Crash-and-burn season

Holmes' critique of the Jets' offense and ugly antics down the stretch seemed to symbolize New York's crash-and-burn 2011 season, but the quarterback and wideout have talked on the phone, per ESPNNewYork.com, and plan to log face time during this critical offseason. Sanchez got matters off to a good start Tuesday.

If my intuition is right, the expression "crash-and burn" not only brings with it the landing phase of the flight but also whole linear sequence of it. But then again, it is not all that systematic and it is somewhat arbitrary in that some teams never take off and good teams keep flying even at the end of the regular season. And how about the Super Bowl winners? I wonder if they reached the goal and landed successfully or they are still up there like stars.