The Jets got by without Chad Pennington, now, they're going to have to survive without John Abraham. Abraham didn't play in the second half of the win over the Texans on Sunday, and now will reportedly miss 2 to 3 weeks with a knee injury. All the Jets are saying is that Abraham will miss the Steelers game this week, but the Daily News says sources close to the team think Abraham will miss at least two weeks. So that's some bad news - here's the good news...the Jets have now allowed the fewest points in the NFL. Their defense has been very good - no we'll see if they can keep it up without Abraham. Actually, one last point on Abraham - now Bryan Thomas steps into the starting job for at least a few games, and he has played extremely well this season so far. He had a great game in Buffalo, which was overshadowed by the loss, and has played very well in the games he's been in. So I expect the Jets defense to keep it up.

A couple of other housekeeping issues - The Wife hit with Dallas Monday night, in what was quite possible the greatest game in a couple of years (too bad I was sleeping)...so she's now up to number 72 in the country. She moved up about 40 spots after a 10-6 week. Not bad. I guess that's it for the housekeeping. On to the e-mail:

"Dear JohnnyJets...

A couple questions on the same topic this week...

-Which is worse...the NFC or the NBA's Eastern Conference?

-If the Jets played in the NFC East, would they be 11-1?

-How do you feel about the possibility (likely possibility?) that a
7-9 will make the playoffs this year?

10-5 through Sunday's games,
Dave in Brighton"

Dave - congrats on the 10-5...nicely done. Too bad you're not number 72 in the country. Let's answer your questions...I don't know if the NFC is worse than the NBA's Eastern Conference. I would say the NFC is better, simply because people know it exists. I can't say the same about the NBA's East. Or West.

If the Jets were in the NFC East, they could be 11-1 - but they're the Jets..so there are no guarantees on any of these sorts of things. They could be 1-11, for all we know. Sorry I can't be more definitive...but the Jets are in the AFC East, and they're 9-3...I'm happy with that.

Finally, I haven't gone through remaining schedules for the NFC teams, but I think it's very likely a 7-9 team is making the playoffs in the NFC. At the most, the wild card team will be 8-8...and these teams are playing so poorly that 7-9 is more likely. Meanwhile, the Jets could go 13-3 (more likely 12-4 or 11-5), and barely win the wildcard.

One more thing - the Jets can clinch a playoff spot this weekend...if they win, Denver or someone lose, and the Chargers and Ravens win, I think. I'll try to get it straight....but the Jets need to beat the Steelers. That's the priority.

Jets 17, Dolphins 9

It sure wasn't pretty, but the Jets are now 3-0. Chad Pennington had one of the worst games of his career (THE worst, passing yards-wise), but the Jets are still 3-0. Santana Moss had just 17 yards receiving, but the Jets are still 3-0. Et cetera, et cetera.

The Jets looked like they played down to their competition on Sunday. My dad made a good point, saying maybe the bye week was at the wrong time, because the Jets were on a roll, then had to take a week off, and maybe had to shake off some rust. I'm going with that theory, and in that case, it's a good thing the Jets played the Dolphins, because they wouldn't have been able to win had they been playing a team that was good. Anywhere near good...which the Dolphins are not.

Here's the deal with Miami - their defense is still pretty good. So I'm not too dismayed by the fact that the Jets' offense wasn't great. But Curtis Martin still put up pretty good numbers, it was just the passing game that wasn't sharp. The defense played great against a very bad Miami offense, which was what was needed.

Jonathan Vilma started at middle linebacker, in place of Sam Cowart, and I'm pretty sure he had a good game. (I couldn't watch much of this game...but I saw the good parts.) Victor Hobson played well, and John Abraham was the pre-playoff-illness John Abraham of two seasons ago. Which is to say, John Abraham was dominant. So if nothing else, hopefully this game inflates some defensive egos with Buffalo coming to town next week.

Miami is 0-4 for the first time since 1966. Nice. The Jets are 3-0 for just the third time in franchise history. The Jets have not made the playoffs in any season in which they started 3-0. Nice history for this franchise, huh? Remember the last time the Jets went 3-0? 2000. Al Groh. The Jets started the season with wins on the road, I think, against Green Bay and Tampa Bay (I think that's right...I could look it up to make sure, but that would require some effort on my part, and I like my memory better.) That's also the season that ended in disaster...4 straight December losses when A win would have put the Jets in the postseason. One of those losses was to lowly Detroit, at home, in the Lions' last road win before this season started. So anyway, the Jets can go to 4-0 with a win next week at home against Buffalo for the first time since that 2000 season. And I guarantee - if the Jets go to 4-0 this season, they are making the playoffs. That's the johnnyjets guarantee (and those readers of johnnymets.blogspot.com know the johnnyjets guarantee is about as reliable as Browning Nagle with the game on the line).

Anyway, we're back on schedule - I've done the re-cap, which from now on will be posted on Monday (I had a paper to write Sunday night), and now it's time for the regular Tuesday posting - Mail Bag:

"Dear JohnnyJets,
Based on many hours of listening to former football players shout on Sunday morning television shows, it seems that there are two schools of thought in football.
One says a win is a win and you can only get 16 of them so take them how you get them, while the other says if you can't throttle a team in such disarray as the Dolphins, you'd better be worried about October football, not January football.
Where do you fall in evaluating Sunday's game?
Signed,
Taking The Points in Brighton."

Well, Brighton, first of all, let me say that I have learned a valuable lesson about watching football on Sundays. Don't watch the pregame shows. They all stink. They're not worth your time. Those of you who know me know that I have lots of trouble reading the Sunday paper. There's just too much of it to read. But I find that if I take those extra couple of hours on Sunday morning when the former football players are shouting at each other, between 11am and 1pm, I can really plow through at least 2 of the 17 sections that come each Sunday morning on my doorstep. So that's point number one. Those shows are horrible. Secondly, I am of the school of thought that a win is a win, and when you're a Jets fan, you are used to them not putting teams away, so even if they beat a supposedly bad team by "just" eight points, it still goes in the "W" column, and at the end of the day, you're still undefeated, so I'm very happy that they won. Pennington will play better the rest of the season - you have to look at it as, well, he's now got his worst game of the year under his belt, and the Jets still won. Things are going to get better. Wayne Chrebet probably put it best after Sunday's game. He said something to the effect of, "This team still isn't hitting on all cylinders. When we do, I don't want to be the team that has to play us."

Thanks for the positive thoughts, Wayne. Fireman Mark, if you want to write with reaction to the game in Miami, please send along your thoughts. I'll be attending this coming Sunday's game against Buffalo. And tomorrow, according to the schedule, we'll be taking a look around the AFC East, where it's either feast (3-0, 3-0), or famine (0-3, 0-4).