The upcoming NFL season schedule was released last Wednesday night. All 17 games for the New York Jets were revealed, including two primetime divisional games, and one game overseas in England.
The Jets are going into this season with a new General Manager, new Head Coach, and new quarterback. It gets tiring to say I imagine but it is once again a new era for Jets football. Here is a breakdown of every game this year for the Jets.
Week One: Steelers
New York opens up their season at home against who else but the Steelers. Of course it was going to be Pittsburgh, Justin Fields’ former team from a season ago.
On top of that, I believe most likely Aaron Rodgers will be the Steelers starting quarterback. That’s not confirmed right now but come September I imagine Rodgers will be in uniform returning to play the Jets week one, and that’s exactly why this game was made to open the season.
As of now though, this is just a Justin Fields revenge game, and he will have an opportunity to prove to the Steelers that he was indeed the guy they should have played all of last year. This probably will be an ugly, gritty defensive game with not a lot of scoring. Both defenses should be able to show out against the offenses. The key for New York is going to be establishing the run game, and not letting T.J. Watt took over.
Week Two: Bills
Good news, New York gets back to back home games to start the season. Bad news is they have to face the AFC East juggernaut the Bills in week two.
Buffalo once again led by Josh Allen should be a tough team to beat. It will be no different for New York who just on paper should not be able to compete with the Bills.
Week Three: @ Buccaneers
In another revenge game, the Jets will travel to Tampa Bay to play Haason Reddick and the Bucs. This is another game that won’t be easy for New York. In reality this year the Jets don’t have a single easy game. They have a bunch of winnable games like this one but the task will still be tough.
Tampa has made the playoffs two years in a row and should continue to be a solid football team while it’s just unknown how New York will play.
Week Four: @ Dolphins
In their second divisional game of the year they will be in Florida again this time to face the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football. Their only Monday Night game of the year, the Jets have had their difficulties with Miami in the past but this year the Dolphins might finally be imploding.
Both Dolphins games I believe can be very winnable, I don’t think Miami is the same threat they were once were as it seems the genius of head coach Mike McDaniel is starting to fade. The Dolphins have been labeled as soft, and a team run by Aaron Glenn should be able to take advantage of that.
Week Five: Cowboys
In week five, America’s team comes to MetLife as the Jets face off against the Cowboys. They will have to deal with the new duo of CeeDee Lamb paired with George Pickens. Dak Prescott will be back in uniform for Dallas as this is a tough game for New York.
New York doesn’t have an easy start to this season, this year could get away from them before they even get to November. They’re going to have to pull off some upsets early on and this game at home against Dallas might need to be one of them.
Week Six: Broncos
This week the Jets travel across the pond to England to play the Denver Broncos. Another tough game for New York as the Broncos were one of the teams last year to defeat the Jets that no one saw coming.
The Broncos have a good defense, a good head coach in Sean Payton, and Bo Nix looks like the franchise quarterback.
The Jets have also lost their last two international games. Out of the first six games of the year this one and the Steelers game are the two the Jets probably need to win if they want to stay in the hunt as they get deeper into the year.
Week Seven: Panthers
The Jets come back after England to play a home game against the Carolina Panthers. On paper, this should be the least challenging game for New York up to this point. Dare to say, this is one of their must win games of the year.
At home against one of the weaker rosters in the NFL, you got to win this one, but you can’t underestimate the Panthers. They have slowly improved over the last two seasons. Bryce Young looked much better late last year, and if he builds off of that, then the Panthers won’t be as bad as they have been. Still, most likely this is one the Jets should and have to win.
Week Eight: @ Bengals
They follow the Panthers with one of their toughest games of the season on the road. They have to go against Joe Burrow and that electrifying offense including Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
This Bengals offense is going to be tough to stop for any defense. The good news is that the Bengals defense is still weak so the Jets have to hope they can run the ball all over them, and keep Burrow off the field.
That is their only chance to get a win because they will not beat this Bengals team in a shootout.
Week Nine: Bye
Week Ten: Cleveland Browns
Coming off the bye week, The Jets get what should be their one game they can’t possibly lose. The Cleveland Browns on paper might be the worst team in football this year. A team that’s starting Quarterback will most likely be Joe Flacco, and no disrespect to Flacco but he is playing with a roster that is not good.
New York is home, they should be able to beat this Browns team no problem. Key word, they should, you never know what you’re getting with the Jets. But this is the one game that would be embarrassing if they were to lose.
Week Eleven: @ Patriots
In the Jets second and last primetime game of the season they will meet the New England Patriots for the first time this season. A divisional matchup that has not been kind to New York. Even in the past few seasons where it seemed the Jets should be the better team they somehow fall short against the Patriots.
The last two seasons, New England won four games both years, in both seasons one of their four wins came against the Jets. The Patriots were one of those teams that you just can’t lose to if you want to make the playoffs. Now, The Patriots should be much improved under second year starting quarterback Drake Maye. The Jets failed to take advantage of New England when they were bad, now they have to try and beat them when they are on the come-up.
New York on paper should still have the better team and a more talented roster but that just hasn’t mattered when they face the Patriots. So brace yourselves for another two tough games against New England with one of them on the road in primetime.
Week Twelve: @ Ravens
The Jets follow up a road divisional game with a road game against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens are one of the best teams in the league led by dynamic two-time MVP winner Jackson.
This is going to be their toughest road game of the year, they will be big underdogs going into this one. They will have a tough time trying to get a win out of this one. Ravens have been a constant force in the league, the complete opposite of the Jets.
This is the one game where you probably say yeah no chance for New York, onto next week we go.
Week Thirteen: Falcons
The Jets follow up that tough game when they go back home to face the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta is an interesting team as they have dynamic players like Drake London and Bijan Robinson.
Though the jury is still out on Michael Penix and how legit he is, Atlanta is a team that is in the same boat as New York. The talent is there but they just can’t put it together for a full season.
This should be a fun and interesting game that can go either way, If the Jets are still in the playoff hunt this is probably one they have to pull off.
Week Fourteen: Dolphins
They get another home game as they face the Dolphins for the second time. The hope would have to be that the Dolphins have imploded by this point giving the Jets a good shot to come away with a win.
Week Fifteen: @ Jaguars
Just like the Panthers and Patriots, the Jets won’t be facing the same bad team from a year ago in the Jaguars. Jacksonville is an improved team who could make a serious run at the playoffs this year.
Trevor Lawrence is back and healthy and they have Brian Thomas Jr. who was sensational last year. Plus, they added phenom Travis Hunter to help on both sides of the ball.
This Jacksonville team is going to shock a lot of people and the Jets will not have an easy one here on the road.
Week Sixteen: @ Saints
Lucky, for New York they get to play the New Orleans Saints the next week. Why do I say lucky? Well just like the Browns, the Saints should be one of, if not the worst team this season.
The Saints have been on a downward spiral for years since Drew Brees retired. This might be the season where they are finally truly terrible.
New York has no excuse here, they should win this game, and quite frankly they should get a dominant road victory.
Week Seventeen: Patriots
Could we get a winning streak from the Jets to end the season? They get a rematch against New England here this time at home.
Week Eighteen: @ Bills
To end the season they face the Bills again this time on the road. Any chance Buffalo has to rest their starters here? That is what the Jets should be hoping for here to end the season. But will it really matter?
This Jets team is trying to change the culture, they got rid of their veterans. They are just trying to build around the current young stars that have. A lot of this season rides on the performance of Fields.
New York will know by the end of the season whether they have their Quarterback of the future or not.
I expect the Jets to be an efficient rushing team, maybe one of the most dangerous rushing attacks behind that Offensive Line. But you have to be able to keep Garrett Wilson happy by getting him the ball, that will be a challenge.
The Defense should be improved from last year, and have a bounce back season though I doubt they will reach the levels of greatness they once did a few seasons ago.
New York will be competitive, more disciplined, and better coached. This team will finally have a real identity. They’ll make some noise but will ultimately fall short in the end because they just aren’t good enough yet.
My record prediction for the Jets is 7-10, a two win improvement from last year but still not good enough to end the playoff drought. Which will be the only thing that matters in the end, and the only way to make your fanbase happy.
