The Jets have reportedly been chosen as the next franchise to appear on Hard Knocks, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. (A spokesperson for HBO declined to address the news when reached by email.) I’ll give you a minute to continue thinking what you are likely thinking (that this is a harbinger for some kind of disastrous, spectacular explosion of LOLJets content preceding a season of theatrical disappointment) before telling you that you might be wrong.
Yes, from the outside, there is some validity to the idea that Hard Knocks would represent another massive weight for the New York franchise to bear. The Jets transitioned from a two-year window of relevance and respectability under Rex Ryan into a cavern of disappointment, indifference and embarrassment. But like a lottery winner, their fortunes have once again changed dramatically and quickly. The butt of your collective jokes now possesses a Hall of Fame quarterback, and, simultaneously, the offensive and defensive rookies of the year. They are stepping onto an olympic racetrack after years of running Turkey Trots.
And, sure, our imagination naturally crafts the framework of the classic lottery winner’s story. The money is blown within weeks, and human nature returns the Jets to their unenviable place at the end of our punchlines. Aaron Rodgers flashes some passive aggression that is cited repeatedly. Visible factions form. The facade brittles and brakes. The internal chemistry devolves into something nuclear to the touch.
