It’s worth noting that at the time, they weren’t seen as a mediocre team per se. They had been one game from the Super Bowl 2 out of the last 3 years and a lot of people felt if their offense could just get together they might push over the edge. The defense fell down in 2011 but it seemed like a one year blip. So it felt more like the bottom falling out on a true “what if” team, since despite having guys like Mark Sanchez at QB they were one score from the Super Bowl. Rex Ryan was a hot commodity with a fiery personality who talked trash and beat Brady + Bill in the playoffs (which also made the butt fumble game some sweet revenge for some people). Stuff like that.