SI

Mike Greenberg Eviscerated His Beloved New York Jets After Fifth Straight Loss

Mike Greenberg calls his favorite teams one of the biggest failures in sports history.

Stephen Douglas

Mike Greenberg during happier times way back in September.
Mike Greenberg during happier times way back in September. / ESPN
In this story:

There was a time when Mike Greenberg was the most optimistic New York Jets fan on television. The Get Up host was smitten from the time the team acquired Rodgers during the 2023 offseason. Remember when Rodgers gifted him a special jersey during the quarterback's first training camp with the team? It was framed and proudly hung on the wall of the Get Up studio.

When someone replaced that jersey with a Brock Purdy one in September, he nearly had a breakdown, but he remained undeterred. After Rodgers threw for 281 yards and two touchdown passes against the New England Patriots in September, Greenberg ripped his shirt open to reveal the same jersey as he proclaimed Rodgers's performance against the Patriots "the single greatest performance of any Jet quarterback that we've ever had in my lifetime."

The Jets then lost three straight games, fired their coach and traded for Davante Adams which put the pep back in Greenberg's step as he unzipped his sweatshirt on The Pat McAfee Show to again reveal the Rodgers jersey and proclaim the Jets "back."

This was 12 days ago. Since then the Jets have lost both games with Adams, which makes it five straight loses for the Jets to fall to 2-6 and tie for the third-worst record in the NFL.

Proving he doesn't just completely overreact on the rare occasions when the Jets do something right, Greenberg went on Get Up this morning and proclaimed the team "one of the colossal failures in sports history."

"The New York Jets of 2024 are one of the colossal failures in sports history," said Greenberg. "When we talk about the true failure teams, people always go back to the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles who called themselves "the Dream Team," who by the way finished 8-8. This team isn't going to finish anywhere near 8-8. This is a team that went as all-in as any team ever has. And I can't say I thought it was the wrong thing to do. As it was happening I thought it was the right thing to do. So I guess I'm as guilty of this as anybody else."

It's good that he recognizes his own role in all this, but Greenberg really needs to take the hyperbole down a notch. This is one of the biggest failures in sports history? Just look around the NFL this season and there are plenty of teams that could fit that label.

The Carolina Panthers are in pretty bad shape. Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars are 2-6. Does anyone remember the Deshaun Watson-era Cleveland Browns of eight days ago? Or how about the Dallas Cowboys coming off another primetime loss? This Jets team being this bad doesn't make them special. Even in a negative way.

Let's just hope Greenberg has one more jersey reveal under his sports jacket if the Jets actually win another game this year.

More of the Latest Around the NFL

feed

Published |Modified
Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

Home/Media