There will be some heavy mutual admiration present Sunday on the field in Foxborough, Mass., where the Jets play the Patriots in the teams’ season finale.
There will be a time — whether it’s before the game or after it — when Bill Belichick, the venerable, record-setting, polarizing Patriots head coach, who may or may not be coaching his final game in New England, will seek out Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley for a conversation that’ll include some encouraging words.
Belichick doesn’t frivolously toss bouquets around when speaking about opposing players, but he almost never speaks about the Jets without mentioning Mosley.
You can tell by the way Belichick has coached (think “do your job”) and the way Mosley has played (think dependable) that the coach with the six Super Bowl titles would have liked to have coached the linebacker who hasn’t had a taste of a playoff game since 2018 and has played in only three postseason games in his nine-year career that has spanned 128 games and 1,059 tackles.
Mosley is a warhorse — as dependable and selfless a football player as you’ll find on any team. There’s a reason why he’s the Jets defensive captain. And a reason why he was named Friday as the recipient of the Jets’ “Selfless Warrior Award” on behalf of the coaching staff “as a person who gives the most of himself to his teammates and to his team.”
This, too, is a reason why you want more for Mosley — more games this season.
Playoff games.
Because players who put in what Mosley puts in and are as accountable as he is, never pointing fingers or showing frustration at the constant losing the Jets have endured since they made him their marquee offseason acquisition in 2019, deserve better than the 42 losses the team has across his four playing seasons.
When Mosley came to the Jets, his mission was to be a part of turning the losing culture into winning. That hasn’t happened yet and it’s been a definite source of frustration. One man, of course, cannot change the fate of an entire franchise.
“Football life is just like your real life,” Mosley told The Post on Friday. “You have a lot of expectations, you work for certain goals, certain things, but life is unpredictable and there are ups and downs throughout those times. There are going to be some wins in your life and some losses and a lot of tough times.”
To his credit, unlike many players who’ve come through these parts before, Mosley hasn’t cracked, instead simply staying the course with a belief that if he keeps doing the right things, good things will happen.
“He is selfless in every way you can imagine,” Jets head coach Robert Saleh said Friday. “He’s an incredible leader. Even though he may not say much, he says so much with his words, his body language, the way he approaches the week.”
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Mosley, who has one year remaining on his contract, insisted he has no regrets leaving a winning Baltimore organization after playing five productive seasons with the Ravens and going to four Pro Bowls to try to make a difference with the Jets.
“I honestly wouldn’t take it back,” he said. “I can be mad or be frustrated [at the losing], but how is that going to make me better? How is that going to make my teammates better around me? You might see [disappointment] on my face, but you won’t see it on the field.”
What Mosley does see is hope for 2024. The presence of a healthy Aaron Rodgers at quarterback buoys that hope.
“We played a lot of games against some great quarterbacks this season and I still haven’t seen some of the balls he’s been throwing in practice that we’ve seen in the games,” Mosley said. “The kid’s still got it is all I can say.”
This will be the first offseason in memory that the Jets are not in search of a new head coach or quarterback or wondering if the quarterback they do have is a franchise quarterback. That heightens Mosely’s hope for 2024.
“We kind of know what we have,” Mosley said. “The anticipation is there.”
For this one final Sunday, though, Mosley’s sole focus is on ending the season the way the Jets began it: with a win. Against Belichick, whom Mosley called “obviously, one of the best coaches that this league has ever seen.”
“Knowing his standard, I’m blown away by every time he speaks of me,” Mosley said. “We always talk after the games on the field and I have a lot of respect for him. Just playing against him, he brings the best out of everyone.”
Belichick knows he’ll get the best of Mosley on Sunday.
“If this is his last game as a Patriot, hopefully we’ll be on the right side of history with a Jets win,” Mosley said. “We would love that a lot. A chance to start and end this year right and give Jets fans something to be very, very happy about.”