New York Jets' Losing Clinics Getting Old (Can anyone expect less)

New York

Everything aligned properly for the Jets when the game started.

The Falcons came to town knowing they were eliminated from the playoffs after the Cowboys' impressive performance against the Saints last night.

They had nothing to play for in this cold weather.

Teams tend to fold when they hear news like that.

Plus, the Falcons entered this game with the weather being cold, after a snowstorm last night at New Jersey.

The Jets loved their chances.

Then, the game started.

Falcons coach Mike Smith decided to start Matt Ryan in a game he didn't need to, and Ryan executed down the stretch that helped the Falcons earn an ugly 10-7 victory that basically ended the Jets' postseason hopes.

The Jets can only wish Mark Sanchez can grow up and do the things Ryan did out there.

If he does, maybe everyone would stop being cynical and feeling disappointed about the Jets.

It may happen one day or it may not. Time will tell.

Right now, it's tough to watch when a quarterback learns on the job. It leads to disastrous results, and that's what happened this afternoon.

Sanchez started off fine by throwing deep to the red zone in the first quarter, but after that, he struggled all day.

He threw three interceptions including the late interception that set up Ryan throwing the game-winning touchdown.

Talk about defense failing to finish, but it's hard to rip them. They played great all day.

They did their job. It came down to lack of offense and lack of execution by their reliable kicker in Jay Feely.

This sounds familiar, right?

It's just another day at the field where everyone expects bad things to happen when it comes to the Jets.

They saw this three times this year where the ending gets bad after what looked it was going to be a good day.

It's like watching a "Honeymooners" episode where Ralph Kramden thinks he knows what he is doing, yet everything backfires on him in the end.

With the Dolphins, Broncos and the Jaguars losing, this would have inched the Jets that much closer to a playoff spot, so it's inexcusable to see them put on a bad show.

This is nothing new, though.

The Jets pulled these stunts before. Heck, even Bill Parcells could not be immune from that.

The Jets needed to win their game against the mediocre Lions in Parcells' first season with the team.

A win would have put them in the playoffs, but, instead, Parcells decided to be selfish by using Leon Johnson at quarterback at times just to spite Neil O'Donnell.

The Jets eventually did not win the game, so the Jets did not make a playoff appearance in the 1997 season.

In Al Groh's lone season with the team, all the Jets needed to do is beat teams they should beat in the end, but Groh worked the team so hard that they worn down in December.

Pete Carroll never had any success either in his one-and-done season.

After a great start, the Jets fell apart after Dan Marino's spike in 1995.

Bruce Coslet's Jets choked a lot.

All the Jets needed to do was beat the Houston Oilers—that would have sealed a playoff spot. It didn't happen, and Coslet eventually was fired.

For Pete's sake, the Jets could not even win with Brett Favre as their quarterback last year.

One can make a case about how the Jets failed to finish the deal in the AFC Championship game against the Broncos in Parcells' second year, but let's leave that out since the Broncos were not going to be denied of losing at home in that game.

Notice the theme, though.

This team knows how to lose. Other teams expect the Jets to screw up all the time. It's no wonder why teams don't fear or respect the Jets.

It isn't going to change anytime soon.

Ryan talks about swagger and confidence, but it means nothing when they don't back it up.

This cynic wasn't fooled in Ryan's introductory press conference.

He heard it all from all these Jets coaches over the years—things will be different when they are introduced to the media for the first time.

Want to know when things are going to be different?

The day the Jets figure out how to end this type of predictable ending like today.