Robert Saleh was responsible for the Jets losing five of their 15 straight games to the Patriots.
Bill Belichick is no longer coaching the Patriots.
Tom Brady hasn't played quarterback for the Patriots since 2019.
Aaron Rodgers will make his 2024 MetLife debut Thursday night against the Patriots and get a warm welcome back to the scene of the incident, but he's Saleh's quarterback.
The Jets cannot afford to lose this game.
Saleh cannot afford to lose this match.
You don't think that when you coach Aaron Rodgers. You don't think that when you coach a 19-34 team. You don't think that when you coach a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
He wasn't here to kiss Jerrod Mayo's ring, was he?
Saleh can't afford to lose to a rookie. Not now, not here. He can't afford to let his team go into the game without enough motivation. And unless Jermaine Johnson (Achilles) and Haason Reddick continue their incredible holdouts, Saleh can't afford to lose steam on his beloved defense.
The Bills have taken the AFC East from the Patriots for the past four years, and the Patriots, who have been on TV recently with GOAT coaches and GOAT quarterbacks, are rebuilding their team with rookie head coach Mayo, veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett and the third overall draft pick, promising quarterback Drake Maye, on the sidelines.
That doesn't mean the Patriots will lose. Mayo beat the Bengals in Week 1 but lost their home opener in overtime to the Seahawks. They'll be a tough opponent. Mayo's style is old school: run the ball, play defense and win close games in the fourth quarter.
With high expectations this season, now is the perfect time for the Jets and Saleh to start building a winning streak against the Patriots.
Saleh, with Zach Wilson (two touchdowns, seven interceptions) as his quarterback, is 0-3 against the Patriots at MetLife.
What better time than the home opener for Rodgers to remind Jets fans who missed out on watching him play last season because of yet another stupid Jet trick by the cruel football gods, why he's still making noise after tearing his Achilles?
The Jets were largely dominated by Belichick's Patriots for years. Belichick won six Super Bowls with Brady while Joe Namath tweeted his gloomy thoughts. Remember that primetime night when Sam Darnold saw a ghost?
Belichick has always rejoiced when the franchise he rejected as “NYJ's head coach” suffers a humiliation, so naturally the Jets were ecstatic to send him out as the loser in his final game as Patriots coach in the 2023 regular season finale.
“Whether he's here or not, now is the time. They had fun with the hot songs. Now it's our turn to turn the tables,” CJ Mosley said.
Darnold is no longer the Jets quarterback. Wilson is no longer the Jets quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers will be the Jets quarterback.
Saleh must take responsibility for extending their winning streak against the Patriots to two straight.
“Last year we ended the streak and now we're favored at 1-0, so why not just keep it going?,” Tyler Conklin said. “I'm just happy I don't have to hear about that dreaded streak anymore, that's all I'll say. I haven't been here the whole time, but the last two years, every Patriots week it's always been 'win streak win streak,' so I'm just happy that the doubts are gone.”
After two games in his new home, Rodgers should have at least some of the rust knocked off. While we wait for Garrett Wilson to blow up or catch a TD or for WR Mike Williams and Conklin to integrate, Breece Hall looks poised to become the team's Christian McCaffrey. Breece the Beast is an elite weapon to do just that. and He caught it and gave 240-pound rookie Braylon Allen a break.
This is a division game, a Boston-New York rivalry, and concerns that Rodgers could get hit and hurt are eased by an experienced offensive line that rushed for 185 yards against the Seahawks and will likely try to thwart Brissett and keep Rodgers off the field.
Rodgers and the Jets are not yet the finely tuned team they believe they are.
“It's coming soon,” Alijah Vera-Tucker said. “I'm hoping to break out soon.”
That brings the Jets to three out of 11 nights. Rodgers has an offensive line that doesn't look 40 years old. Some of his younger teammates, who are nowhere near 40, might feel like they are. Saleh told the media and the team that he doesn't care.
And he's right.
So there are no excuses.
No excuses, no Belichick and no Brady, who left New England before Saleh replaced Adam Gase in 2021. Remember how good the snow angels felt at Gillette Stadium last January? The Patriots should start answering questions about their two-game losing streak to the Jets.
