The Return

“Make today your day.”

That among other things is what Dennis Byrd told the Jets before last Sunday’s game against New England. Byrd was paralyzed during a game at the Meadowlands in 1992.

The week leading up to the rematch with the Patriots was highly emotional, full of trash talk and low blows. But it was the final piece of emotional talk that took the other route. You all know by now the story of Dennis Byrd’s uplifting speech to the Jets before that game Sunday. Braylon Edwards called it “the most inspirational speech of my life.”

After all the talk of feet, hair and hatred, things more closely associated with a tweenage girls’ sleepover than football, came these words of genuine meaning. Byrd told the team “I would trade anything in this world for one play.” The Jets took that to heart and played almost every play like it was their last, covering Patriots’ wide receivers for what felt like forever, plowing through the Patriots’ line and suddenly finding a pass rush that has been almost non-existent, carrying defenders into the end zone to get touchdowns rather than field goals.

Now here we are again. A little over 48 hours ‘til the penultimate moment comes again. Remembering back to last year at this same time, the feelings were different. They were no better or worse but different. These Jets seem different. Most have been here before now. Last year’s trip to the AFC Championship felt more like a whole lot of extra icing on the cake after a 9-7 finish that barely saw them reach the playoffs.

This time, the 11-5 Jets were in the playoff loop the whole way, despite not winning the division. They have gone through two legendary quarterbacks to get here. They defied every expert who thought a win over New England was impossible, shoved 45-3 in their faces and made 28-21 the score that really counts.

I said before this playoff run began that this road was murderer’s row to get to the Super Bowl. But the good thing is that there are no excuses if the Jets do make it. Nothing anyone can say to discount this team.

Now it all comes back to Pittsburgh, where the Jets just won for the first time ever in week 15. That win changed this season. Two weeks of disgusting football turned into a triumphant win over one of the AFC’s best.  It’s Pittsburgh, where the Jets suffered one of their most painful losses ever in the 2004 Divisional Playoffs. Pittsburgh, where a history of success and six rings resides.

It’s all on the line Sunday. For the second year in a row this special moment comes again. Rex Ryan has talked a lot of big bravado all season long but it is Dennis Byrd’s simple words that have meant the most. They are words we can all apply to our lives.

At the precipice of football’s biggest game, a worldwide spectacle, the Jets should again take heed to the message of Byrd, a man who struggles just to walk up the steps, who lost what he loves in an instant but still continues on today coaching football in Oklahoma. They should remember the importance of each singular moment. Make Sunday their day.

Murderer's Row

Peyton Manning. Tom Brady. Ben Roethlisberger.  Those are three Super Bowl winning, future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

The Colts, Patriots and Steelers. Those are the winners of the past seven AFC championships.

The Jets’ road to Dallas and backing up Rex Ryan’s big talk faces that murderer’s row. This isn’t last year. There’s no easy game in these playoffs for the Jets. There’s no Bengals, who the Jets crushed in Week 17, awaiting the next weekend in the Wild Card Round. There’s no potential Divisional round matchup with a team notorious for playoff chokes.

Instead, these playoffs see an AFC Championship rematch in the Wild Card round. If they get through that it’s off to Foxboro, a matchup with the moxie and legacy of Belichick and Brady.

And then finally, it could be a trip to Pittsburgh, Baltimore or (though highly unlikely) Kansas City just to get to the Big Game.

It’s not baseball or the ’27 Yanks but this is a murderer’s row just as imposing. And maybe it’s what the Jets need.

After a season that has at times seemed to be more populated with controversies than offensive touchdowns, the Jets have something to prove. They were the self-proclaimed favorites going into this season. At one point, they were atop the division and looking like they might back up all the hype. Maybe Ryan’s Jets were the AFC’s best, as he told us all offseason.

Then came week 13, Monday Night Football, 9-2 Jets vs. 9-2 Patriots. The night the Jets lost their swagger. In their most important game of the season, the Jets didn’t just lose. They got crushed, embarrassed in front of a national audience. That night the Patriots regained their mantra of NFL’s best and the Jets were once again relegated to second-class status.

In one game, everything changed. The Jets finished their season 2-2 and as the sixth seed. The Patriots finished theirs 4-0 and with home field throughout.

But none of that matters now. It’s up to the Jets to rediscover the gameplans that carried them a half away from a Super Bowl berth in Miami last season. It is possible. They showed it in Pittsburgh.

Murderer’s row is going to be a challenge.  Those quarterback legends loom large in the way. But at one point Tom Brady was the underdog against the Greatest Show on Turf, Peyton Manning was the great quarterback that couldn’t get it done in the big game and Ben Roethlisberger was just a byproduct of his run game and defense. You shed those labels, become a legend, by what you do in January and February. Now it’s Mark Sanchez’s turn, to build his playoff legend or have one of those dastardly labels.