Jets Season Preview - Part 1

At the end of my previous post, It's the Hope That Kills You, But the Hope Will Never Die, I expressed the slightest amount of optimism about the Jets this year. Let's go game by game and see how optimistic I really am.

As a refresher, here are my thoughts on the 2026 squad.

The Jets brought back the now over-the-hill Geno Smith for a reunion — my fandom, apparently, is a flat circle. Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson remain. Mitchell, a throw-in on the Sauce Gardner trade, looks like he could be a real WR. Kenyon Sadiq, picked with one of the 1st rounders the Colts gave up in the aforementioned trade, may be the rare 1st round TE to pan out. The O-line should be good, after years of spending high draft picks on it. The D-line has been revamped, including the 2nd overall pick David Bailey. Another member of that 2013 team, the ageless wonder Demario Davis, leads the linebacker group, and our secondary... well, hopefully they can get an interception this year. As for Glenn, I'm willing to chalk his struggles up to his first year — and he's now calling the defense himself, something he did a good job with in Detroit.

Caveat: I watch a lot of football, but I have a day job and by no means know everything about every team. I am also a biased Jets fan looking for something to root for, for my own sanity. My knowledge of other teams will be based largely on past performances, coaching, quarterback play, and major transactions. If you are looking for a breakdown of the Atlanta Falcons defensive line rotation, go watch Mina Kimes.

The Schedule

A few things stand out to me about the schedule.

1. The Jets have 0, that's right, 0 primetime games this year. Not even the fake Thursday Night primetime game. This is the reverse of the 2nd Kaaron Rodgers year, where the NFL decided to make every other game a primetime game for the Jets. I gotta say, I much prefer the early kickoffs. That way, when the Jets lose, it only ruins the middle part of my day and I can forget about it before I go to sleep.
2. No international games. I guess Woody and the NFL are giving up on trying to sell us to the 10 people in the UK that care about American football. Works for me, no need to wake up at 9:30 AM. That's too early to watch my team lose.
3. 8 home games, 9 road games. I would say this is the NFL screwing us, but given the quality of the MetLife turf, they are actually looking out for the health of our players by giving us one extra road game.

This will be part 1 of 4 in my season preview. I'll cover weeks 1-4.

Week 1: Jets @ Titans

For the 2nd year in a row, we open the season with a fake "revenge game". Last year it was the aggrieved and oppressed Aaron Rodgers, who could not believe that after going 5-12 with a good roster and having several failures in late game execution we wanted to move on from him. He got "revenge" on us by throwing to wide open receivers while our terrible secondary could not cover or tackle anyone. Even with our terrible defense, Rodgers needed a 60-yard bomb from Chris Boswell, who may have made the best kick I've ever seen in my life (not once did I think it was going to miss), to beat us 34-32 at MetLife.

This year, it's Robert Saleh, who will try to get "revenge" after the Jets canned him for going 4-13, 7-10, 7-10, and 2-3. The disrespect!

Anyways, I'm supposed to talk about this season. Last year, the Titans were one of the few teams that was as bad as, if not worse than, the Jets. Cam Ward, who I admittedly liked out of college, looked a bit lost. He hasn't looked any better in the preseason. I'd set the over/under on the number of times the other fired New York Football coach, Brian Daboll, screams at Cam Ward at 2.5 (and I'll take the over). It's also the Titans' first game with Saleh calling the defense. Saleh's defenses with the Jets were very much "bend don't break". You can get into field goal range easily but will find it harder to get touchdowns. That works for a team when the offense can put up points, but I don't see the Titans being able to do that. The Jets' main defensive weakness, the secondary, won't be exploited much by the shaky Ward and the underwhelming receiving corps outside of Carnell Tate.

On the other side of the ball, I think the Jets will be able to move the ball and put up a modest amount of points. I do worry that the Titans will probably employ a lot of zone, which Geno struggles with compared to man. But I think the Jets' O-line is good enough to run the ball, and Geno is respectable enough to avoid us facing the situation we faced last year where teams put 8 guys in the box to stop Breece.

It's only one game, but if the Jets can't beat the paltry Titans, that doesn't bode well for the rest of the season.

Prediction: Jets 20 (1-0) - Titans 13

Week 2: Packers at Jets

The home opener at MetLife. The Packers are a weird team. You watch them some weeks, or in the case of when they play the Bears, some halves, and they look like the best team in the NFL. But then other times, they look horrendous. Which team is going to show up at MetLife? No idea. All I do know is I can't remember the last time the Jets started 2-0. I had to google it, and it was the 2015 season. Are we due? Micah Parsons will be out, and Josh Jacobs may be as well. This is where my homerism takes over. I think the Jets' offense will put up enough points to eke out a victory. I do think that Christian Watson (if he survives week 1 without getting injured) will be a problem for the Jets secondary. I'd go ahead and place a bet on him to have 80+ yards and a touchdown.

Prediction: Jets 27 (2-0) - Packers 24

Week 3: Jets at Lions

Welcome to Detroit, one of the few places in the NFL with arguably worse turf than MetLife. I live in the Boston area now, so I'll most likely be getting Detroit-based ads during the NFL broadcasts. I'll put the over/under on the number of attack ads calling Abdul El-Sayed a terrorist at 3.5 (and I'll take the over).

If the Jets miraculously start 2-0, I definitely don't see them going 3-0. I transparently don't see them winning this game whether they're 0-2, 1-1, or 2-0. The Lions have too much offensive firepower. I'd expect a few big runs from Gibbs, Amon-Ra to get 10+ catches, and a big play or two from Jameson Williams. The Jets will be able to put up some points, but I don't think they'll be able to keep up with the Lions offense.

While this is Aaron Glenn's return to Detroit and he'll have some familiarity with the Lions, Ben Johnson isn't calling plays anymore, so I don't think it will be that big of a factor.

The only way I see the Jets winning this game is if I am massively overrating the Lions. Maybe their O-line isn't as good and Goff turns the ball over. Maybe the new offensive coordinator sucks. I doubt it though.

Prediction: Jets 23 (2-1) - Lions 31

Week 4: Jets at (da) Bears

Speaking of Ben Johnson...

The defense that produced 0 interceptions last year (the Jets) faces the team that produced the most (the Bears). If you believe turnovers are hard to replicate year over year, I'll gladly accept your point to give me some hope in this game. Funny enough, the Jets did sign the former Bears CB Nahshon Wright, who had 5 of their 23 interceptions.

The case for the Jets here is that the Bears won a lot of miraculous games last year. The case against the Jets is they have a history of being on the wrong end of miraculous games.

Caleb Williams is streaky. He will look great one drive and terrible the next.

Will Glenn's familiarity with Ben Johnson help? Maybe. But I imagine Ben Johnson's familiarity with Glenn will help a lot more.

Prediction: Jets 17 (2-2) - Bears 27

Adding It Up

3 straight games against the NFC North, the last two on the road? Not great. If the Jets beat the Titans and manage to beat one of the NFC North teams, I'll be more than satisfied.

Next up in part 2: weeks 5-8, where the schedule finally does us a favor.