Bad Guys Finish First? New York Jets Embrace Villain Role in NFL Playoffs

January 18, 2011   ·   Dan Hanzus   ·   Jump to comments

In his book on the 1986 New York Mets "The Bad Guys Won!", author Jeff Pearlman told the story of a talented Mets team that put winning and self-adoration on equal footing.
From the manager, to the players, to the clubhouse attendants, the Mets exuded an obnoxious "Screw you, we're awesome" swagger that made them loved by their fans and sincerely detested by just about everybody else on the planet.
This probably included Bill Buckner.

I was thinking of that '86 Mets team as the Jets celebrated their unlikely win over the Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. I'm not sure if it was Braylon Edwards doing backflips at midfield or Bart Scott giving post-game interviews with an intensity that would make "Macho Man" Randy Savage blush, but the stunning 28-21 victory made one thing exceedingly clear: The Jets, like no NFL team in recent memory, have fully embraced the "bad guy" ideal.

Whether that's something to actually be proud of can be debated, but what's not ...

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