The New York Jets may not be in the greatest spot right now at 3-6 in a tough AFC playoff race, but their former quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, believes they'll be in the postseason when it's all said and done. The Thursday Night Football analyst predicts the Jets will clinch the seventh seed with a 9-8 record.
“I say they get in at 9-8 at the seventh spot,” said Fitzpatrick in a one-on-one interview on behalf of his new show, Fitz & Whit, a Wave Sports + Entertainment Original. “Put me on the spot, hold me to it. I'll talk to you in eight or nine weeks.”
The Jets haven't been the prettiest team this season, firing head coach Robert Saleh after five games. Furthermore, New York went through a five-game losing streak — four of those losses were by one possession — before snapping that skid with a big win over the Houston Texans in Week 9 on Thursday Night Football.
However, they're still only two games behind the Denver Broncos for the final spot in the playoffs with eight games remaining.
“They can definitely make a run,” said Fitzpatrick, who played with and started for the Jets during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. “It depends on which team shows up in our Thursday night game against the Houston Texans, that team that showed up in the first half and that version of Aaron Rodgers will not make the playoffs. But then you go to the second half, that version of the Jets and that version of Aaron Rodgers can certainly make a run to the playoffs.”
Fitzpatrick does admit that it's going to be tough considering the Jets lost head-to-head tiebreakers against fellow AFC playoff contenders in the Pittsburgh Steelers and Broncos.
“It's going to be tough, in losing tiebreakers to Pittsburgh and Denver,” he said. “Those are going to be tough, but I do think they've got a chance. There's been so much turmoil there and they've just had so many ups and downs this season. Pointing back to that game that we had on Thursday night, sometimes that's all it takes.
“You need something good to happen to your football team in order to have that snowball effect and get it rolling,” Fitzpatrick continued. “It certainly felt like that in the second half. I'll be curious to see what they do this upcoming week to see if they can capture that momentum and continue to build on it.”
Ryan Fitzpatrick believes Aaron Rodgers will lead Jets to postseason
If there's a saving grace for New York, it's that six of their final eight opponents are against teams with sub.-500 records. The Jets have the fifth-easiest remaining strength of schedule of any team in the NFL and the second-easiest among the AFC playoff contenders, only behind the Indianapolis Colts.
Fitzpatrick argues that he still believes in Rodgers to lead the Jets to the playoffs.
“Even though they've struggled and obviously fired and demoted coaches, and there's been so much turmoil and turnover there this season, if they have to rely on Aaron Rodgers as the guy that gets them going into the playoffs, I still believe in Aaron Rodgers the football player,” said Fitzpatrick.
The former 17-year veteran quarterback says that Rodgers' “mind and arm” are still the same at the age of 40. Rodgers still ranks among the top 10 in many major passing categories, including seventh in passing touchdowns and passing yards.
“His mind and his arm are the same,” said Fitzpatrick of Rodgers. “His legs certainly are not and they're not going to get as many big plays from him scrambling around and throwing it down the field. But his mind and his arm are still the guy that won the four-time MVP. If they rely on him to be better and to get them to where they need to be — they've lost some games because he hasn't played great this year — then I expect him to continue to get better and better as the season goes on.”
It'll be interesting to see if the Jets can make a late-season run.
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