THE unraveling of Herman Edwards is going to be a sad thing to witness. It may not come today, or even next week or next month, but if you know the Jets, you know it is coming.
By all accounts, the new Jets coach is a man of unimpeachable character and seemingly limitless optimism. All of that is about to change, because it always does.
Herman Edwards, the quintessential right-place/right-time guy, is now most definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Ask Al Groh or Bill Parcells or Bill Belichick or Rich Kotite or Pete Carroll or Bruce Coslet. And that just covers the 1990s.
In their own special way, the Jets are the most consistent franchise in the history of sports.
Players come and go, ownership changes, coaching staffs are hired, fired and re-hired, but the bottom line remains the same. The Jets are consistently bad, consistently disappointing, consistently astonishing in their capacity to find ever more entertaining ways in which to lose.
And as rough as they are on their fans, they are even worse on their coaches.
You know those old pictures of Abraham Lincoln that show the terrible toll the Civil War took on him, how he looked like he had aged 20 years for each of his five years in the White House? The same thing happens to Jets coaches.
In fact, a few more games like yesterday’s and Herman Edwards will start to look like Abraham Lincoln.
Historically, the Jets chew up their coaches the way a war chews up the infantrymen. The Jets took their first bite out of Herman Edwards yesterday with their 45-24 loss to the Colts in their season opener.
“It’s only one game,” he said. “I’m not gonna let one game disrupt the 15 we still have to play.”
Clearly, he has no idea of the horrors that await him.
During training camp, Edwards was so immersed in his task he slept just five hours a night. Now that he has actually seen his new team play, he’ll be lucky to sleep at all.
“I don’t even think this is a test for Herman,” Curtis Martin said. “He’s a man of strong character. I don’t think this will even budge Herman.”
Forgive Martin his boyish enthusiasm. He is still relatively new here.
The Jets already have ruined men of great character and men of no character. They scared Belichick away before he even took the job. They reduced Groh, a snarling Parcells clone the day he started, to a squeaking gerbil the day he left after one miserable season.
How long will it take for them to erode the confidence of Herman Edwards?
A lesser man, of course, would have had his faith shaken the moment that Marvin Jones intercepted Peyton Manning in the end zone – and then promptly fumbled the ball right back to Manning.
And if that didn’t do it, how about when Vinnny Testaverde collided with David Loverne, a 300-pound guard inserted into the Jets backfield as a decoy, and the ball popped into the hands of a 280-pound backup defensive end with the unlikely name of Chukie Nwokorie?
Nwokorie lugged it 97 yards for the back-breaking touchdown.
It took so long that people who were sitting in their seats when the play started were on the George Washington Bridge by the time Nwokorie scored.
Still, no Jet could stop him.
The play reminded some of Herman Edwards’ own career highlight, when as a member of the Eagles he took a fumbled handoff from Joe Pisarcik intended for Larry Csonka and went 37 yards for a game-winning touchdown against the Giants in 1979.
But when you are head coach of the New York Jets, plays like that don’t happen for you.
They happen to you.
“A game like this is not going to change how I feel about this football team,” Edwards said. “Remember, this was the first game, not the last one.”
Considering the history, Herman Edwards’ last game with the Jets is guaranteed to be a lot like his first.
SAME OLD JETS
Here are some other notorious Jet disasters.
Dec. 24, 2000: Jets blow 14-0 lead and playoff berth as Vinny Testaverde throws for 481 yards but three interceptions in 34-20 loss to eventual Super Bowl XXXV champion Ravens in Al Groh’s last game. Three huge plays (Chris McAllister’s 98-yard interception return for a TD and Jermaine Lewis’ 54-yard punt return and 89-yard punt return-both for scores) mark the demise.
Sept. 12, 1999: Testaverde ruptures Achilles tendon in home opener against Patriots. Stunned Jets never fully recover, starting the season 1-6 and finishing the Parcells era at 8-8 and out of the playoffs.
Jan. 17, 1999: Jets (six turnovers) blow 10-0 lead early in third quarter and lose 23-10 in AFC championship game in Denver. The worst comes when New York return man Dave Meggett has a mental block, failing to field a Denver kickoff. The Broncos not only recover the ball but reach the end zone on the ensuing drive, resulting in a 14-10 lead.
Dec. 21, 1997: Bill Parcells takes the ball from O’Donnell, and Ray Lucas and rookie Leon Johnson throw interceptions (the latter a halfback option into the end zone) in 13-10 loss to Lions in Silverdome to blow playoff berth on last Sunday of regular-season.
Dec. 1, 1996: Neil O’Donnell, ready to return from shoulder injury after six games, suffers torn calf muscle in pregame warmups for Oilers game at Giants Stadium and misses final four games of season.
Oct. 15, 1995: With only 26 seconds till halftime, backup QB Bubby Brister’s shovel pass is intercepted by the Panthers’ Sam Mills. The linebacker promptly returns it 36 yards for a touchdown and a 13-12 Carolina lead.
Nov. 27, 1994: Jets blow 24-6 third-quarter lead and Dan Marino’s Fake Spike TD pass beats Aaron Glenn for 28-24 Dolphins victory that marks beginning of end for Pete Carroll (five straight losses to end season) and leads Leon Hess to summon Rich Kotite.
Nov. 29, 1992: DE Dennis Byrd is partially paralyzed in freak collision with teammate Scott Mersereau against the Chiefs at Giants Stadium.
Jan. 3, 1987: The Joe Walton Jets go into a shell and blow a 20-10 lead with 4:14 left in regulation and a roughing-the-passer call on Mark Gastineau propels Browns to 23-20 divisional playoff victory in double overtime at the Dawg Pound.
Jan. 23, 1983: Todd throws five interceptions, three to linebacker A.J. Duhe, in infamous 14-0 AFC championship defeat at Mud Bowl (Orange Bowl) watered down by Don Shula.
Sept. 19, 1982: Joe Klecko is lost for 14 weeks after rupturing his patellar tendon in his knee against Patriots in Foxboro.
Dec. 27, 1981: Jets battle back from 24-0 deficit before Bill Simpson intercepts Richard Todd at the two-yard line in final seconds to secure 31-27 wild card victory.
