No one ever wants to hear them, of course.
But sometimes excuses are legitimate and not simply a lazy alibi. Sometimes an excuse is a warranted reason for something not going right.
On the Jets’ way to 1-7, there were honest-to-goodness reasons for their struggles: new coaching staff, new offensive and defensive systems and a lot of new players.
And that was all before the starting quarterback was lost for three games because of mononucleosis, before one of their best defensive players was lost essentially for the year in the season opener and before the rebuilt offensive line began to crumble with a rash of injuries.
Excuses?
Call these things whatever you’d like, but they were tangible reasons for the struggles.
When you’re a fan of a perennially losing team — one that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2010 — you grow tired hearing about patience, progress and the process.
So, the last thing Jets fans wanted to hear was that, with the new coaching staff, new offensive and defensive systems and new players, it was going to take time.
But that’s exactly what it has taken for head coach Adam Gase and his coaching staff and system to take hold.
Losing quarterback Sam Darnold for three games to mono, losing marquee offseason acquisition, linebacker C.J. Mosley, for the season and rolling out a new offensive line combination every other week slowed that process.
Now, riding a three-game winning streak for the first time in three seasons and buoyed by Sunday’s 34-3 destruction of the favored Raiders in what was the team’s most complete performance under Gase, we are seeing results that back up that patience, progress and process.
“I hate that ‘trust the process’ saying,’’ linebacker Brandon Copeland said Sunday. “But it’s like anyone in any profession who walks into a new job: It takes some time to get used to where things are. Who you can talk to about what? Where’s the coffee machine? There’s an adjustment time. Of course, you wish there was no adjustment time. But it’s only natural that there will be some type of adjustment.
“Hopefully, we’ve gone through ours and will continue to grow together as a team.’’
That growing process continues Sunday with a dangerous game in Cincinnati against the 0-11 Bengals, who announced Monday that they’re going back to veteran Andy Dalton at quarterback.
Gase’s challenge this week is not allowing his players to get too full of themselves after three wins in a row with a winless team next on the schedule.
First of all, the Jets are 4-7 and have not exactly arrived anywhere yet. Secondly, they’ve already played a supporting role in this movie this season, losing to the then-winless Dolphins a month ago.
There is evidence, validated by Sunday’s win over Oakland, the Jets are finding themselves in Gase’s system and they’ll stay the course.
“With a new coaching staff, new GM and new players, you hope and wish that everything will connect right off the bat, but sometimes it takes a few games, sometimes it takes half a season,’’ center Jonotthan Harrison said.
“We’re growing, we’re meshing,’’ Copeland said. “We’re literally a bunch of guys working together to accomplish the mission, and when we’re all jelling, you can have a day like [Sunday against the Raiders].’’
Given how incredibly altered their roster is compared to what it was when the team broke training camp, the fact that the Jets are jelling at all is rather remarkable. The Jets have players who were not projected to be starters at the beginning of the season at center, both guard positions, tight end, receiver, both cornerbacks, both inside linebackers and at kicker.
“It was about guys staying on track and not getting frustrated when the result wasn’t there,’’ Gase said Monday. “There were a lot of moving pieces going on. I’m sure that was not fun for any of those guys, because every time they lined up there might be a different guy next to them.
“These guys did a good job of sticking with it, and the last three weeks they’ve kind of seen the benefit of them doing that.’’
It has all led to this on Sunday: An honest-to-goodness no-excuses game against a team they should beat if we’re to believe what we’ve seen the past three weeks is a positive result of patience, progress and the process.