Green Smoke

By Alasdair Mackay

Anyone who read my season review of 2023 will have seen my last comment was that “Jets fandom lasts forever”. Well, 2024 put that to the test in the worst way.

It’s always been a great source of pride that the Jets fan group at the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square is one of the biggest in there – only the Browns fans have us beat consistently. This season was always going to be challenging to maintain that level of support, given the sheer number of games that were moved to 1am kick offs in the middle of the working week; but we did okay. In fact, we did more than okay and, once again, I write the season review article feeling like we have grown as a fan-base, despite regressing hugely on the field.

It actually started okay, with three pre-season victories over the Commanders, the Panthers and the Giants. They were narrow victories, but we were still dusting the cobwebs off and plenty more was expected of this team – many were expecting 12+ wins. Steve, a dedicated member of the UK Jets group and a New Yorker who has fallen madly in love with Crystal Palace, had organised a big trip to a Millwall match just ahead of the regular season kick off. Another of our regulars, Scott, is a Millwall season ticket holder, so we were taking the opportunity to sit together as a group at a British “soccer” game with some of Steve’s friends who were visiting from the States. One of them was a 49ers fan, and I can remember walking to the ground in South London debating the likelihood of our week one opener being a dress rehearsal for a likely Super Bowl. It was undoubtedly our toughest game on paper.

Once the Monday night itself came about, we were roped off in a private 4th floor area of the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square—more of us were tuned in on the group chat with early starts at work the following morning preventing a bigger meetup. Those of us that made it out and those of us that stayed at home were all left feeling a bit flat after the game, which, in truth, the Jets never looked competitive in. We failed to stop the run all night and were well beaten in San Francisco.

I, Jon, and Lee had bigger things to consume us, however, as later that same week we left for the first annual Hippodrome Jets road trip. The destination was Nashville, Tennessee, and it was to be followed up with a home opener at the MetLife against the Patriots on Thursday Night Football.

I am not going to write too much about that trip, as it is detailed in another blog on GreenSmoke; but we came back re-energised, with the Jets 2-1 and coming off the back of a shellacking of the auld enemy—Rodgers looked superb; Lazard was catching TDs, and Robert Saleh was pumped up on the sideline.

Week 4—the Broncos. Rodgers owed them for leaving his coach’s name in their mouths; plus, they had a rookie QB. Surely this was going to be a routine victory! There is one extremely dedicated Broncos fan that has made the Hippodrome her Sunday night home, and I was looking forward to sitting near her—I wanted to mock their selection of Bo Nix and parade the brilliance of Aaron Rodgers in front of the fanbase that was paying Russell Wilson to play for another team. I left embarrassed. It was a bad game in the rain, where we missed several easy chances to take a crucial lead before losing in the last seconds. Rodgers sat with a towel over his face to hide from the shame, but the Hippodrome failed to provide me with a towel, so I had to ride the rollercoaster of abuse from the Broncos fan—well deserved.

That’s okay. Things would get better again in Week 5. Week 5 was the London game.

One of the best weeks of my sporting life—a walking tour of London sites with Jake Asman, a huge meet-up with Jets legends like Wayne Chrebet, bumping into CJ Mosley’s dad, and winning more tickets in the posh seats for the game itself. 400+ Jets fans in the Hippodrome Casino on a Saturday night, followed by 600 at the GangGreen UK tailgate on the Sunday. After the game, a tough defeat against a good Vikings team, the Jets were 2-3 and in need of something to get us going again while Jets fans made their way back to the Hippodrome for another post-game party. Less people showed up after the defeat (probably 200 of us), but there was still some positivity in the air. We had played a good team, and there were missed catches and bad calls that could have sent the result in a different direction had they gone the other way.

As the Jets left London for another year, the clown show rolled into Floram Park.

Before the next game, Robert Saleh was fired, and DC Jeff Ulbrich was appointed as temporary HC. It seemed drastic—a slow start for sure, but recoverable—it was only really the Broncos game that had been a disaster.

The next three games are a blur—I was away for work for some of it, but defeats to Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and New England all sort of roll into one in my mind, reflecting back. The headline—we were a bad team. Again. Rodgers was throwing picks, the defence still couldn’t stop the run, and the snap decision to change up the coaching staff mid-season now seemed bizarre and reactionary.

The Texans game provided two of the best catches I had ever seen in my life from the same player and highlighted that the roster was clearly good enough to put a run together, but from 3-6, a playoff run would have had to have been an all-timer.

Loss, loss, loss, loss.

The Cardinals defeat was the worst of that run, but the Seahawks felt worse. For reasons passing understanding at this point, we had quite a good turnout at the Hippodrome for that one. And we all watched as our old QB struggled and the Jets looked in control, before our new QB threw a pick to our old Defensive End, who ran 92 yards back into our end zone completely unchallenged. It was awful to watch—it felt like the moment that perfectly captured our season—a great opportunity spurned for absolutely no fathomable reason. Of course, Geno turned that momentum into a Seahawks victory, and by the end of the following week’s loss to Miami, we were 3-10. Season well and truly done. Time to start thinking about draft picks and what getting out of the Aaron Rodgers experiment would truly cost.

We went 2-2 in the last four, including a revenge-exacting victory over the Dolphins that ended their own thin playoff hopes. But it was a hollow victory in the most deflating season I can remember—and there have been a few. The Jets ended the season 5-12. Five wins. With that team. Super Bowl favourites for many professional pundits in the preseason amble—12 losses, two Head Coaches and not a single partridge in any of our pear trees.

So what now—do we give up? Just crawl under a rock and ignore football?

No chance—we are Jets fans. For better or worse. Or worse. Or worse. We are Jets fans.

In 2025 there will be another Hippodrome draft party, more off-season meet-ups, another Hippodrome Jets road trip to the States yet another London game with 500 strong parties all weekend, and plenty of game-day meet-ups for all the other games—regardless of who is under centre. Let’s show all these good-time Charlies and bandwagon Eagles and Chiefs fans exactly what supporting a team means. See you all at the Hippodrome very soon.