Tom Rock: Noisy week for the Jets, so why was everyone so quiet?

Friday was the anniversary of the greatest rallying cry in Jets history.

It was 24 years ago that Herm Edwards was asked, essentially, what there was to play for as his 2-5 team sunk in the standings. He delivered his incredulous reply.

“Hello? You play to win the game.”

It helped that 2002 team turn itself around, win seven of its next nine regular-season games and not only get into the postseason but win a playoff game.

Other sound bites and phrases have inspired other teams over the years, too. Everything from Joe Namath’s famous guarantee to Bart Scott’s “Can’t wait!” have become parts of the team lexicon. Even Rex Ryan instructing the players to get a gosh-darn snack on “Hard Knocks” had the oomph of a battle whoop when he delivered it.

Not all of them work. Unfortunately, the Jets seem to be a little imbalanced when it comes to their ratio of inspirational catchphrases and results. But that’s OK. Over the years, it has shown that they are passionate and that they care.

This year’s Jets, stuck with the same 2-5 record as Herm’s squad was, could use some of that same fire in their bellies.

Too bad they spent this week barely reacting to their predicament. No one got angry. No one was indignant about the team’s lack of success. Not even the aspersions cast by Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty, who essentially said the Jets’ defense would be a good cure for Las Vegas’ running woes, seemed to rile them up much.

Garrett Wilson showed some emotion on the field in last week’s loss to the Dolphins, which was great to see. He also gave some thoughtful responses to his outburst on Wednesday when he spoke with reporters about it and his role in the organization, but that was more about how he is being deployed and used (poorly, by the way) rather than the team as a whole.

In terms of outside noise, it’s been one of the loudest, messiest weeks the Jets have had in recent memory. It’s hard to imagine more heat being on coach Aaron Glenn and his lieutenants and players. The calls for replacements and dramatic changes have been unrelenting.

Yet the Jets themselves seem to weirdly be entrenched in business-as-usual mode.

When asked what he expects the reaction from Jets fans will be when the team takes the field at MetLife Stadium against the Raiders on Sunday, quarterback Geno Smith, who has been in the league and around here long enough to know it probably won’t be pretty, instead noted that the fans were “pretty loud” at the end of the last game.

Maybe he was confusing Jets fans with the Dolphins fans in the building. Or with Wilson. He was pretty loud, too.

At least Smith also noted that the Jets have to do their part in creating something of a positive vibe in the stands.

“We have to give them something to be pleased with,” he said, “so it comes down to us going out there, starting early, playing well and giving them a reason to cheer.”

Glenn said immediately after that latest loss that he couldn’t wait for the next game. “Sunday can’t get here fast enough for us,” he said.

And on Friday? He was still relying on the same sentiment.

“Sunday can’t get here quick enough,” he reiterated. “We’re excited about the opportunity, look forward to the competition, and the guys will be ready to play.”

Play to win the game? He didn’t say. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

The reality is that these Jets are beyond “must-win” games. They’re so deep in debt regarding good will and positivity that one victory over the Raiders isn’t going to fix them.

Given that the schedule after this week’s game includes games at Kansas City and home against the Bills, it’s hard to envision any kind of pushback toward respectability.

And the Chargers and Dolphins with their one combined win beyond that? The Jets already have shown that a poor record from an opponent means nothing to them. Those teams have their games against the Jets circled as potential life preservers just as much as the Jets do.

Maybe there is more spark and life behind the scenes. Surely someone must have the pride to be agitated. But the public image they projected this past week has been oddly muted.

If they play the way they’ve been acting, we may hope someone pushes the wrong button and “Heidi” takes the place of the broadcast of the end of this game.

Sorry, that’s a really dated reference. Ask your grandpa about it if you don’t get it. He’ll probably get more riled up about it than the current Jets are about their situation.

It’s almost as if these coaches and players are so focused on blocking out the hysteria that surrounds them that they aren’t acknowledging their own dire straits. It seems — in much the way Glenn is too busy calling the defensive plays to properly manage the rest of the game in those crunch-time moments he keeps stumbling through — that the big picture is fogged up by the attention paid to smaller, less important tasks.

They either are numb to losing or stubbornly tuned out to the point of blindness toward their reality.

When the Jets were at this point in 2002, Edwards said: “Hello?”

It feels as if these guys already are saying their goodbyes.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.