A Lengthy History of New York Jets Fails

With the NFL season officially underway, and the first Sunday of the year upon us, teams across the league will finally be able to see where all the hard work they put in will take them. The playoffs? A division title? The Super Bowl, maybe? Anything can happen on any given Sunday, right? Unfortunately, for some other squads, hopes aren't always so high.

For some franchises, the season is basically over before it even begins. This is especially the case when you're the team starting a rookie quarterback; guided by a head coach burning up on the hot seat; and have managed to make headlines in all the wrong ways for the better part of the last 3 years. Yeah, you guessed it, we're talking about the New York Jets.

Ever since the 2011 season, when Mark Sanchez's shine officially began to wear off, and Rex Ryan could no longer back up his braggadocio, things have been bleak over at MetLife Stadium. The team is in disarray, leadership is shoddy, and the general direction of the franchise seems unclear. Of course, this is hardly anything new for the Jets. In their 40-plus year history, almost nothing has come easy for this oft-troubled franchise. Plagued by terrible draft picks, and even worse head coaches, the team has long distinguished itself as one of the laughingstocks of the league. And to give you an idea of just how bad it's been, we put together a Lengthy History of New York Jets Fails. Anyone else remember Ken O'Brien? Or how about Rich Kotite? As they say: it ain't easy being green.

RELATED: Badass or Jackass: The Rex Ryan Era New York Jets

Date: 1970 - 1979

There are a lot of reasons why people want to forget the 1970s: bellbottoms, disco and bad afros. But for Jets fans, the worst part of the decade largely centered around their favorite football team's complete and utter inability to win. The Jets failed to post a single winning season from 1970 to 1979, and it actually wasn't until 1981 (when the team went 10-5-1) that they were finally able to break through to the playoffs once again. A declining Broadway Joe Namath could never take the team to the heights he had once brought them to in the late '60s, and when runnning back John Riggins took off for Washington after the 1975 season, the franchise's fate for the latter half of the decade was sealed.

Date: 1976

Notre Dame may have a lot of love for their former head coach, Lou Holtz, but the Golden Domer homer will find none of that in the hearts of New York Jets faithful. Remember Bobby Petrino's infamous stint with the Atlanta Falcons a few years back? The one that lasted just 13 games and ended with him resigning via a form letter? Holtz was basically Bobby before Bobby was Bobby (minus the whole motorcycle sex scandal, that is).

Hired away from NC State after the 1975 season, Holtz would only coach 13 games for the Jets in 1976 before he resigned with one game left and a 3-10 record. And then he went on to coach-yes, you guessed it-the Arkansas Razorbacks the next season. In the long, long line of fails in Jets coaching history, Holtz is one of the worst.

Date: 12/9/1979

Have you heard of the Flying Lawn Mower incident? If your answer is "no," then the Jets and the NFL have done a good job covering this incident up. In December of 1979, an aerial group who claimed to fly anything and everything, including a lawn mower, did a demonstration during halftime of a Jets/Patriots game. As the flying lawn mower circled the Shea Stadium crowd, it stalled and landed near the third base field boxes, striking John Bowen, from Nashua, N.H. Bowen died only a week later.

Date: 4/26/1983

As you will come to find out, the New York Jets have made a ton of regrettable draft picks. But the one that may hurt Gang Green fans more than any other is what went down at the 1983 NFL Draft. The Jets had the 24th pick and they were looking to improve at the quarterback position, so they went after Division II's Ken O'Brien. The only problem with that selection isn't just the fact that they took a guy playing D-II football, but that they took O'Brien over Dan Marino. While O'Brien did post some decent numbers in his career, one thing remained clear: he wasn't Dan Marino and that probably killed Jets fans even more when they saw Marino flourishing in Dolphins colors.

Date: 1/10/1987

There's no question that defensive end Mark Gastineau was one of the best pass rushers to ever play the game, and is one of the Jets' most revered players in franchise history. However, he's also known for his role in one of the team's most painful losses ever: The divisional round playoff defeat they suffered against the Cleveland Browns during the 1986 playoffs. Allow us to set the scene: The Jets led 20-10 late in the fourth, and the Browns were looking at 2nd and 24 from their own 18-yard line. Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar threw an incomplete pass but Gastineau was called for a roughing the passer penalty that was dubious, at best.

Instead of having a 3rd and 24, the 15-yard penalty gave new life to Cleveland. From there, the Browns drove down the field to score and won the game in overtime after they tied it at the end of the fourth. The Jets wouldn't win another playoff game until 1998, well after Gastineau had hung up his cleats.

Date: 1990

When you're taking over as a new head coach, it's pretty important that you work on massaging the media a little bit in order to get some sort of positive spin going in the papers for your team. But telling the New York journos, off-the-record, that your QB is terrible? Well, you might need a lesson in PR. But when Bruce Coslet took over the team in 1990, that's exactly what he did, telling the assembled press that then-Jets quarterback Ken O'Brien "sucks," and that "You know [he] sucks. I know [he] sucks. Everyone knows [he] sucks." Okay, we got it, dude. Geez. Funnily enough, though, O'Brien would end up making the Pro Bowl in 1991, and led the team to their only playoff appearance during Coslet's tenure. Wasn't looking so bad then, was he, Bruce?

Date: 11/27/1994

Down 24-14 going into the 4th quarter, the Dolphins staged an incredible comeback which concluded with 'Fins quarterback Dan Marino faking a spiked ball for the game-winning touchdown from the Jets' 8-yard line with only 30 seconds left. The play still leaves a bad taste in the mouths of Jets fans everywhere. It probably doesn't help that the guy who staged the offensive comeback was the same player that Jets passed up on 11 years ago.

Date: 1/6/1995

When former New York Jets owner Leon Hess discussed the firing of head coach Pete Carroll with his team in 1995, he told them, "I'm 80 years old. I want results now. Not five years from now." So who did he bring in to get those results? Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach, Rich Kotite. And not only did Hess appoint him as the new head coach for New York, but he also made him general manager. It's safe to say that the move didn't work out quite like he was hoping.

Kotite went 4-28 in his two seasons at the helm, led the team to the worst record in the league each year, and ended up stepping down from his position after the 1996 season. He never coached in the NFL again. Meanwhile, Hess would end up passing away a few years later, at the age of 85, having never seen those much-desired results come to fruition. Funny to think that, in retrospect, getting fired that day was probably the best thing that ever happened to Pete Carroll.

Date: 4/22/1995

During the 1995 NFL Draft, the Jets were looking to plug in some holes in their roster. With Johnny Mitchell and Fred Baxter already on the squad, one of the last positions they needed to address was at tight end. However, there was a talented defensive lineman from the University of Miami named Warren Sapp still waiting for his name to be called. Instead of taking the best player available, the Jets too Kyle Brady with the ninth overall pick. Brady went on to be a mediocre tight end while Sapp was just inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. We don't need to tell you if that was a bad decision on Gang Green's end, right?

Date: 12/11/1995

It's pretty thankless work being a ball boy. Your Just spending your days shagging pigskins because you're such a huge fan of these guys that you'll do anything you can to get close to some of your heroes. So how world-shattering do you think it was for David Foscaldo—the unlucky Patriots ball boy who got slapped by then-Jets kicker Nick Lowery back in 1995? Granted, this ball boy was more like a "ball man" given that he was 20 years old at the time, but is there anything more degrading than getting smacked upside the head by a kicker? After Lowery claimed that the balls Foscaldo were giving him were "rock hard" and needed to be warmed up, he slapped him after Foscaldo responded with some lip.

Date: 1/4/2000

From 1997-1999, Bill Belichick worked as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator for the New York Jets under Bill Parcells. Prior to calling it quits, Parcells worked out a deal that would make Belichick the team's next head coach. The plan worked to perfection...for one day. That's because after only 24 hours as head coach of the Jets, Belichick got a change of heart and left in the most cold-blooded ways to ever leave a franchise.

On a sheet of paper, BB wrote "I resign as HC of the NYJ" and then used his introductory press conference to tell the media that he was resigning, citing "various uncertainties surrounding my position as it relates to the new ownership." Soon after, Belichick became the head coach of the New England Patriots. Jets fans called him an SOB but let's be honest, the guy just came to his senses.

Date: 10/30/2002

Just so we're all on the same page with this one: You play it to win. Hello?? Herm Edwards gets a lot of (deserved) flack for his intense, and often bombastic, personality on ESPN, but it's easy to see why the network hired him when he was known for crazy antics like this during his time as the head coach of the Jets. Honestly, though, Herm, just chill. Take a Ritalin, listen to some Enya or whatever. We just need you to take it down like three or four notches here, dude.

Date: 4/24/2005

Everyone knows that you don't take a kicker until later in the draft. But of course, with the 47th overall pick in the second round, the Jets selected kicker Mike Nugent. Now, if you're saying, "47th overall, that is not too bad." Let us rattle off a couple names or players who went after Nugent in that same draft: Vincent Jackson, Frank Gore, Justin Tuck. So, was it still "not too bad" now?

Date: 4/26/2008

Riding high off of setting the Ohio State record for sacks with 14.5 in 13 games, Vernon Gholston declared for the 2008 NFL Draft. So the Jets used their sixth overall pick on Gholston. Taking a defensive player is probably exactly what head coach Rex Ryan wanted, but Gholston was taken waaaaay too high. After three seasons with New York, Gholston was released. One of the most shocking stats during that three-year span: Over 600 players recorded at least one sack and Gholson was not one of them.

Date: 4/25/2009

With few quality quarterbacks available in the 2009 NFL Draft, Mark Sanchez decided to seize the moment and submit his name into the pool of eligible talent. In dire need of getting a franchise QB, the Jets had their eye on Sanchez and decided to make a huge push for him, even if it meant trading away nearly everything they had at the time.

In addition to their own players, Kenyon Coleman, Abram Elam and Brett Ratliff, Gang Green traded away their first and second round selections to the Browns, just to move up to the fifth spot to select Sanchez. It was a bold move on the Jets' part and one that the Jets regret immensely till this day.

Date: 11/6/2011

Before the "Buttfumble," we had "the Flinch." In 2011, when the Jets lined up in the Wildcat formation near the end of the 4th quarter during a November contest against the Bills, Sanchez was out at wide receiver. Bills defensive back Drayton Florence could smell the fear and absolutely clowns Sanchez. Then, Sanchez just makes it worse by trying to give some half-assed, pitiful block during the play. SMH. Just stop, Mark. You're embarassing yourself here, man.

Date: 3/9/2012

Giving a contract extension to your franchise quarterback is a necessary move for instilling some confidence in your lead signal-caller, and the team as a whole. But when your quarterback happens to be Mark Sanchez, then you might be better off thinking twice about handing him a three-year deal with $20M in guaranteed money. Especially when his career statistics up to that point have been middling, at best.

Yes, "Sanchize" helped get New York to back-to-back AFC Championship games in 2009 and 2010, respectively. However, after a season in which the Jets went 8-8 and failed to make the playoffs, it's hard to know what the the front office was thinking when they passed off the reins to such a young, and still unproven, commodity. You think they're regretting that deal now?

Date: March 21, 2012 - April 29, 2013

At the time, Mark Sanchez was struggling (what's new?), but the organization repeatedly said that they were invested in keeping Sanchez as their starter. They then bring in Tim Tebow to put to pressure on Mark. It was a move that Santonio Holmes said messed with Sanchez and rightfully so. Fans admired his work ethic and attitude, even if his skills weren't up to par with other NFL quarterbacks, and in due time, the Gang Green faithful were doing just what the Broncos fans did, they wanted Timmy Touchdown to be the starting quarterback. The Jets surprisingly stuck with Sanchez and used Tebow sparingly.

After only one season, TebowMania left New York and headed elsewhere. But, looking back at it all, the experiment was a complete and utter waste of time for the fans and even Tebow. With the way Sanchez looked last season, Tebow would've been an upgrade.

Date: 11/22/2012

It really doesn't matter what Mark Sanchez does from here on out. He will forever be tied to one of the most embarrassing plays in NFL history. In an absolute laugher of a game against the New England Patriots on Thanksgiving, Sanchez attempted to scramble out of the pocket when he got a whole face full of his own offensive lineman, causing the Sanchize to cough up the pigskin. The play was the icing on yet another struggle-filled season for Gang Green. Even though SportsCenter has decided to retire the buttfumble, it will live on in infamy in Sanchez's failed legacy.

Date: 11/25/2012

Depending on your point of view, you could easily look at this as more of a win for the Jets than a "fail." Yes, we know that Fireman Ed wasn't always the most popular superfan, even with his fellow Jets faithful, but you kind of have to consider it a loss for any team when even their own so-called "biggest fan" can no longer bring himself to cheer for the squad.

This dude lived and breathed Jets football for years but, alas, Ed reached the end of his rope last season, blaming the rude behavior of other Jets fans as the deciding factor. Hopefully Fireman Ed has moved on to bigger and better things but, whatever the case, we wish him luck in his new life. May he never have to experience another buttfumble or bad draft pick for the rest of his days.