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The season began and ended in remarkably similar fashion for the New York Jets.
They were beaten on late field goals by Washington at the start and Miami at the finish. The losses bookended a 6-10 season that started unraveling before the first game.
Quarterback Chad Pennington broke his left wrist in the preseason game against the Giants, leaving the Jets in the hands of Vinny Testaverde, who turned 40 in November. Testaverde kept them in games, but New York dropped four straight, a hole from which it never escaped.
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The team was 2-4 when Pennington got back, and he engineered some impressive
victories, including a 27-24 overtime win in Oakland, where the Jets have had
so many problems, and consecutive victories over Jacksonville and Tennessee.
In the end, New York lost three of the last four games and Pennington was an inconsistent 4-5 in games he started.
Coach Herman Edwards took responsibility for the record.
``I didn't do a good enough job,'' he said. ``I have to do a better job.''
The losses at the start and finish were a microcosm of the Jets season. Seven of their 10 defeats were by a touchdown or less. A play here and there and the record could have been reversed.
Again, Edwards took the blame.
``We were unable to pull the trigger and make plays good enough to win games,'' he said. ``It falls on my shoulders. I'm the head guy. I've got to get a better handle on situations. We've got to find a way to make plays to win games when it's close like that.''
General manager Terry Bradway tried to ease the heat Edwards put on himself.
``It's more than the responsibility of the coach,'' he said. ``We'll do our homework to make sure the organization moves forward. We'll identify our needs and make every effort to improve those areas.''
There will be changes, starting at linebacker.
Mo Lewis played his 200th game in his 13th season on Sunday and is likely to be released. Marvin Jones is also on the bubble after 11 years. Rookie Victor Hobson showed promise and likely will get a starting job next season. Edwards also is toying with moving defensive end John Abraham, injured for much of this year but a two-time Pro Bowler, to outside linebacker.
Offensive coordinator Paul Hackett and defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell have been widely criticized. The offense often lacked imagination, although Pennington spoke out in defense of Hackett last week. None of the defensive players did that for Cottrell, who was fired on Tuesday.
Also fired were defensive backs coach Bill Bradley, defensive line coach Rubil Carter and defensive assistant David Merritt.
``At this point, we need to go in a different direction,'' Edwards said. ``Defensively, we needed to be a little better in some areas and we didn't show improvement.''
``People who criticize Paul Hackett have about a third-grade education in football,'' Pennington said Monday as he cleaned out his locker. ``He has a Masters.''
Pennington defended the Jets' offense.
``If it's not broke, don't fix it,'' he said. ``We need an oil change. We don't need to go haywire and get a new car. This year will make us better and paves the way for us to win a championship. Winning covers things up. Losing exposes things. We are exposed. We don't have to tear it up and start over.''
``Offensively, we're not as bad as some of you think. We did some good things as an offense. We didn't make the plays necessary to win.''
Curtis Martin rushed for over 1,300 yards, surpassing 1,000 yards for the ninth straight year, joining Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to accomplish that in the first nine years of a career.
He tried to be upbeat.
``There's always positives in a season,'' he said. ``This year, it's harder to find it. It's frustrating. For some reason or another, everything that could go wrong at the wrong time happened. Sometimes you've got to take steps backward to go forward. I know we have the pieces, the personality, the character to win.''
Martin said Pennington's injury took a lot out of the team.
``Anytime you lose a starter, no matter how good the backup is, it does deflate the tires a little until you find some momentum,'' he said.
The Jets never did find
that momentum.