I have been pretty vocal in my thoughts and opinions in that I believe Noel has to go. I've marked my line in the sand. I'm trying not to be too repetitive but some days it's a bit difficult. I am an optimist and I have long been a Noel supporter and have been more than open to giving him the time and assets necessary to endure success, but this season, I'm just not seeing it. I'm just not seeing Claude Noel as the guy for the job here. It's time to change the tide and direction. With that said, as I've said all along, prove me wrong and I'll gladly eat my words.
As for our recent 4 games or so where we've shown solid effort, I'm not buying it. Maybe I am wrong, maybe they will prove me wrong, but we've seen this before. Both in the last 2 seasons we've went on losing skids, our play has been poor, we've had meetings, players have gotten pissed off, etc, etc, etc. Same song and dance with this team, different year. If the Jets can be consistent in their efforts, i'll begin believing again, but it's going to take a while for me to get to that state. The last few games have been more positive, but it's nothing this team hasn't shown before. Show me more, consistently, then i'll begin taking this team more seriously.
What happens first, coach being fired or trade? likely a trade or roster addition of some sort, is my guess. However, I don't think just a trade is enough to move this team forward because I still think Noel is a big part of the issue.
Our next 7 games are against some difficult teams, and I have a feeling this is a big 7 game test where we're going to see what this team and coach are made of. We play St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, SJ and Detroit. That will bring us to mid-November and we'll be at 20 games. I think this is the stretch that either keeps some jobs are we possibly make change, both in regards to Noel and the roster.
What do I think needs to happen? I think Noel has to go and I think Cheveldayoff finally, for the first time since getting the team, has to trade a core piece (logic says Dustin Byfuglien) in order to air out the house and change the culture, the feeling of the room, most of all - the identity of the team. What we're doing right now is not working, in my opinion, and truth be told I don't ever see it working.
Fire Noel, trade Byfuglien. New voice, new players, new feeling in the room --- new identity.