Despite their miraculous, jaw-dropping upset of Pittsburgh this past Sunday, the New York Jets remain a joke.

But, don’t try telling that to Head Coach Rex Ryan. He believes future opponents should fear his sad assemblage of talent. In fact, immediately after Sunday’s “big” win, Ryan said, “For people who count this team out, do so at your own peril.” That would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.

But, hold on Jets fans!

This two-part blog will NOT examine New York’s oh-so-many mistakes on the gridiron. Rather, we’ll be discussing off-the-field PR faux pas committed by the NFL’s version of “The gang that couldn’t shoot straight.”

In searching for the most egregious public relations SNAFU’S of the season I turned to Adam Giambattista, an uber Jets fan and fellow Peppercomm employee.

Adam provided me with six great examples. Here are the first three:

1.) Geno Smith. Actually not much more needs to be said than Geno Smith. The words have become synonymous with failure. But, Adam added this observation: “There seems to be no passion whatsoever when Geno sets foot on the field. After one especially atrocious loss, Smith came to life for the first time this season and ripped into booing fans by dropping the F-bomb. Adam noted that Smith is being paid $1.25 million per year to be one of only 32 NFL quarterbacks and should comport himself as a professional. True that.

2.) Michael Vick: he committed a most egregious faux pas after a 37-0 drubbing at the hands of the San Diego Chargers. Vick refused to share any blame for the debacle. Instead, he told reporters he hadn’t been prepared for the game and, to pour salt on the wound, said he hadn’t been paying ANY attention at all the previous five weeks. This is a veteran quarterback? Vick is earning four million dollars this season to, as he said, not pay attention. There ought to be a law.

3.) MovieGate: This one is priceless. The night before the Chargers contest, Geno Smith was a no-show for a critical pre-game strategy meeting. What was Geno’s excuse? He said he had been watching a movie because he’d mixed up the meeting and film times and, get this, his brain was still on East Coast time! One would think Geno’s handsome salary would afford him the opportunity to buy a watch.

But, wait, it gets better. When pressed by reporters to share the name of the film, Geno responded with a terse “No comment.” As Adam points out, he personally can easily name the last five movies he’s seen but Mr. Smith seems to have forgotten the one he’d viewed only 24 hours earlier. Attention Jets team trainers: That may be a symptom of early onset Alzheimer’s.

…..Feel free to call an audible and weigh-in on these three observations now. Or, if you prefer, wait until you read the complete set in the second installment.