Is Jets’ start a reason to believe or a prelude to despair?

No one saw this coming.

The Jets are off to a 3-2 start against a difficult schedule and are giving their fans some hope they have not had in a while. It’s only October, but the Jets look like they could be ahead of schedule on the way to being a contender … unless this is all a mirage.

Jets fans have been fooled before. The last time they started 3-2 was 2017 and the team finished the year 5-11. The Jets started off 3-3 in 2018 on the way to 4-12. So, there’s a lot of football left.

That said, you can’t take away the good start. The Jets have three wins when most expected them to be worse through five games. The hard part is looking ahead and trying to figure out what this start means going forward. 

We’ll give it the optimistic view and then the pessimistic one.

Reasons to believe

1. The rookies have arrived much sooner than anticipated. We all knew the Jets did well in the draft with the three first-round picks — Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson and Jermaine Johnson — as well as second-round pick Breece Hall. But usually rookies take some time to adjust to the NFL before they can have a major impact.

Not these rookies.

Gardner and Hall led the way Sunday against the Dolphins and Wilson was a huge part of the win over the Browns. The rookies look legit and they are coming on fast. There could be some rookie moments ahead, but as Robert Saleh has said, the game does not look too big for them. The expectation is they will continue to get better, and that will be scary for Jets opponents.

2. This pass rush is for real. The Jets hit Dolphins quarterbacks 16 times on Sunday. It was just the second time in franchise history they had that high a number. Carl Lawson had seven quarterback hits on Sunday, a career-high. He is the only Jet to register seven hits in a single game since 2000 and is one of only 15 players in the NFL to have done so. John Franklin-Myers was right there with him, hitting the quarterback five times. Only the Browns’ Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney have also both had five quarterback hits in a game for a team over the last two years. 

The Jets are counting on the pass rush to get home to help out the secondary. Lawson looks like he is over his Achilles surgery from a year ago. If the pass rush continues to feast, the Jets defense will be tough to beat. 

3. Over his last five quarters, quarterback Zach Wilson has led eight scoring drives and had no turnovers. Wilson had a great fourth quarter against the Steelers and was efficient against the Dolphins on Sunday and did not force anything. The Jets are probably going to need Wilson to carry them for a game at some point, but right now they are winning with him being a game manager.

Reasons to be feel deceived

1. A game manager? The Jets drafted Wilson No. 2 overall to be a game manager? Yes, Wilson makes both lists here. While he has not turned the ball over in the last five quarters, Wilson did throw two interceptions against the Steelers before he turned it on in the fourth quarter. He was also just 8-of-24 before that terrific fourth quarter. 

We still have not seen THAT GAME from Wilson. He has yet to throw for 300 yards in a game or for three touchdowns. There are still questions about whether Wilson is the guy and until those are answered, it is hard to have faith in the Jets being true contenders. 

2. The NFL is a quarterback league and the Jets have beaten backup quarterbacks. A win is a win and you can’t diminish the three they have, but in this exercise we are trying to project how good the Jets can be based on what we have seen. It is hard to get excited about the Jets beating up on Dolphins third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson. The Jets have faced two rookies in their first game action over the last two weeks with Thompson and Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett, who replaced Mitch Trubisky at halftime. And while Jacoby Brissett has played well at times this season, he is going to the bench the minute Deshaun Watson returns. 

The Jets face some legitimate starting quarterbacks, starting with Aaron Rodgers on Sunday. If they beat up on him, there will be more reason to believe. 

3. The Jets have not played a complete game in any of their wins. The win in Cleveland was fluky. You can watch 100 football games and never see that again. The Browns mismanaging the clock. The breakdown in coverage. The onside kick. It ain’t happening again. A win is a win and the Jets got one there but it is not like the Jets played a terrific game. In Pittsburgh, the Jets did not play well late in the second quarter and into the third. They woke up in the fourth quarter and won the game. The Dolphins could have taken the lead if Jason Sanders makes a 54-yard field goal in the third quarter … with a third-string quarterback. He missed and the Jets played well in the fourth quarter again to turn a 19-17 game into 40-17.

Again, this is not to diminish the Jets’ 3-2 record. The Jets are making things happen late in games that they have failed to do for years. But there are reasons for optimism and reasons for pessimism looking ahead.

Jim Leonhard’s second act

When he was with the Jets, Jim Leonhard was like a coach on the field for Rex Ryan. So, it’s no surprise to see him now rising through the coaching ranks.

Leonhard, the former Jets safety, is the interim head coach at Wisconsin, his alma mater. The Badgers beat Northwestern 42-7 in Leonhard’s first game in charge. 

Ryan brought Leonhard to the Jets with him from the Ravens in 2009. He wanted to have someone on the back end to help teach his defense. Bart Scott filled a similar role at linebacker. Leonhard was always a smart player and kept the Jets defense in the right position. When he broke his leg in 2010, the Jets got trounced by the Patriots days later, 45-3, partially because the defense was lost without Leonhard. He was always an engaging guy to talk to in the locker room and you could tell how intelligent he was about football.

Here’s hoping Leonhard lands the permanent gig at Wisconsin.

Stat’s so

The Jets’ 40-17 win over the Dolphins on Sunday was a rare blowout win for the franchise. Here are the Jets’ largest margins of victory over the last decade (since 2013):