There is no place like home.
The Jets, who are 5-1 this season inside the confines of MetLife Stadium, aren’t finding the same success on the road.
In their first two seasons under head coach Rex Ryan, the Jets were 11-5 on the road in the regular season. It was still friendly skies for the Jets come playoff time as all six of their postseason games were on the road, posting a 4-2 mark.
The Jets have completely flipped that success this year — and then some — going 1-4 away from home.
“As far as being on the road, there’s no different mentality this year; we take it week by week. It’s a huge change [from last year]. I don’t know why,” right tackle Wayne Hunter said. “We’ve been inconsistent all year, home or on the road, so that’s been the major problem.”
There doesn’t seem to be an excuse for the Jets other than their road schedule has been brutal this season. Three of their losses — in Oakland, Baltimore and New England — came against teams currently at the top of their divisions.
“I give credit to the teams that beat us, but at the same time, we haven’t played Jets football. They might have been games on the road but we didn’t do ourselves any favors,” Hunter said. “We got outplayed in those game in two of the three phases. That’s not good enough at home or on the road.”
But with a game at FedEx Field on Sunday against the Redskins, the Jets have an opportunity to get their second road win of the season. Especially encouraging for them is that Washington is just 2-3 at home and has been badly outmuscled in several of their home losses. Even though the Redskins have lost three straight at home, the Jets are anticipating that their hosts won’t be hospitable.
“It’s a tough place to play,” Ryan said. “They play with a certain personality in their stadium.”
And no one on the Jets roster knows how difficult of a place Washington, D.C. can be to play than wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who made several visits to the nation’s capital while a member of the Giants. Redskins fans are loud and passionate, creating an intense and hostile environment.
“I know those guys pretty well, they’re going to come out fighting, especially playing at home and their fans are really into it,” Burress said. “It’s important for us to get off to a fast start, get into a groove.”
“It’s just on us. We’ve played in a lot of tough environments; we just need to get back to that way of playing [from last year],” fullback John Conner said. “I can’t understand it; I can’t explain it. It’s all about us — playing with confidence, playing as a team and trusting in our assignments. That’s what is important and we need to make sure we do that and get that swagger back.”
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