New York Jets fans know the feeling all too well.
It’s the morning of the season opener. After an offseason of oscillation between skepticism and cautious optimism, you’ve convinced yourself to come around on the idea that maybe this is going to be the year.
Then, poof!
The Jets are 0-4, the season is over, and it’s time to talk about which pimple-faced college kid has more arm talent and better pocket presence.
For this franchise, the regular season is often over before it gets a chance to begin. Over the last 10 years, the Jets are 10-29 (.256) within the first four weeks of the season, the worst record in the NFL. No other team has won fewer than 30% of its games within the first four weeks.
New York has not started a season 2-0 since 2015. It’s no wonder that Jets fans are often more interested in the draft order than the playoff picture before October 1.
If the Jets want to turn their culture around, it will be about more than just the final win total. It will also be about maintaining a sense of competitiveness and stakes for an entire 17-game slate.
A 2019-type season—starting 1-7 before racking up unimpressive, low-stakes wins on the way to a 7-9 finish—isn’t going to cut it. The Jets need to put together a full season of playoff-hunting to finally change the standards in their building.
Luckily for New York, the stars seem to be aligning for their first 2-0 start in 11 years. It could be precisely what the Jets need to kickstart their first full season of “meaningful football” in quite some time.
Here’s why the Jets are poised to win their first two games of the 2026 season.
Week 1 at Tennessee
The Jets finished the 2025 season ranked last in point differential (-203). The good news is that they will open 2026 against the team that ranked just one spot higher on that leaderboard, the Tennessee Titans (-194).
Of course, Tennessee, like New York, will be putting a much different team on the field this year. The Titans overhauled their coaching staff and spent the second-most guaranteed money on free agents of any franchise.
Tennessee is expected to have an improved season after finishing 3-14 last year. However, as a young, rebuilding team that underwent immense changes in the offseason, the Jets are catching them at the perfect time. In Week 1, the Titans will still be working out the kinks.
This will be Tennessee’s first game under head coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. It will also be just the 18th career start for 2025 first-overall pick Cam Ward, who has a lofty ceiling, but performed poorly in his rookie year (last among qualifiers with a 33.2 QBR).
It is entirely possible that Ward might have a breakout second season under Daboll. But in Week 1, Ward will be playing his first game in a new system, the second he has had to learn in as many NFL seasons. To boot, two of his projected starting receivers, along with his starting center, are new to the team. One of those starting receivers, Carnell Tate, is a rookie who will be making his NFL debut.
On the other side of the field, the Jets have a revamped, but experienced defense. Linebacker Demario Davis and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick—the two players who will be playing pre-snap cat-and-mouse games with Ward—have been around the block, as have defensive tackles David Onyemata and Harrison Phillips.
The Jets also have the defensive weapons to amplify Ward’s mental pressure through physical pressure. On the edge, the speed of David Bailey and Will McDonald will force Ward to make quick decisions as he racks up his first live-game reps with new teammates in a new system.
Meanwhile, the Jets’ offense will be led by a seasoned veteran quarterback in Geno Smith. Yes, it will also be Smith’s first game in a new system with new teammates, but at 35 years old with 98 career starts, Smith will be more prepared to hit the ground running than Ward. The Jets could have the quarterback advantage in this game, even if Ward ends up having a better season than Smith.
As for this game being played on the road, that’s of little concern to the Jets. Nissan Stadium has not proven to be a home-field advantage. The Titans are a league-worst 2-15 at home over the last two years.
New York caught the Titans in the right place at the right time. Experience on both sides of the ball will give the Jets a major edge as they face a young team in transition.
Week 2 vs. Green Bay
The Jets will come back to New Jersey for their home opener in Week 2, where Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers will pay them a visit.
We can keep this section short. Just look at the uniform New York will be wearing. How could the Jets possibly be expected to lose in these?
All jokes aside, things are already shaping up quite well for the Jets in Week 2.
Superstar edge rusher Micah Parsons announced that he will be sidelined until at least mid-October as he recovers from a torn ACL and a meniscus cleanup. That surely rules him out for Week 2 against the Jets.
This alone is enough to change the outlook of the entire game.
Parsons’ exit turned the Packers from a Super Bowl contender to a laughingstock. Once he went down late in the 2025 season, Green Bay fell apart.
In Week 15 against the Broncos, Green Bay was leading 23-21 over Denver when Parsons went down, only to blow the lead after he exited. Including that game and a playoff loss in Chicago, the Packers went 0-5 without Parsons. Over this stretch, they allowed 155.2 rushing yards per game and picked up four sacks (0.8 per game).
Making things bleaker for the Packers is that they did little to give themselves a buffer on the edge.
The only free agent edge rusher signed by Green Bay was Jaden Crumedy, who has 0.5 career sacks. Their earliest draft pick at the position was third-rounder Chris McClellan.
There isn’t much returning production to bank on, either. Among holdovers, the leading sacker on Green Bay’s defense is Devonte Wyatt with 4.0. Their second-leading sacker behind Parsons, Rashan Gary (7.5), was traded to Dallas.
Without Parsons, Green Bay’s defense is poised to struggle mightily. The Jets’ offense might have a field day in their home opener.
Defensively, the Jets will still have their hands full with Jordan Love. However, Aaron Glenn had success against the Packers’ offense during the last two years of his time as the Detroit Lions’ play-caller.
From 2023-24, the Lions went 3-1 against the Packers, holding them to 23.5 points per game, 17.5 first downs per game, and 329.0 total yards per game. Love had three interceptions and five fumbles across the eight contests.
With no Parsons and a defensive play-caller who knows Love and Matt LaFleur well, the Jets should be in a fantastic spot to maximize the energy of their home opener against the Packers.
2-0 is not far-fetched for the Jets
If New York takes advantage of everything working in their favor over the first two weeks, Jets fans might be looking at their first 2-0 start since 2015.
Looking past the first two weeks, there is no sugarcoating it: the road ahead will be tough. Three of the Jets’ next four games are road trips against the Lions, Bears, and Patriots. Even if the Jets start 2-0, they will likely be heavy underdogs in each of those games.
That is the beauty of a 2-0 start, though. In the NFL, that takes you far. The Jets could lose all three of those aforementioned games, and as long as they win at home against the Browns in Week 5, they would still be 3-3 through six games. Next up, they would have home games against the Dolphins and Raiders, teeing them up to potentially hold a wild card spot around the season’s halfway point.
New York’s early-season slate looks challenging on paper, but when you dig deeper into the context of each matchup, they actually drew the Titans and Packers at the perfect times. Tennessee may not be fully developed yet, while Green Bay will be without the player who single-handedly determined their success last year.
Don’t be shocked if the Jets are one of the NFL’s remaining undefeated teams after two weeks.
