Jets and Redskins should agree to a gentleman’s forfeit
By John Buhler
The New York Jets and the Washington Redskins don’t want to win this year, so they should agree to a gentleman’s forfeit to save themselves from themselves.
What happens when you can’t have nice things? You devolve into being heaping piles of dysfunctional mess like the New York Jets and the Washington Redskins. If you ever put your faith in the Jets or Redskins to do things correctly for an extended stretch, you’re bound to be more disappointed than when Indianapolis Colts fans found out Andrew Luck was going to retire.
No, neither the Jets or Redskins have mangled their quarterback like the Colts did with Luck yet. But Sam Darnold is looking more like Mark Sanchez than “Broadway Joe” Namath by the second. It’s not his fault, it’s the USC Trojan quarterback in him, something not even 2002 Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer could ever fully overcome. Thanks a lot, Bengals, Raiders and Cardinals!
So word on the street is that Dwayne Haskins is going to start the rest of the way? Odds are that’s coming down from the ivory tower where Daniel Snyder hangs out with Bruce Allen to pound chicken wings and Coors Light and not answer the damn phone when somebody inquires about trading for Trent Williams. No wonder Jay Gruden couldn’t make it to January.
Between these two horrendous teams, their combined record is 3-15 with wins over the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins and New York Giants. Although they are not cuddly, stuffed-animal Cincinnati Bengals, these are two teams that have absolutely no interest in winning this year.
Bill Callahan, who couldn’t win at the University of Nebraska, is leading Washington in the interim. And the Jets brass had the audacity to give its full support of Adam Gase coaching Gang Green into the 2020s. If there was a day to listen to Mike Francesa this year, that would have been the day. New York will take that news about as well as James Dolan did seeing Charles Oakley at Madison Square Garden.
Okay, okay. We get it. The Jets and Redskins stink to high heaven. But unfortunately, they have to play a football game that counts in Landover, Maryland on Sunday afternoon that no one out of the Northeast Corridor should even think about tuning in for. They have to play, as that would take them one step closer to the finish line that has been the joyless slog of a football season. Or not?
What if there was a way that both teams could reach an agreement to not play on Sunday and achieve the same result that they both want? If the NFL will allow them to, can the Jets and Redskins just agree to a gentleman’s forfeit, both take their l’s and get on with their lives? A win only hurts both teams’ quest to not draft a quarterback in the top-five. They NEED Chase Young!
The only thing that these two teams should think about beating is the Bengals to the bottom of the NFL standings. With other competition in teams that need a long-term franchise quarterback in Cincinnati and Miami, the bottom of the barrel is about to get really interesting in the worst of ways. And you thought the NBA could tank…
And so it is, a gentleman’s forfeit! This is something that would help both parties, but can we even remotely trust the Jets and Redskins to do anything competent ever? The Jets have the New York stink on them and the Redskins are the only dumpster fire in the city of champions that is the nation’s capital. One of these two teams is going to drop the forfeit baton and screw this all up!
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If we had to put a betting line on the teams to botch the gentleman’s agreement, oh, let’s go with Washington -350 and New York +270. The reason we’ll pick Washington to orchestrate this most glorious gaffe is that Snyder and his minion of nepotism Allen will be up in that damn ivory tower pounding chicken wings and Coors Light and won’t answer the damn phone! Forfeiting is hard.