Green Smoke

By Alasdair Mackay

So this isn’t your regular season review for the New York Jets 2023 football season—I am sure you have read plenty of those. Plus, there was nothing regular about the 2023 Jets season, let’s be honest. What started with great hope and expectation ended with a whimper.

No, this is a review of how our season went—a growing group of fans in London that bleed green and, no NFL fan could possibly argue otherwise, are genuine die-hards. Being a Jets fan is the definition of dying hard by now. We’ve been stuck in the longest playoff drought in history for multiple seasons and haven’t played a competitive Week 16 game since 2015. You know what? Let’s try not to talk about the football.

Monday September 11th 2023 – fresh from a Snoopy Bowl victory over the Giants and a 27-0 demolishing of the Panthers in pre-season – Aaron Rodgers sprinted onto the field at Metlife; a flag in his hand and a tear in his eye. In London, it was already 1 a.m. on September 12th, but the Hippodrome Jets had turned out in force to watch the rise of the sleeping giant we had so hopefully been trying to shake to life for a decade. 

And then… a slip and a stumble.

The rest of the night was a mixture of refreshing internet feeds to see if there was news and trying to focus on a game against a divisional rival that many considered to be our main threat for the AFC East title. By the end of the 4th quarter, the news from the sidelines was already in, but on the field, Xavier Gipson had us dancing on the stage and chanting in the streets. The 5 a.m. early risers around London’s Leicester Square awoke to the sound of “J-E-T-S” in what would turn out to be both our season highlight and our season lowlight.

The following weekend’s capitulation in Dallas didn’t mean much. None of us had the Jets to win that one. So by week 3 against the Patriots, we still had optimism—maybe, just maybe Zach could prove us all wrong.

A poker tournament at the Hippodrome meant we were relocated to a 4th floor balcony, but it was a typically strong turnout for the Jets faithful. And no Pats fans either. That was as good as it got. Just across the balcony from us, the Dolphins put up 70 points on Denver, and we had to walk past them on the way out.

Unlucky against the Chiefs in another late game moved in anticipation of Aaron Rodgers, the Jets sat at 1-3 by the time the die-hards convened for the annual London meet-up of all Jets UK fans. The location was a sports bar near Old Street. Jon won the raffle (of course); the Jets bought us pizza, and we sat with Laveranues Coles to watch Bryce Hall scoop up a loose ball and win the game for gang green. AVT limping off the field for another season-ending injury almost went unnoticed.

One week later, we were back in our spiritual home for the play of the season. An undrafted free agent from a year ago, Tony Adams, picked off the unbeaten Eagles, and Breece Hall finished them off to bring the Jets to 3-3. The victory over the Giants was underwhelming, almost breaking records for the most punts in a single game in NFL history. But there was still enough optimism for 5 or 6 of us to make it to the Hippodrome for Monday night football against the Chargers. Oh, what an awful night. Sitting in a cold outside area under a television with no volume and surrounded by 15 drunk American businessmen who thought we were Eagles fans on account of our green jerseys and their beer goggles. A repeat of the 5 a.m. chanting from Week 1 was not to be. We left for the night bus, all but knowing our season was doomed. And Zach was most definitely not the guy.

The less said about defeats in Las Vegas and Buffalo, the better. The Dolphins debacle needs to be addressed. We even had one of our regulars defect to Miami mid-game in that one. And there was the pick-six from hell that seemed to move in slow motion. Somehow, amidst it all, we found some positivity—dancing in the Hippodrome burlesque room after the game and season was well and truly cooked. At least, as Jets fans, we have each other, and our defector was back with us by the following week as well. 

Another loss, this time to the Falcons, saw optimism amongst the faithful dwindle to an almost unrecognisable low by the time the Texans came to town. And Zach Wilson showed up. For one half of football. The game was 0-0 at halftime. 0-0. Us English fans are used to scores like that, but for an NFL game, it was dire. The boredom was so intense, in fact, that the six of us still standing as the players came out for the second half decided to do an impromptu Hippo-Jets podcast episode for the third quarter. Recorded forever, then, are the reactions to 2 TDs (and a lot of background noise). A surprise win for the Jets kept them technically relevant ahead of the second Dolphins game of the season. 

That was scheduled as our Christmas party. We all met at the Hippodrome early. Most of us ordered fish and chips (squish the fish), and all of us high-fived at the news of Tyreek Hill’s injury—a win here would keep us in the conversation at least. 30-0. Same old Jets.

The Commanders win only served to hurt our draft stock, and a defeat to the Browns only served to show us what we could have had in Cleveland’s backup, Joe Flacco, released from the Jets in 2022 and leading the Browns to the playoffs in 2023.

So why, then, did we still outnumber all other fan groups for the dead-rubber against New England in Week 17? Why did we convince Super Bowl champion Shaun Gayle to don a Jets hoodie and join us for a group photo? Why? Because we are in this together. We groaned together when we saw the replay of our fourth offensive snap of the season. We chanted together a few short hours later. We stood open-mouthed together with every missed tackle against Miami, and we laughed together as Bill trudged off the field as a loser for one last time.

Next season, we will be together too. In fact, we will be together before that—on chat groups and podcasts; at draft parties; and at summer meet-ups to watch the Blitz. The Jets 2023 season may well have been over after four snaps, but Jets fandom lasts forever. See you all at the Hippodrome in 2024!