The Jets will be playing for their season on Sunday, Sept. 13, i.e., opening day of the NFL 2026 season. At least according to one pundit who regularly covers the team and has his finger on its pulse.
There is no Super Bowl in the forecast this year for head coach Aaron Glenn’s Jets. Maybe not even a playoff appearance or meaningful December games. No, in this case, the Jets need to win on opening day or face a 0-for-September start, which will likely spiral into another 3-14 season, or thereabouts.
Brian Costello of the New York Post believes this is “a massive Week 1 game for Glenn’s Jets for so many reasons.”
The fact that they’re playing ex-coach Robert Saleh’s Tennessee Titans is a big reason for the heightened expectations.
Saleh has pooh-poohed any hard feelings over his Jets dismissal. But a story that broke today in The Athletic puts the lie to that claim. The story reports that Saleh and Jets owner Woody Johnson never got along, and that Saleh allegedly celebrated with former General Manager Joe Douglas after both were fired and freed from Johnson’s clutches.
Given that, and Saleh’s mantra of “All gas, no brakes” with his teams, it wouldn’t be shocking if his fired-up Titans laid a severe beating on the Jets.
Normally, losing in Week 1 isn’t good, as the game is considered a tone-setter for the rest of the schedule. But losing to Saleh will be more than just a one-game loss, and things will not get any easier for the Jets.
After Tennessee in Week 1, the Jets play three NFC North teams – the Green Bay Packers at their MetLife Stadium home, followed by visits to the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears. All of those teams are expected to be playoff contenders or possible Super Bowl teams. The Jets won’t be favored in any of them.
Add in the Jets expectations for the season surrounding the return of Geno Smith and Garrett Wilson, the acquisition of veteran defenders Demario Davis and Minkah Fitzpatrick, the shine on rookie edge rusher David Bailey, and the Jets would be crushed to start out 0-4.
“The overreaction to a Jets loss in this game will be seismic,” Costello concludes. “All Week 1 games get overanalyzed and dissected. If Glenn loses this one, he’ll be like a dead frog in a high school biology class.”
Sharpen those scalpels, Jets naysayers. It’s five days to kickoff.
