The Green Bay Packers are favored to beat the New York Jets in the latter’s home opener on Sept. 20.
The oddsmakers usually love the home team. But even with the Jets’ dominant performance on opening day against the Tennessee Titans, skeptics abound. Are the Jets that good, or is Tennessee that bad?
This week perhaps offers a truer test for the 2026 version of the New York Jets. They face a Packers team that made the playoffs last year, losing 31-27 in the Wild Card round to the Chicago Bears. The Pack expects to be a playoffs contender once again, but they are part of what many feel is the NFL’s toughest division.
That was underlined on opening day for the Pack. They fell 39-22 to the Minnesota Vikings, blowing a late-game lead and surrendering 29 unanswered points after leading 22-10 in the third quarter.
Still, they have a top quarterback in Jordan Love. He rolled up 387 passing yards on opening day, including an 81-yard strike to wide receiver Christian Watson.
Several key players were missing for the Pack on opening day. Running back Josh Jacobs, who amassed close to 1,000 yards last year, is on the Commissioner’s Exempt list and can’t practice or play. He pled no contest to two misdemeanor counts after being accused of physically attacking his former girlfriend in May.
Without Jacobs, the Packers use a running back by committee, and that was really ineffective in the Vikings game. The team had just 66 yards on the ground, forcing Green Bay to take to the air.
That strategy was costly. The blitzing Vikings sacked Packers quarterback Jordan Love four times, and he also had a costly fumble in Vikings territory.
Jacobs will again be out for this game, and the Packers’ shaky offensive linemen will need to give Love time to get the ball to his talented wide receivers.
Also missing and a key factor for Green Bay is edge rusher Micah Parsons, who had 12.5 sacks last year before injuring his ACL in Week 15. The ultimate disrupter, Parsons will be out for some time, depriving Green Bay of the straw that stirs their defensive drink. Green Bay is winless without Parsons.
The Jets won’t be surprised by the Packers. Head coach Aaron Glenn was formerly the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator and faced them two times a year in the NFC North. He will undoubtedly take note of how the Vikings blitzed the Pack, and will adopt an equally aggressive plan.
On the other side of the ball, the Packers will look to exploit a Jets secondary that is without veteran Minkah Fitzpatrick, who is out with a left groin pull. Quarterback Jordan Love will look to attack the depleted Jets secondary and take advantage of their gaps.
The Jets will hope that edge rushers David Bailey and Will McDonald IV can pressure the pocket. If they can disrupt Love, the Jets have a good chance of pulling an upset in their home opener.
