Written by Mike Vaccaro at New York Post
You can use history as a crutch, of course, and sometimes that makes you feel better. It was around the middle of August this year, for instance when some Mets fans on social media began to notice the similarities between this year’s team and the 1973 club.
Both suffered massive amounts of injuries. Both were well behind the playoff leaders, with losing records. And yet both were still close enough that “just a little hot streak,” as Yogi Berra had said in ’73, “could get us right back in it.” And, funny thing: that’s exactly what happened. In 1973. And 2016.
“There’s definitely a strong ’73 vibe to all of this,” Howie Rose — who had lived ’73 as a fan, who called ’16 as the team’s radio voice — said in September.
Most times, of course, these things are simply life rafts for fans looking for a reason — looking for any reason — to stay interested and involved in a season that seems to be slipping away. So, yes: the story of last year’s Chiefs — who started the season 1-5, then won 10 games in a row to rescue themselves — may be of interest to the Jets.
So might the story of the 1970 Bengals, who actually started out 1-6, and still managed to make the playoffs that year thanks to an overly generous AFC Central Division and a season-ending seven-game winning streak. That was a team coach Paul Brown said survived on “guts, luck and a little bit of help from above.”
Not the preferred strategy for an NFL team.
The Jets can look to within for their own ethereal sign posts. This 1-4 team is hardly alone, after all. There have been 57 versions of the New York Jets (nee Titans) since 1960. This is the 30th of those teams that have been, at some point in a season, at least three games under .500. Two of the previous 29 have recovered to make the playoffs.
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