I'm not interested in the reasoning of why the Jets lost to those bad teams. The point is Miami beat every bad team on their 08 schedule while the Jets lost to several in 09. You can't complain about the competition being better in 09 when they couldn't beat the bad teams they had on their schedule. If they handled their business against any one of 7-9 Miami (X2), 6-10 Buff, 7-9 Jax and 6-7 (at the time) ATl, then we wouldn't be talking about Indy giving them a much needed win to make the playoffs.
Miami only lost to Hou, AZ, Bal, NYJ, and NE that year. Not 1 team with a losing record.
What good teams did the 09 Jets beat? 9-7 Houston in week 1? (No playoffs) 10-6 NE in week 2 when Brady was coming off a serious knee injury? (Humiliated by Bal in the WC round) 9-7 Tennessee in week 3? (No playoffs) That's it. From there on out, they lost to a bunch of bad teams and won a few games against bad / average teams before Indy and Cincy took a knee to let them in the playoffs.
The Dolphins beating 11-5 NE, 9-7 Jets, 8-8 Den, and 8-8 SD are all comparable to the Jets wins.
Teams included in the last 6 weeks of the Dolphins schedule were 11-5 NE, 9-7 NYJ and 7-9 Buff. They lost to NE but beat everyone else. How is the Jets beating 8-8 Car, 7-9 Buff, 3-13 TB, and losing to Atl before 2 teams took a knee anymore impressive? Especially when they won a total of 9 games with the 2 gimmes.
Losing to Atl jumpstarted their run.

That was when Rex declared them mathematically eliminated from the playoff race right? That was also the last game they played agasint a team that would actually game plan and play with a desire to win right?
I also realize that Cincy knew they would be facing the Jets the very next week in the playoffs, so they didn't want to show much and the #1 goal was not to win the game, but to not get injured.
Again, I am not comparing the 09 Dolphins to the 09 Jets. Miami blew it in 09. Although, I wouldn't consider Houston, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh cakewalks to end the season. The Jets didn't have to play Pitt in 09. The Jets played Ten in week 3 when Kerry Collins was the QB. (15 of 37 for 170 yards 1 TD and 2 Ints) Miami played them when Vince Young was the QB. (14 of 27 for 236 yards 3 Tds and 1 Int) I'm not making excuses, but little things like that make a difference in close games.
I've said this a million times; it is very different when you face a good team that rest their starters and have no desire to win than it is to face bad teams with nothing to lose. No one wants to face those teams that want to play spoiler. Give me the good teams that have everything wrapped up, who will rest their starters and have no desire to win.
It is crazy that the Jets couldn't beat 7-9 Miami (X2), 6-10 Buff, 7-9 Jax and 6-7 (at the time) ATl, but managed to beat a team that was undefeated at the time. The same team that beat them up pretty good in the AFCC game a couple weeks later. :idk: I guess it was that loss to Atl that really turned things around for them.
So you would rather the Jets play at home against Indy in week 3 than to play them on the road in week 16 when they had everything wrapped up and would rest the starters with no desire to win? That is a crazy statement. If that had happened, the Jets wouldn't have made the playoffs.
The 09 NYJ legitimately beat ONE playoff bound team in week 3 who had a QB coming off a serious knee injury. That same 10-6 NE team lost to 7-9 Miami and 8-8 Den and got blown out by Bal in the WC round. The Jets were fortunate they were let in the playoffs and then faced a dead team walking in Cincy and then a team whose kicker would miss 3 FGs in a 3 point loss.
We will never agree on this, so it is ok to agree to disagree.