Dart’s Season is Over. Ours Isn’t.
Anyone who calls themselves a sports fan has experienced their fair share of agonizing defeats and borne witness to their favorite players suffering gruesome injuries. Despite my recent expertise in this field, Tuesday’s news that Jaxson Dart would undergo season-ending knee surgery hit me in a way I never could have anticipated.
Is this partially due to the fact that my imbecile of a GM assured me “he’s going to be okay” before parading him up and down the sideline like Weekend at Bernie’s? Sure. But this one stung particularly hard for a multitude of other reasons. I know it was only one week, but the victory over the Cowboys was the first actual indicator of true, sustainable success that this franchise has seen in over 15 years. Instead of being able to see this promising season through, we’re forced to spend the next 50 weeks debating whether or not that victory was a fluke, whether or not Dart is a franchise quarterback, whether or not we should draft his replacement, and whether or not John Harbaugh still has the coaching pedigree to weather this strong of a shitstorm.
This was supposed to be the year that made all of the suffering worth it. All the pieces were in place, the division was ripe for the taking, and instead of getting to experience the 18-week campaign to claim it, we got four fucking quarters.
As I sat on my bedroom floor, ignoring the slew of texts from friends and family and deleting all the social media apps from my phone, I, for the first time in my life, found myself contemplating, “Is this really worth it?” Why do I spend all of this time and energy hoping and praying for an outcome that very well may never come to fruition? Let’s save the $10.99 a month and cancel RedZone. Maybe spend my Sundays doing something productive. Perhaps finally take my wife pumpkin picking this fall.
But as Coach said Wednesday afternoon, “You feel like it’s the end of the world and then you wake up and the work’s not done. The world keeps spinning. The games keep getting played.”
Dart’s season might be over, but the team’s isn’t. We still have 15 games to play, and I intend on thoroughly enjoying the product we put on that field. I want to witness our young defensive pieces develop into franchise cornerstones. I want to see John Harbaugh close out games that we lead in the fourth quarter. I can’t wait to see Jameis sling the damn rock after we build a game plan that suits his skill set.
All of this starts when the ball gets kicked off Sunday against a pathetic Tennessee Titans team. I refuse to believe that game ends with Daboll and Saleh chest-bumping on the sideline. Those two putzes caused more than their fair share of pain and suffering around these parts. It’s time for this team to return the favor and punish them.
I’m not naïve to the fact that the ceiling of this season has been lowered, but listening to Jameis speak this week has me fully confident that we’ll be able to pummel any opponent of this quality. He wasn’t his typical goofy self; he understood the gravity of the situation. He not only understands that this will likely be his final opportunity to lead a team throughout the entirety of a season, but he fully grasps the fact that this fanbase needs to be picked up off the mat.
On a rainy Sunday in the Meadowlands, this team will have us believing once more.
I guarantee it.
