Not so fast.
There may not really be a team that can lay claim to that title, but it's certainly not the Jets. While wins are wins, the last two that the Jets have "earned" were all but delivered on a silver platter.
That doesn't make the Jets a bad team, but it does not make them great.
Against Detroit, the Jets were frantically driving to get into field-goal range to tie the game before the end of regulation. A short pass to LaDainian Tomlinson had them on the doorstep, and an idiotic late hit penalty on Julian Peterson set them up. After tying the game, Nick Folk kicked the game-winner in overtime, but he didn't even know the significance of his kick.
(New rule: If you're the kicker, and you don't know the rules, and you don't know that your kick will decide the game, then your kick doesn't count.)
This past Sunday, Folk didn't even get the chance to not understand the game scenario, as he spent most of his afternoon in Cleveland missing every field goal he could. From 48 yards, from 24 yards and from 47 yards, Folk's misses had the Jets in a close game against the Cleveland Browns.
The same Cleveland Browns who, behind a rookie quarterback, drove into field-goal range before Chansi Stuckey made the boneheaded decision to fight for more yards. He was stripped of the ball (for which the Jets and particularly Drew Coleman deserve credit), ending the Cleveland threat.
Yet, the Jets couldn't score, and the game seemed destined to end in a tie. Until the Jets won the game … on a Mark Sanchez interception.
On third-and-14 from the 46, Sanchez tossed a ball up for grabs near the goal line. Because he doesn't understand basic football concepts, Joe Haden intercepted the ball at the 3-yard line, thereby pinning the Browns deeper in their own territory than Jets punter Sam Weatherford could have dreamed of.
With 1:35 on the clock and two Jets timeouts remaining, the Browns needed to play for a tie. To do anything else would be just as idiotic as Peterson's late hit and just as unacceptable as Haden's interception. Of course, the Browns passed on first down. Incomplete. Clock stopped. Jets smell blood.
A 2-yard run and a sack that was nearly a safety later, and the Jets were ready to be handed another victory. And, after an 18-yard punt return, they wouldn't even need Folk, as Sanchez hit Santonio Holmes on a quick slant that turned into a 37-yard touchdown due to some horrific tackling.
Despite the fact that he threw an interception in overtime, Sanchez was praised by Sports Illustrated's Peter King on Monday morning, for taking "his place with the big quarterbacking boys."
"You've got to win the close games, and the road games," King wrote, "and Sanchez has done it two weeks in a row."
Well, no, not really. Tomlinson getting hit out of bounds with less than a minute on the clock did that. Multiple moronic mistakes by the Browns did it the next week. Even if Sanchez had posted the same exact stats in those two games and they turned out to be losses, the Jets would be 5-4 at this point, with all of New York yelling about how awful Sanchez is.
As it is, he's doing enough. He escaped pressure like a seasoned veteran in Cleveland, and the way he gutted through a calf injury was thoroughly impressive. But he's still only completing 54.7 percent of his passes, and he relies heavily on Tomlinson and tight end Dustin Keller, meaning he's a fine game manager but he's definitely not ready to join "the big quarterbacking boys."
Since the spring, we've had to hear from the Jets, who all weren't shy to say they thought they were the best team in the league. The boasting was more than just a little premature. Through 10 weeks of the NFL season, it still is.
Are the Jets really the best team in the NFL? Share your thoughts below.
