There haven’t been nearly as many bold predictions coming out of Jets camp this year, but that doesn’t mean the team has lost all its bravado after last year’s dismal finish.
Just listen to Jets tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson. Ferguson was a guest on the podcast of Dave Dameshek of NFL.com this week and he was asked whether he had any regrets about the way the 2010 AFC Championship Game loss to the Steelers unfolded. Ferguson tied in the 2011 season and said that he didn’t like to look back at the past when getting ready for a season.
“We’re gonna do some nice things this year,” Ferguson said. “The focus should be on what’s gonna happen this year, and what’s in our power to do. We have greatness written all over us. It’s just a matter of time.”
While full of confidence, this wouldn’t make even an extended edition of Rex Ryan’s greatest hits if the Jets coach were the one speaking the words. It doesn’t come close to the level Panthers center Ryan Kalil reached with his ad in the Charlotte Observer and we’ll likely be hearing a lot of the same from players on other teams in the optimistic days of training camp that are starting around the country.
Of course, Kalil and anyone else didn’t spend a lot of last year talking about the moon and the stars and then delivering nothing but a pile of mud during the season. If the greatness has again been written with invisible ink, Ferguson and his Jets teammates will be urged to tone things down even more heading into 2013.