Tyler Conklin, Quinnen Williams thought Jets season would be different
For two veterans who have collectively been a part of 12 losing NFL seasons, this Jets season did feel different.
Both Tyler Conklin and Quinnen Williams didn’t visualize themselves with a 3-10 record and no playoff games ahead of them.
And it’s difficult to blame them.
They started out with a healthy Aaron Rodgers, who made it past four snaps this year after tearing his Achilles in the 2023 season opener.
Of course they believed this time would be different with the future Hall of Famer.
The Jets also brought in eight-time Pro Bowl tackle Tyron Smith and star edge rusher Haason Reddick.
They ended the Zach Wilson era.
They re-signed what was their reliable kicker in Greg Zuerlein.
Robert Saleh was set for his fourth full year with the Jets and was expected to not only have a winning season, but also help scheme up another league-best defensive group.
The pieces to initiate a turnaround were seemingly there but the season unfolded in disastrous fashion.
The Jets have lost their last four games, most recently a crushing 32-26 overtime loss to the Dolphins in Week 14 — the defeat officially eliminating them from playoff contention for the 14th straight season.
“You can’t go to the playoffs when you can’t win football games each and every week. I think the main thing is the main thing. Like you’ve got to win football games and we didn’t win enough to do that this year,” Williams told The Post after practice on Friday ahead of their Sunday matchup against the Jaguars.
“So, it’s going to be the same thing, like every year — going back to the drawing board and seeing what we did wrong. Seeing what I did wrong, especially what I can do right next year to help this organization. To help us get to where we want to go — the playoffs and eventually the Super Bowl.”
“I can’t say I did,” Conklin said to The Post about if he imagined the Jets being where they are ahead Week 15. “I don’t think anybody on this team — coaches, players — anybody expected to be in a situation where we are now. But, you know, that’s why you got to go out there and play football games on Sundays and it is what it is.”
The seventh-year tight end added that this year “stings a little bit more than normal” because of the expectations the Jets put on themselves.
What is maybe more frustrating for the Jets is that it seems there isn’t one game or moment to point at to help understand where things went wrong.
Rather, it’s seemingly more than one thing over time that led them to be tied for the second-worst record in the NFL alongside the Panthers, Patriots, Browns, and Titans — only above the lowly Giants and Raiders.
The Jets have also lost five games within three to six points this season — putting them as direct opposites of the Chiefs (12-1), who have proved to be escape artists in late-game situations, winning seven games under those same parameters.
“I can’t really put an exact finger on what went wrong,” Conklin said. “It wasn’t really an exact moment where something changed and it was like things aren’t good now. It’s an accumulation of things. We’ve had a lot of close games this year that haven’t gone our way. … So, it’s not being able to close out a win in those games definitely hurt us.”
“Just small things here and there,” Williams added. “Like a lot of times, the defense didn’t come to play. A lot of times the offense didn’t come to play. A lot of times special teams didn’t come to play. To win football games, to go to the next level, each and every position, each and every unit has to come to play. And to get to the ultimate goal, each person in the organization and in the team has to come to play each and every week … from top down.”
The final four games may just be the last Conklin sees with struggling New York, as he is set to become a free agent.
As for Williams, he has a contract through 2027 after signing a four-year, $96 million extension in July 2023, and he will be tasked to help lead the team to a turnaround in his seventh year with the Jets.