Things are quickly falling apart for the Jets, a team that looked very promising two weeks into the season. After losing a close game to the Bengals and throttling the Bills, New York has spiraled, getting embarrassed by the Chiefs, Seahawks and Steelers in succession.
Wide receiver Brandon Marshall isn't worried, however. In fact, he's confident, proclaiming after Sunday's 31-13 loss that New York is in a "perfect position."
"This is a perfect position for us,'' Marshall said, via the New York Post. "We have great talent in this room. We're one of the most talented teams in the league. So, we can do one or two things -- we can fold it up and cry, or we can stick together and continue to work.
"I'm already over this loss. We're going to turn this around. I promise you that. Starting right now. I promise you that.''
The Jets looked like a team that could compete in the AFC East. Two weeks into the season, they were the second-best team in the division. Now they look like the second worst, and that's only because Miami is an absolute crater of offensive inefficiency.
The good news is the schedule gets a little easier (it can't get harder). The Jets play the Cardinals (away), Ravens (home), Browns (away), Dolphins (away) and Rams (home) before their Week 11 bye.
They've shown an ability to win football games with offense and to play strong defense, particularly on the defensive line. But 1-4 is a bad spot in the NFL. Marshall knows it, even if he won't let it sink his battleship.
"We're 1-4 and now is the time to stick together,'' he said. "We put ourselves in a hole. Our backs are against the wall. We just need to continue to have weeks like we did last week -- it was the best week [of practice] we've had in my two years of being here. That's what we need.
"A couple games ago, it was a time when we needed to look each other in the eye and get fiery and push each other, challenge each other, piss each other off. Now it's time for us stick together. We've got a lot of ball left. Everyone should be confident in the guys we still have in this locker room, the coaches.''
This is the ultimate catch-22 of sports, and the NFL in particular. Marshall can't say something like "well we stink I guess we'll just fold it up." Hyper-competitive humans aren't wired that way. He's got to keep trying and keep talking about how his team is trying.
They will try. They might succeed. But the reality is at 1-4 the odds are severely stacked against the Jets making it to the postseason, much less just hitting the 10-win total they saw a year ago.
