Jets can look at 1992 Chargers for 0-3 comeback blueprint
Jets wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson during an OTA practice in Florham Park, N.J., on June 4, 2024. Credit: Ed Murray
The 1992 Chargers are a beacon of hope for NFL teams that start slowly, still the only team with an 0-4 record that went on to qualify for the postseason.
The Jets are not quite there yet, but at 0-3, they are teetering on the brink of irrelevance and need a victory over the 0-3 Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night.
Fortunately, they have a handy representative of that long-ago San Diego team to guide them.
That would be wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson, who played the position for those Chargers when he was a 23-year-old second-year pro.
Jefferson said on Friday he has shared that experience with current players, all but two of whom — Nick Folk and Tyrod Taylor — were not born at the time.
“It’s crazy the things you go through in life, and you never think that they’re going to come up,” Jefferson said. “But by me being in a situation like that, I can relate to it and say, ‘Hey guys, I remember when I was there.’
“One thing I tell the guys is this game is a game of attrition . . . That’s the thing about our team, our brand. Our brand is we’re going to keep pounding and we’re going to keep coming at you. And we believe it’s going to break for us someday.”
Monday would be a good day for it. The Jets have suffered two two-point losses under Aaron Glenn, but the first-year coach could use a victory to back up his message.
The Jets do have back their starting quarterback, Justin Fields, who missed last week’s loss to the Buccaneers because of a concussion. He said on Saturday that he still was experiencing symptoms as recently as last Monday, but the NFL cleared him Friday to play.
Fields played well in an opening day loss to the Steelers but poorly in Week 2 against the Bills. This should be a fair test of the state of the offense.
On defense, the Jets will encounter one of the league’s fastest offensive arrays, led by receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and running back De’Von Achane.
“We feel we’re close,” Garrett Wilson said. “The reality of it is that’s where we were. We’re 0-3. We have to find a way to get over that hump.”
Those 1992 Chargers went 10-1 after their poor start, won a wild-card game, then lost to the Dolphins, 31-0, in the divisional round in the same stadium as Monday night’s game.
Dan Marino threw three touchdown passes for Miami. Jefferson had one catch for 10 yards for San Diego.
“If you play this game long enough, something like this will happen to you,” he said of the 0-3 start. “You stand and fight. Most people don’t realize their breakthrough, because the day before that breakthrough, they check out.
“We’re not doing that. That’s not what our brand is about. That’s not what our head coach is about. That’s not what this organization is about. So we’re going to keep pounding.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
