The New York Jets appear to take priority in the Lopez family
This NFL offseason has yielded several valuable newcomers for the New York Jets. The newest name on that list might be none other than Jennifer Lopez.
Gang Green plays a role in the trailer for “Jennifer Lopez: Halftime”, an upcoming documentary that will be released on Netflix later this spring. While the film will largely on Lopez’s performance at the Super Bowl LIV halftime show (hence its title), it will also take on a semi-biographical role for the Bronx-born entertainer.
In addition to the halftime show’s preparation and lead-up, the hype around Lopez’s role in the film “Hustlers”, largely considered to be the best of her acting career, will likewise be examined. The film made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019, coinciding with the Jets’ Week 1 contest against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium.
The final sequence of the “Halftime” trailer depicts Lopez en route to a TIFF event promoting “Hustlers”. Rave reviews, however, aren’t enough to lift the Lopez family’s pain over an excruciating Jets loss.
“Hi, everybody, go Jets! Jen had her film premiere for Hustlers in Toronto and look at what they’re saying,” Lopez says aloud as she reads her sister Lynda’s entry to a family text message group chat. “My mother goes ‘Yeah, Jets just recovered a fumble, go Jets!…We need a freaking kicker.”
Lopez, previously a minority owner of the Miami Dolphins, acquiesces to her family and texts back “Go Jets!”.
The sequence begins around the 2:04 mark in the trailer below.
HALFTIME June 14@Netflix @ConTodoNetflix pic.twitter.com/FrtDtkbfKN
— jlo (@JLo) May 18, 2022
It’s easy to see why the Lopez family was so frustrated – the Jets led for a majority of Buffalo’s visit. The fumble mentioned by Lopez’s mother Guadalupe likely came on the first drive of the game, when Steve McLendon recovered the ball after Jordan Jenkins forced it loose from Josh Allen. Gang Green would later take a 6-0 lead after C.J. Mosley, making his New York debut, took an Allen interception back 17 yards for a score.
CJ Mosley with the heads up play for the pick six!!! Let’s go! #TakeFlight pic.twitter.com/PlpDv1bRp3
— Dylan Burd (@Dylan_Burd) September 8, 2019
But the Jets, as Mrs. Lopez foretold, were done in by a poor kicking performance from Kaare Vedvik, who missed the extra point after Mosley’s pick-six. Failed kicks from Vedvik, who later misfired on a 45-yard attempt at the end of the first half, proved to be the difference. Buffalo erased a 16-3 deficit in the fourth quarter to prevail in a 17-16 final.
Vedvik, making his NFL regular season debut, was released shortly after the game and has yet to appear in another official contest since then (he is currently stationed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL). In Jets lore, the game is somewhat infamous for the metropolitan debuts of Le’Veon Bell (who scored the Jets’ lone offensive touchdown on a nine-yard pass from Sam Darnold) and Adam Gase.
Unlike Lopez after “Gigli”, the 2019 Jets never recovered. The loss to the Bills kicked off one of the worst starts in franchise history, losing seven of their first eight contests. They mustered a final record of 7-9 but both Bell and Gase were gone by the end of the following year, a two-win disaster that led to a massive franchise overhaul.
“Jennifer Lopez: Halftime” will stream on Netflix beginning June 14.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
