The Jets posted a thrilling 22-16 overtime win over the Bills on Monday night to open the season 1-0 for the first time since 2018. The bigger story, though, was the season-ending Achilles injury to quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Here are some thoughts and observations from the game.
1. The season is not over. Yes, the Jets’ Super Bowl dreams ended when Rodgers sat down on the MetLife Stadium turf Monday night, unable to put weight on his left foot. But the Jets are not finished.
They can win with Zach Wilson. They proved it last year when they won five of six games during a stretch in October and November with Wilson at quarterback. The key is sticking to the formula they used last year: play great defense, run the ball, score some non-offensive touchdowns on special teams or defense and tell Wilson to be careful with the football.
This formula can win the Jets games. Their defense looked terrific on Monday. Breece Hall looked explosive in his first game back from ACL surgery. Xavier Gipson won the game with a punt return for a touchdown.
The Jets won’t be able to pull this off every week, of course, and that is why expectations need to be adjusted. There will be weeks where Wilson turns the ball over too much and the Jets lose. There will be weeks when the defense buckles and gives up points, forcing the Jets to play from behind and pass too much. But there can be enough weeks for the Jets to play around Wilson and find a way to stay in playoff contention.
2. Zach Wilson is the Jets quarterback. Fans need to accept that. I know there is a lot of chatter about who the Jets could acquire now that Rodgers is out, but any idea of someone coming in to start over Wilson is pie in the sky. Yes, the Jets need to find someone to back up Wilson. Tim Boyle is not the long-term solution there. But Wilson has put in the work this offseason as the No. 2 quarterback and he will be the starter now with Rodgers out.
People think you can just plug a quarterback into a team and expect them to be able to run an offense. The Jets have spent months installing this offense. Unless someone has played for Nathaniel Hackett before, it is a tough ask for a quarterback to join the team now and learn the offense in just a week or two.
The Jets decided Wilson was going to be the No. 2 behind Rodgers way back in the winter when they first started pursuing Rodgers. They surely never thought they would need him for an entire season but here we are. Unless Wilson stumbles, the job is his.
3. The Jets offensive line was one of the main topics of training camp after they had early struggles. On Monday night, they were a mixed bag. I thought they did really well in the run game. There were big holes for the backs to run through and the Jets were physical. Mekhi Becton got out and led one outside run and looked like the rookie version of Becton.
The pass protection was not as good. They were not terrible but the Bills ended up with eight quarterback hits and three sacks. The big play of course was Leonard Floyd’s sack of Rodgers, which resulted in his injury. I do not put this sack on the line or left tackle Duane Brown. Rodgers clearly should have thrown the slant to Garrett Wilson. The play was designed to be a quick throw with Brown cut blocking Floyd. For some reason, Rodgers held the ball and that led to the sack.
This week will be a tough test against the Cowboys, who got after the Giants on Sunday.
4. I wrote something back in April after the Rodgers trade was completed about how happy I was for the people who work for the Jets outside of football operations. These are people who sell tickets, do marketing, work in the cafeteria, etc. Those people are always identified with the Jets by their friends and families and neighbors. They hear the jokes when the Jets are bad and have not had much to feel good about in a long time. Rodgers brought pride back to the Jets building and I was happy for those people. I am sad for them today.
I saw some of the people I know who work for the Jets Monday night after the game and they looked stunned. The pregame ceremony was awesome. MetLife Stadium felt more alive than it has felt in years. Everything seemed right and the season was all in front of them. A few minutes later, the season felt like it was over. All that hope was extinguished. All the good summer vibes evaporated.
Jets fans have it tough and those who work for the Jets have to live with whatever results come on the football field even though most of the people who work there have nothing to do with the product on the field. The mood of the Jets building is dictated by how the team plays. I have to think the building is depressed today.
Revealing stat: How dominant was the Jets defense? The Bills only had one play of 20 yards or more. Josh Allen had 26 yards pass to Gabe Davis. That was it. The longest designed run was 13 yards.
Surprising snap count: Mecole Hardman did not play one snap on offense. The Jets started going to a lot of three tight-end sets with Wilson at quarterback. I’m sure that contributed to it, but still weird he did not get on the field at all.
GAME BALL: There were a few strong candidates for the game ball this week but Jordan Whitehead’s three interceptions are hard to overlook. Great start for the Jets safety and his picks led to 10 points. That’s a big impact.