Lifelong New York Jets Fan Mike Greenberg Eviscerates the Team in an Epic Rant: ‘I’ve Never Seen a Collection of People Who Have More to Be Ashamed of Seem Less Upset About It’
Things are not going well for the 2-7 New York Jets. They have the third-worst record in the league and have routinely gotten blown out by their opponents. While some of this is standard operating procedure for rebuilding organizations, don’t tell that to Jets fans. Gang Green diehards, like ESPN’s Mike Greenberg, are fed up with everything from the effort on the field to the coaching to the front office and ownership.
The lifelong Jets fan is sick and tired of the Jets’ losing ways. As such, Greenberg used his national platform to let the organization have it. The longtime radio and television host (and New York City native) let fly an epic rant on his Greeny radio show that absolutely crushed the organization from top to bottom, and it is something Jets fans and non-Jets fans alike should hear.
The New York Jets are one of the worst teams in the league in 2021
There was optimism coming into the new season after a 2-14 campaign that earned the New York Jets the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NFL draft.
Although some experts picked them to finish poorly once again, there were signs of life for Jets fans to point to that could signal optimism.
The Jets came into 2021 with a new coach, Robert Saleh. He offered relief from the much-maligned Adam Gase, who led the team in 2019 and 2020. They also had an exciting prospect at QB in Zach Wilson and two other highly-regarded first-round picks.
Despite the optimism, the Jets started the season 0-3. They then pulled off a miraculous overtime upset against the Tennessee Titans (who, in fairness, were missing A.J. Brown and Julio Jones).
That win didn’t jumpstart the Jets like fans hoped. They lost two straight games following their first victory, and, in the second, Wilson picked up a knee injury, and inexperienced backup Mike White took over.
White played shockingly well in his first game, throwing for over 400 yards, upsetting the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime, and earning a unique nickname from his teammate.
The good vibes didn’t last long, though. White got hurt during his second start on Thursday Night Football against the Indianapolis Colts, which the Colts won handily. Then, in start No. 3, the Buffalo Bills dismantled White and the Jets in MetLife Stadium 45-17.
That last lifeless loss is what set Jets fans, especially Mike Greenberg, off.
Mike Greenberg teed-off on his favorite team after a loss to the Buffalo Bills
Mike Greenberg, the longtime host of ESPN’s flagship morning radio show, Mike & Mike in the Morning, now hosts a mid-morning radio show called Greeny after his TV responsibilities hosting Get Up! are done.
After the ugly New York Jets’ loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Greenberg took to the airwaves despondent over the state of his boyhood football team.
Greenberg started his epic rant by declaring former coach Adam Gase the “biggest winner” of the Jets’ 2021 campaign:
I don’t even know what to say. The biggest winner of the entire Jets season is Adam Gase. Because it turns out Sam Darnold does stink, and the Jets have gotten much worse, much worse without Gase. The Jets have two wins, but they’re the worst team in the NFL. … They have been thoroughly non-competitive in five of them — thoroughly — and that’s actually giving them credit for being competitive in London against Atlanta, which I would argue they weren’t really. But both New England games, [against the Bills], the Indianapolis game, and the Denver game, five of the nine games — that’s more than half their games — it would’ve been just as competitive if they had not taken the field. … I’m embarrassed because they don’t seem to be. I’ve never seen a collection of people who have more to be ashamed of seem less upset about it.
Mike Greenberg on the New York Jets 2021 season
He then went after the New York coaching and front office power structure for what Greeny perceives as their complete lack of competence during the season and their handling of the quarterback situation.
Robert Saleh seems to have no inkling of how terrible his football team is. ‘It’s not good enough.’ It’s not good enough? It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen. They’re not playing. They’re not trying. They play with no heart, no life. … Mike White?! Come on. You drafted Zach Wilson to be the future of the franchise, and you put nothing around him to give him any chance to succeed, and the second things start going sideways, you bail on him? Publicly? The Jets have no idea what they’re doing, and they are way less than the sum of their parts. The general manager has done a terrible job — terrible — Joe Douglas has done a terrible job. Robert Saleh has done a terrible job. The coordinators, I don’t think they have any idea what they’re doing, and every single person is in over his head — every single person running it.
Mike Greenberg on the New York Jets GM and coaching staff
While Greenberg crushed GM Joe Douglas, head coach Robert Saleh, and the rest of the coaching staff, he saved his harshest words for the team.
Greenberg blames the Jets owners for the franchise’s overall incompetence
While Mike Greenberg thoroughly destroyed everyone on the football operations side of the organization, in the end, he placed the blame squarely on the owners of the team.
Woody Johnson, the great-grandson of Robert Wood Johnson — who founded the multinational conglomerate Johnson & Johnson with his brothers in 1886 — purchased the New York Jets with his brother, Chris Johnson, in 2000.
As Greenberg continued getting lathered up during his rant, he took direct aim at the sibling owners:
So, at the end of the day, the only people to blame for this are Johnson & Johnson. … Woody and Chris because they are the ones who put this thing together. They have put a collection of people together who have no idea what they’re doing and said, ‘Go figure this out, guys,’ and this is the result. And the fan base should be disgusted because [the Johnson’s] don’t seem to be.
Mike Greenberg on New York Jets owners Chris and Woody Johnson
After excoriating the owner, Greenberg further explained why he believes the Jets are the worst team in the NFL. To do so, he compared the Jets effort against the Bills to the effort of the now 0-8-1 Detroit Lions during their Week 10 tie with the Ben Roethlisberger-less Pittsburgh Steelers:
They play with less heart — Did you watch Detroit play yesterday? The Lions are scratching and clawing and kicking and calling timeouts in overtime and all of this stuff when they had almost no chance to win. But you know what? They’re trying. Do the Jets look like they’re trying?
Mike Greenberg comparing the New York Jets to the Detroit Lions
Greenberg finished with a flourish, summing up his overall feelings about the Jets franchise in 2021:
It’s the most embarrassing, terrible thing I can remember. The team is completely overmatched and have completely quit. And if the coach doesn’t recognize that, then this thing is going to get worse long before it gets better. And so now they’re going to bring their rookie quarterback in and say, ‘Oh, OK, get out there, Zach. Go be our savior.’ So, what they are is a collection of terrible ideas, led by people who have no idea what they’re doing. They’re underachieving, even for what little they have, and they look like they don’t care.
Miek Greenberg sums up his thoughts on the 2021 New York Jets
The native New Yorker finished with a sarcastic line, dripping with rancor, that only a true New Yorker could deliver. “Outside of that,” Greenberg concluded, “it’s going great.”
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