained his position in '08 after the entire coaching staff was fired. When the Ravens struggled it was mostly due to inconsistencies on the offensive side of the ball. Something that has been apparent this year for Ryan's new team, the Jets. Though Mark Sanchez has been incredibly careless with the ball, ranking 2nd in the NFL for interceptions thrown with 20, he has also drawn considerable praise from NFL analysts. It should be noted that Peyton Manning threw 28 interceptions in his rookie season. Adding to his resume, Sanchez won the first three games of his career and three straight rookie of the week awards. Despite his ailments, Sanchez has shown considerable potential and has plenty of opportunities to grow behind the Jets' dominant rushing attack. Moving forward, I see the Jets reclaiming their success from the Namath era and becoming a legitimate yearly contender for the AFC East title.