Jets can't afford to Coast now

Jets can't afford to Coast now
December 19
New York Daily News columnist Vic Ziegel
"Brett Favre repeats a question: "How confident am I that we'll be in the playoffs?"

You want the truth? "If we can play the way we have played in a lot of our games this year, you would say 'Yeah.'" The whole truth? "We have had a couple of games where you go, 'Well, if we play like that, I don't know.'"

It's okay, Brett, nobody knows. The Jets, who won five straight to become the darlings of the Power Rankers, will spend much of Friday heading in the wrong direction. West, where men are men and Jets become patsies.

It's no great secret that the Jets are a perfect 0-3 on the shores of the Pacific. Pretty crummy teams, at that. San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco - all are under .500. The playoffs will have to get along without them.

Sunday's game, against Seattle, 3-11, tied with Oakland for Worst of the West (WOW), is something close to a Hulk Hogan vs. Mini-Me matchup. The Hulksters are on the plane.

Coming into this season, the Seahawks had been in the playoffs five straight years, including one trip to the Super Bowl. This year, they haven't come in out of the rain. Lost five of their first six, and six of their next seven. They won a game last week against 2-12 St. Louis on a last-second field goal, with all of America watching anything else.

They do have an excuse. Their offensive line is known as The Five Backups. Their starting quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, has been out of action since halfway into the schedule. Thirty-five players, 15 starters, have missed a total of 135 games. Tackle Walter Jones broke a string of 180 consecutive starts. Linebacker Lofa Tatupu ended his streak at 55.

How much does it hurt? Let me count the ways: Ten knees, four shoulders, three backs, two calves, one groin, one ankle, one hamstring, one clavicle, one pec, one heel, one foot and ribs (same guy, fullback Leonard Weaver.)

Of course, a 3-12 record and a devastated roster is nothing comforting Eric Mangini. Is there a coach alive who ever said this one's a piece of cake?

This is Mangini's approach: "If you look at (Seattle's numbers) it says one thing. If you look at what they've been doing over the last month, especially the last month, it's totally different. The numbers are the numbers, but what's on tape is a much better indication of how they're playing.... Once you see what's on tape, it's very apparent."

A week before they whelmed St.Louis, when they were home against New England, Seattle took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter. The Patriots scored the winner with just under three minutes remaining. "And that was with a fourth-down conversion for a touchdown," Mangini pointed out."
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