The 2022 Jets season turned in a win that felt like a loss in Denver. Could the 2023 season have turned in a loss that felt like a win against the Chiefs?
We’ll find out in Denver.
Overstatement and overreaction are the norms now in the NFL. Every week is a new referendum on a team. But for the Jets, you can’t overstate the importance of this game against the Broncos on Sunday.
Hope came back to the organization Sunday night with Zach Wilson’s performance against the Chiefs. Even though they lost 23-20, it felt like the Jets had regained control of their season after the deflating loss to the Patriots.
There are no moral victories this week, though. The Jets need to defeat Sean Payton’s Broncos to feel like this season still has a chance. If they drop to 1-4 with the Eagles coming to town the following week, it will be time to start looking at mock drafts.
If they find a way to win this one and get to 2-3, a loss to the Eagles will not be the end for them. They can be 2-4 entering the bye with plenty of winnable games coming up.
For the Jets to have any chance at a playoff shot, they are going to have be at least 9-8. That means 8-5 the rest of the way. At the moment, the only games that feel like probable losses are the Eagles, at the Bills and the two Dolphins games. That would put the Jets at seven losses. If you want to say they steal one of those, you have to also concede they are going to lose a game that looks like a win right now.
So, they have very little wiggle room.
That brings us to Sunday in Denver.
The Broncos are a team the Jets should beat. Their defense is the worst in the NFL and gave up 70 points to the Dolphins two weeks ago. This is the perfect chance for Wilson and the offense to prove last week was no fluke and also get the running game going. Russell Wilson is playing better than he did a year ago, but the Jets’ defense is due for a dominant four-quarter performance and this is a good week for it.
The Jets also should be a highly motivated team after Payton trashed Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett this summer and took a few shots at the rest of the team, too. The Jets are downplaying the Hackett angle, but you can bet if the Jets win there will be a game ball going his way and the players will celebrate making Payton eat his words.
The Jets beat the Broncos in Denver last October when Hackett was their coach. But they lost Breece Hall and Alijah Vera-Tucker to season-ending injuries that day, casting a pall over the postgame locker room. The Jets only won two more games the rest of the season.
The Jets return with Hall and Vera-Tucker key pieces again and a chance to build some momentum.
Robert Saleh answered with coach-speak when asked if this week feels like a pivotal point in the season.
“I feel like every week is a big week,” Saleh said. “The sense of urgency to win in this league and to do your best and all that stuff is always at peak levels every week. You never want to make one bigger than the other because that’s where you get inconsistency in play. This is no different. We’re going to a Denver team that just came off a big win. They’re feeling really good about themselves and they’re probably looking at their schedule and thinking, ‘Hey, we’ve got a chance to get right.’ We’ve got to put our best foot forward and get ready to try to win a football game.”
That is fine for Saleh to say publicly, but privately he has to know how difficult it will be to dig out of a 1-4 hole.
If the Jets can get validation of the positives they saw in the Chiefs game, starting with Wilson, and also leave Denver with a win, the season outlook will have a different vibe.
This feels like about as close as you can get to a must win in October for the Jets.