With the last loss that the Jets suffered, the season is pretty much over. In order to get to 10 wins, the team will have to win six of their final seven games. With a rookie quarterback, a rookie head coach, and a team that is seemingly snake bit, I don’t that it’s going to happen.

However, I’m not so sure that this season is the only issue the Jets face. With Mark Sanchez at the helm of this team, there is a misconception that this is a young team that is going to get better as their movie star-esque quarterback does. The problem is that the rest of the team around him isn’t nearly as young as him, and in fact, might be considered an aging experiment that isn’t really working.

In the backfield, Thomas Jones is a back running on borrowed time. He’s 31 years old and has has over 2,000 career carries. He’s going to inevitably break down in the coming season, and when it happen slowly. It’s going to look a lot like the train wreck that the Chargers are currently going through with LaDanian Tomlinson. He’s going to fall off a cliff. Behind him, you have Leon Washington who is going to be coming off a devastating leg injury that might effect him for the rest of the career, and Shonn Greene, who has some potential, but lacks big play ability.

At receiver, Braylon Edwards is a huge problem. It’s not just that he is dropping two point conversions that are costing the Jets games, it’s what going to happen after the Jets play their final game this year. Edwards is going to be a free agent after the season. He’s going to demand that kind of contract that a receiver like Andre Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald has. Is anyone crazy enough to think that Edwards has proven he’s in that tier of wide receivers, or has earned cash of that magnitude? If you give him that huge contract, and add his deal to the big free agent pay days that they gave too of players like Kris Jenkins, Calvin Pace, Damien Woody, not to mention the contract extension that they will have to give super cornerback Darelle Revis and the Jets find themselves in a situation where they may HAVE to keep Edwards, but will be crippling themselves for the future in the process.

As for the defense, the key to it remains the previously mentioned Jenkins. In the past two years, there has been two different Jet teams. When Jenkins is on the field, the defense has been as good as any in the league. He stuffs up the middle of the field and allows for the very average Jets linebacking corps to make plays. Not the mention the fact that he is one of the few 3-4 nose tackles in the league that can actually push the pocket and get sacks. The problem is that he just can’t stay healthy. In two seasons, he’s played at one hundred percent in roughly six games. The Jets also have not built quality depth behind him, meaning he can’t come off the field. What they have now is a 31 year old player who can’t stay healthy at a position where players break down quickly who is making 15 million dollars over the next three years.

Those are just a few players on the Jets that are going to be seeing their careers on the downswing over the next few years. Add an aging offensive line, and a linebacking corps that is expensive, but not very good and the Jets are not a team that is building something.

They are a team that might be in serious trouble.

Related articles by Zemanta

• After another loss, Jets’ Ryan says, ‘It’s on me’ (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Why Defeat to the Buffalo Bills Could Define the New York Jets’ Season (bleacherreport.com)
• Can The New York Jets Accomodate The Loss of Jenkins (bleacherreport.com)