Some of the best teams in the NFL have preached it for decades.
The New York Jets haven’t even come close to it in the last decade.
In the modern NFL, organizations tout their “process” to explain how good teams remain among the cream of the crop. Franchises like the Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, and Los Angeles Rams have used an analytical approach to integrate into their everyday football process to develop consistent winners.
A good “process” is something the Jets have lacked, though. They don’t always have a cohesive plan and are left scrambling when their original ideas fall through.
The clearest example of New York’s failed “process” came in January during their defensive coordinator search. Gang Green searched for weeks only to come to the conclusion that the best available play-caller on that side of the ball was their head coach.
Add in the fact that they made a shocking change at offensive coordinator very late in the process — resulting in them “parting ways” with Tanner Engstrand — and Jets fans have reason to be frustrated with the team’s failures across the board.
However, the New York Jets’ rocky process won’t automatically morph into a bad-looking end result on the field.
The Jets wound up in the right place
Is Aaron Glenn a better play-caller than Wink Martindale? Most people around the league would say yes, especially based on recent years.
Is Frank Reich’s experience as a play-caller better for what the Jets need right now on offense over an inexperienced one in Tanner Engstrand? Again, an argument could be made in the affirmative.
New York’s process throughout their coaching search has been a mess. No one will dispute that.
However, the end result is what really matters when rebuilding an NFL franchise. The “process” many contending teams talk about can be fixed once the coaching staff stabilizes things overall.
If the coaching decisions actually lead to improvement on the field, no Jets fan will care how many people were interviewed for the defensive coordinator role or how late the team changed offensive play-callers.
The end result would prove better than the “process” in that case.
It’s like taking a math test in school. Those who answered the problem correctly but did not show how they worked towards that answer, are they incorrect? Should points be deducted?
Of course not. The question was right in the end. Sometimes students can get lucky in cases like that, whereas in others a slow starter needs time to see the lightbulb flicker on.
The same can be said for the New York Jets.
At this point, process be damned. Aaron Glenn and company simply need to manufacture positive results. Period.
