Thanksgiving Day. A juicy butterball turkey, friends and loved ones passing you the gravy, so much to be thankful for.
Except you are a Jets fan.
Are you supposed to be thankful for a third straight 3-7 start? A ninth straight turkey trot to nowhere?
You can be thankful Sam Darnold has recovered from his mononucleosis and his ghosts. You can be thankful Jamal Adams is becoming a shining star.
But really, what else? Who else?
How about a three-game winning streak?
Is that too much to ask?
After all your blind loyalty to your J-E-T-S! Jets ! Jets! Jets! All your suffering, all your torment, all your Januarys watching the Patriots and everybody else:
Is that too much to ask?
How about your Jets beating Jon Gruden and the Raiders on Sunday at MetLife Stadium instead of sad sacks like the Giants and Redskins, then ride a wave of momentum over the Bengals and Dolphins to a five-game winning streak that would get them to 6-7 before confronting wondrous Lamar Jackson and the swaggerlicious Ravens on a Thursday night in Baltimore?
How about getting Gruden to flash his scowling Chucky face in disgust early and often on the overhead video display boards?
“The season hasn’t been up to [fans’] expectations, but neither has it been up to our expectations, right?” Brandon Copeland told The Post. “The way that they hurt, imagine how we hurt. I hope that a three-game win streak would help them understand that these things take time and we’re moving in the right direction.”
These aren’t your father’s Raiders, or Al Davis’ Pride and Poise Raiders.
They’re the 6-4 Raiders and, resurrected as they might be by $100 million Gruden and GM Mike Mayock, they just might have one eye on their huge division showdown against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Kansas City on Dec. 1. Just might disavow the old cliché and take two games at a time.
With apologies to the late, great Mr. Davis:
Just win, win, win, Baby.
That won’t be Jack “They Call Me Assassin” Tatum lurking ominously in the secondary. That won’t be Fred Biletnikoff getting open or Cliff Branch going deep. That won’t be Willie Brown or Mike Haynes blanketing receivers. That won’t be Ben Davidson and his handlebar mustache terrorizing your Broadway Joe.
The Raiders offensive line is good and big, but that won’t be Ironman Jim Otto and Art Shell and Gene Upshaw imposing their will on any given game. Derek Carr has been revived, but that won’t be Ken Stabler or Jim Plunkett quarterbacking.
Josh Jacobs is an impressive rookie running back, but he isn’t Marcus Allen just yet. Tight end Darren Waller has emerged as a weapon, but no one would compare him to Dave Casper just yet.
No fan wants to believe his or her team is a turkey with Thanksgiving so near. Darnold (four touchdowns) is coming off a career day. Better late than never for him to take the second-year leap you were expecting when the season began, right? The yams will taste better, right?
Adams won’t record another three sacks, but defensive coordinator Gregg Williams sure knows how to deploy him as a disruptive weapon, doesn’t he? Williams has coordinated the NFL’s No. 1 run defense, and now let’s see if he can get Carr to see ghosts.
“I feel like a three-game winning streak would show them what we’re capable of,” linebacker Tarell Basham told The Post. “Show them the potential that we have here in this team. Fire them up, get ’em ready to see more of us winning games and to want to come to more games and better turnouts at the games. We’ve been to the lowest of lows this year, we had nowhere to go but up. Instead of just staying down and taking it, we stood up and we’ve been fighting to put points on the board, to have stops on defense, to win football games ultimately.”
The Jets’ last three-game winning streak came in 2017. Their last five-game winning streak came in 2015. A six-game winning streak would have meant a playoff berth, but Ryan Fitzpatrick kept throwing the ball to the Bills. Of course he did.
“The food’s gonna taste even better with a win,” linebacker Jordan Jenkins said, salivating over the prospect of his homemade chicken spaghetti, “but Jordan Jenkins is gonna eat good regardless.”
Just win, win, win, Baby.