Tailgate wisdom: Jets fans are wary but not yet speechless
Jets fans tailgate before a game against the Buffalo Bills at MetlLife Stadium on Monday. Credit: Errol Anderson
Paul Wisdom was one of the New York-based Jets fans who traveled to England to watch his team play last weekend.
“London was great,” the Manhattanite said of the trip he made with his brother Norman. “Tottenham was one of the nicest stadiums I’ve ever been to. The people there were very nice. The trip was fantastic. Everything was great until …”
Right. It’s the Jets.
“Until my man started throwing the ball to the other team,” Wisdom continued after the dramatic pause.
On Monday night, the Wisdom brothers were back in this metro area tailgating in Lot L at MetLife Stadium, getting ready to head in to watch the Jets take on the Bills, and reflecting on just how long this week has been for the franchise and the folks who cheer and wince with every decision. Paul joked that he had on his phone pictures that could very well be the last public moments captured of Robert Saleh as head coach of the team.
Under their tent and next to their gas grill, as well as throughout the asphalt expanse around the stadium and in countless living rooms and bars on Long Island, there were mixed feelings about all that transpired last week. The firing of Saleh last Tuesday morning was, of course, the biggest topic of discussion.
“We probably shouldn’t have gotten rid of Saleh so soon,” Wisdom said. “I thought he was doing a good job.”
Norvel Vann, his friend from Mount Vernon, piped up. He thought Saleh’s tenure had run its course.
“He didn’t have any emotion,” Vann complained. “When Rodgers threw an interception, he’d stand there stone-faced and wouldn’t say anything.”
“Well that’s because Rodgers is running the team,” Wisdom chimed back. “What is he going to say? They basically gave the team to this guy.”
A few rows of cars away, George Frouxides of Farmingdale was at his grill in front of the Jets-themed trailer he’s been parking in the same corner spot for years.
“The coaching change wasn’t necessary, but something was needed to wake them up,” he said. “I like [interim head coach Jeff] Ulbrich, I like the energy he brings. From the outside looking in, it looks like the players respect him and will play for him, kind of like a Rex Ryan type of coach that these guys would run through a wall for.”
George Frouxides of Farmingdale gets the grill ready at a tailgate before a game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium on Monday. Credit: Errol Anderson
As for Rodgers, Frouxides still believes in him despite the subpar play the past two games.
“We have a Hall of Fame quarterback, how could I not have faith?” he asked. “Listen, I have bad days. I’m 63 years old. I have more bad days than good days. Being a 40-year-old quarterback in the NFL, it happens.”
Frouxides, like many of the fans there on this night, was in the same place exactly 58 weeks earlier, eating and anticipating outside MetLife Stadium before the Jets hosted the Bills on Monday Night Football. The Jets won that game but it’s not what any of them remember.
“We didn’t know what happened,” Elaine Lanci of East Moriches said as she was setting up her grill and coolers of being at the game when Rodgers tore his Achilles. “People were texting and saying what was on TV, but we didn’t know what happened. We just saw him go off the field and go into the tent. It all happened so fast.”
Elaine Lanci of East Moriches shows off her Aaron Rodgers jersey before a game against the Buffalo Bills game at MetLife Stadium on Monday. Credit: Errol Anderson
Theresa Foote of Lynbrook was tailgating before that fateful game, too. She reflected on the year-plus between that feeling of anticipation and change for the Jets and this one and summed it up this way: “We haven’t gotten anywhere.”
Theresa and Tom Foote, sister and brother, are essentially the living yin and yang of the Jets fan experience. Theresa is skeptical, hardened by the decades of misery. She doesn’t think the Jets should have acquired Rodgers to begin with.
“We haven’t learned how to train our quarterbacks,” she said. “Zach [Wilson], Geno [Smith], Sam [Darnold]. I mean, come on. We had Brett Favre, he did nothing for us, went to Minnesota, and what happened?”
Tom Foote, meanwhile, is optimistic.
“I’m hopeful,” he said. “I’m hopeful for [Rodgers]. You can see that the guy wants to be here. He’s not giving up, unlike some of the other quarterbacks we’ve had. He wants to win.”
So, too, do the Jets fans. That may be their only universal agreement.
Will their wait be over soon? Many in the parking lots said this game would be a good barometer of that. A Jets win would tie them for first place in the AFC East. A loss would drop them further behind the Bills and the other teams jostling for very early wild-card positioning.
There were other things at stake, too, though.
“A lot is going to be hinging on this evening,” Frouxides said. “If we come out tied for first place, the drive home won’t feel so long.”
And if they don’t?
“I just hope the Yankee game doesn’t go extra innings,” he said in anticipation of the late-night trip through the Bronx. “Normally I can get home in about an hour. It could be up to 2 1/2. Pulling into my driveway at 2 in the morning is not going to make me a happy Jet fan if we lose.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.