New York Jets Fans Find Hope in Future QB Prospect on Lost Sundays

NEW YORK JETS FANS LOOK TO PROJECTED NUMBER ONE QB PROSPECT TREVOR LAWERENCE AMIDST WORST START IN FRANCHISE HISTORY

The most notable soundbite in New York Jets history is former coach Herman Edward's famous "You play to win the game speech" after reporters asked Edwards if their close defeat to Bill Belichick's New England Patriots be considered a moral victory. Edwards ripped into the reporter and reminded him that the coaches and players' only objective is to win the game in front of them.

However, this is not always the attitude of the fans rooting for the team.

In 1936, the NFL created The NFL Draft. The main rule being that the worst team from the previous season would have the first choice at any amateur player entering the league. This rule was invented to increase parity in the league and allow losing teams a shot to change their fortunes. This, in turn, created a new loophole for struggling teams to take advantage of.

That loophole has come to be known as "tanking". A team front office will get rid of their best players who don't provide long-term value to lose more games and acquire the top overall pick in the hopes that one star can change the team's fortunes.

This year the New York Jets appeared to have taken tanking to a new level. In a season doomed before it even started, the Jets star Safety Jamal Adams demanded a trade from the team because he believed they "didn't want to win." Adams was traded for two first-round picks from the Seattle Seahawks, and his absence allowed the team to struggle to an 0-13 start.

This left me wondering, did this precarious start cause Jets fans to lose hope or gain new hope at the promise of the number one overall pick?

In preparation for the 2021 NFL Draft, the top pick has all but been selected. Clemson's Junior Quarterback Trevor Lawerence has been hailed as the best prospect since his fellow Tennessee native Peyton Manning entered the league (Manning chose to play his senior season at Tennesse out of fear he may have been drafted to.... the New York Jets.)

Well, according to Google Trends, Jets fans couldn't help but dream of Trevor Lawerence dawning green and white.

This chart compares the amount of time "Trevor Lawerence" and "New York Jets" were googled at the same time. The peaks in both searches correlate almost precisely and happen to occur most on Sunday's, right around the time the Jets suffered another crushing defeat.

Even more predictable is the drop-off, the two trends part ways right around December 20th. Which is the day the New York Jets defeated the Los Angeles Rams and lost their pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

While Jets players and coaches celebrated the victory. The team's fans cried out in misery as the downtrodden franchise "played to win the game."

All over the internet, the Jets were slammed by football pundits for blowing their opportunity to grab Lawerence and even became the punchline of an SNL sketch written by one of their very own, Staten Island-born Jets fan Pete Davidson.

You’re watching Sportsmax. The network for REAL Jets fans. pic.twitter.com/Y5rGuZMLez

— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) December 13, 2020

Ultimately, time will tell whether or not Trevor Lawerence joins Dan Marino, Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick in the list of would-be Jets turned legends.

In the meantime, the New York Jets will move forward, hope welling up once again with the hiring of new head coach Robert Saleh who was hired on January 15th.