Talking season is over. Football season is here.
It has been a heady offseason for the Jets. From the initial whiff of their pursuit of Aaron Rodgers, through the actual pursuit and trade for Rodgers, and the afterglow that included five weeks of “Hard Knocks” this has been an offseason unlike any other in team history.
The addition of Rodgers to a team that felt like it was a quarterback away from being a contender a year ago has expectations sky high.
The Jets have not run away from those expectations. Whether it was Rodgers saying the Jets are one of the handful of teams that can win the Super Bowl or D.J. Reed saying the defense can compare to the 1985 Bears, the Jets have not been shy about stating their goals and expectations.
The Jets have shown they can talk the talk. Now, we’ll see Monday night against the Bills if they can walk the walk.
This is not a “must win” for the Jets. Those do not exist in Week 1. If the Jets lose, the season is not over. But the opener will be a very important game for the Jets to validate their high expectations for themselves.
I’m not talking about validation to the fans or media or anyone outside the team. I’m talking about validating their own beliefs, the ones they have talked about in the meeting rooms and practice fields for the last five months.
The Jets can show they are the team they believe they are by beating Buffalo on Monday night. The three-time division champion Bills are coming into MetLife Stadium on “Monday Night Football” for the regular-season debut of Aaron Rodgers in a Jets uniform. It is hard to imagine a bigger game than that in September.
Now, the Jets need to back up all their talking and belief with some football. A win Monday and the Jets’ confidence will only grow. A loss and doubts may creep in.
Head coach Robert Saleh said this week that he has no problem with his players’ boasting. But he acknowledged the Jets now have to back up that talk.
“I guess I look at it as, if you can’t keep our names out of your mouth then it must mean we are doing something good,” Saleh said. “With that said, we haven’t done anything. We still have to win football games. In the two years we have been here, we have won 11 of them, but I do think we have done a really nice job, we have made a lot of progress and we have positioned ourselves to have a good year, but we still have to go out and do it.”
This will be a validation game for the Jets just like the season-opener Thursday night was for the Lions. Detroit is the other team that has not had success in ages getting a lot of preseason love. The Lions went out and beat the Chiefs, 21-20, to show the hype was deserved.
Now, the Jets have to do the same against the Bills, who have owned the division since Tom Brady left the Patriots.
There are plenty of Jets with something to prove Monday night. Rodgers can show that his struggles last season were not a function of his age, but because of a thumb injury and a weakened supporting cast in Green Bay.
The Jets’ offensive linemen can show that the training camp concern that they were the weakness of the team was overblown. Second-year stars Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner can start off their sophomore seasons without a slump. Quinnen Williams can validate that he’s worth his $96 million contract.
It has been nothing but rainbows and unicorns around the Jets since March — a rarity for this organization. The players and coaches have bought in that this can be a Super Bowl team.
The first step comes Monday. On Tuesday morning, something is going to be bigger: either the good vibes of the offseason or new questions about whether it was all hype.