New York Jets to open up on Monday Night Football once again
While the full NFL schedule will not be unveiled until 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday night, some matchups have begun to be announced around the league. The New York Jets are one of the teams who have announced a matchup on their schedule.
On Tuesday morning, the Jets’ official X (formerly Twitter) account revealed that the team will be opening its 2024 season with a Monday Night Football matchup in Santa Clara against the San Francisco 49ers. The game will kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET on September 9.
WEEK ONE. MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL.
WE'RE BACK!
— New York Jets (@nyjets) May 14, 2024
49ers tight end George Kittle had hinted at this matchup in an Instagram post on Monday.
The Jets will face arguably the toughest matchup on their 2024 schedule right off the bat. While it’s a difficult challenge to kick things off for a team that will have many new faces, it also provides a tremendous opportunity for New York to prove itself. If the Jets can open the season with a nationally televised road victory against the current Super Bowl 59 favorites, they will immediately announce their presence as a true Super Bowl contender. From that point on, there would not be a single matchup on the Jets’ schedule that they wouldn’t feel capable of winning.
This matchup has no shortage of storylines. A native of Chico, Calif., and a product of UC Berkeley, Aaron Rodgers returns to his native region for a duel with his childhood team. He’ll be seeking revenge for his 0-4 playoff record against the 49ers. In addition, Robert Saleh will face his former team for the first time since he became the Jets’ head coach in 2021. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will coach against the team with whom he played all 10 of his NFL seasons from 2000-09. Defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw will make his Jets debut against the team that drafted him with a first-round pick in 2020.
On paper, Jets-49ers might be the most talented-stacked matchup of the 2024 NFL season. According to this ranking from ESPN analytics writer Mike Clay, these are the two best rosters in the NFL.
2024 NFL Unit Grades – Pre-Draft Edition pic.twitter.com/JbFRnTQfmJ
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) April 23, 2024
And since the game will take place in Week 1, both teams should be close to fully healthy. These are just a few of the one-on-one matchups we will see:
- Tyron Smith vs. Nick Bosa
- Morgan Moses vs. Leonard Floyd
- Alijah Vera-Tucker vs. Javon Hargrave
- Breece Hall/Tyler Conklin vs. Fred Warner/Dre Greenlaw
- Garrett Wilson vs. Charvarius Ward
- Quincy Williams/C.J. Mosley vs. Christian McCaffrey/George Kittle
- Sauce Gardner vs. Brandon Aiyuk
- D.J. Reed vs. Deebo Samuel
- Michael Carter II vs. Ricky Pearsall
- Haason Reddick vs. Trent Williams
- Quinnen Williams vs. Aaron Banks
- Robert Saleh/Jeff Ulbrich vs. Kyle Shanahan/Brock Purdy
By choosing this matchup as its season-opening Monday Night Football game, the NFL is showing that it still believes in the Jets as a prime-time draw.
Expect to see plenty more prime-time games for the Jets when the full schedule releases tomorrow.
