Where's the Respect?

There's no question the Jets have grown tired of the naysayers and the lack of respect given in recent months.

So how did the team respond last night?

By walloping the Bengals 37-0 on national TV. On the biggest stage thus far in their season, the Jets didn’t disappoint. They not only embarrassed a somewhat depleted Cincinnati team, but they also had one of their best overall team performances of the year.

“Over the past few games, we got kind of pissed off on our side of the ball that nobody was recognizing who we were,” said defensive end Marques Douglas. “I said to the sideline reporter for NBC last night, ‘You guys have to start respecting us a little bit more because we have the No. 1 defense.'

"Granted, we don’t have some of the more recognizable names in the NFL, but we are the No. 1 group in the league. It’s not Baltimore, it’s not Pittsburgh, it’s the New York Jets. We’re kind of playing how I’ve played my whole career and that’s with a chip on our shoulders. We get tired of being overlooked, we get tired of being analyzed about what we don’t have. …Our whole thing is ‘when is the respect going to come?’ Last night, hopefully we got some of it.”

Said linebacker Calvin Pace: “For whatever reason, we're a team that everyody likes to hate. And that's fine. But we just gotta keep pushing. We’ve been the No. 1 defense for a few weeks, but that’s been one of our goals since OTAs, to be the backbone of the team. There was a lot of the outside talk about the jets couldn’t get to the playoffs, they couldn’t finish defensively. We hear it, we know where we’re ranked. [But] we play for one another. We listen to the outside influences but we still stick together."