Robert Saleh was responsible for five of the 15 consecutive games the Jets lost to the Patriots.
Bill Belichick is no longer coaching the Patriots.
Tom Brady has not been a quarterback for the Patriots since 2019.
Aaron Rodgers, who returns to the scene of the crime and receives a warm welcome when he makes his MetLife 2024 debut on Thursday night against the Patriots, is Saleh’s quarterback.
The Jets can’t lose this game.
Saleh cannot afford to lose this match.
Not when you’re Aaron Rodgers’ coach. Not when you’re the coach with a 19-34 record. Not when you’re the coach of a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
You didn’t come here to kiss Jerod Mayo’s ring, did you?
Saleh can’t afford to have a rookie outmaneuver him. Not now. He can’t afford to have his team not show up fully motivated. He can’t afford to have his beloved defense lose its edge without Jermaine Johnson (Achilles) and Haason Reddick continuing their impressive resilience.
The Bills have taken the AFC East from the Patriots over the past four years. With the best coach and best quarterback on TV these days, the Patriots are rebuilding with a rookie head coach in Mayo and an experienced quarterback in Jacoby Brissett, with third overall draft pick and quarterback of the future Drake Maye waiting in the wings.
By no means does this make the Patriots dumb. Mayo stunned the Bengals in Week 1 before losing his home opener to the Seahawks in overtime. He looks like he’ll be tough to beat. He’s got an old-school outfit: run the ball, play defense, hold a lead in the fourth quarter.
There’s no better time than now, in this season of high expectations, for the Jets and Saleh to begin building a streak of their own against the Patriots.
Saleh, with Zach Wilson (two touchdowns, seven interceptions) as his quarterback, is 0-3 against the Patriots at MetLife.
There’s no better time than the home opener for Rodgers to remind Jets fans, who were fooled out of watching him last season by yet another stupid Jets stunt by the cruel football gods, what all the fuss is about after the Achilles injury.
All those years, the Jets were practically fainting at the feet of Belichick’s Patriots. Belichick won six Super Bowls with Brady while Joe Namath tweeted depressing thoughts. Remember that night in prime time when Sam Darnold saw ghosts?
Belichick reveled in every humiliation of the franchise he despised as “Head Coach of the NYJ.” So of course the Jets reveled in sending Belichick off as a loser in his final game as Patriots coach in the 2023 regular-season finale.
“Whether he was here or not, it’s time. They had fun with the big numbers they had, so now it’s our turn to turn it around,” CJ Mosley said.
Darnold is no longer the Jets’ quarterback. Wilson is no longer the Jets’ quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback of the Jets.
Saleh should take responsibility for extending the streak to two consecutive victories over the Patriots.
“We finished it last year, now it’s 1-0 in our favor… Better keep it that way, huh?” Tyler Conklin said. “I’m excited to never hear about that damn streak again, I can tell you that. I wasn’t here the whole time, but the last two years, every time Patriots week was talked about, all they would say was, ‘Strike, streak, streak. ’ So I’m just glad those questions are over.”
After two games away from his new home, Rodgers should have at least shaken off some rust. While we wait for a Garrett Wilson explosion or a touchdown reception, or the integration of WR Mike Williams and perhaps Conklin, Breece Hall appears primed and ready to be the Christian McCaffrey of this team. Breece the Beast is an elite weapon to lead him. and catching him and being rested by 240-pound rookie Braelon Allen.
It’s a division game and a rivalry between Boston and New York. Concerns about Rodgers getting banged up and injured have been eased by their experienced offensive line. The Patriots rushed for 185 yards against the Seahawks and will look to prevent Brissett from running away with the ball and keep Rodgers off the field.
Rodgers and the Jets are not yet the finely tuned machine they hope they will be.
“We’re very close,” Alijah Vera-Tucker said. “We’re looking to get out of there very soon.”
This will mark the merciful end of three games in 11 nights for the Jets. Rodgers has an offensive line that has kept him from feeling like he’s 40. Some younger teammates who are well away from 40 might feel like they’re 40. Saleh has told the media and his team that no one cares.
And he is right.
So there are no excuses.
There are no excuses, not Belichick and not Brady, who left New England before Saleh succeeded Adam Gase in 2021. Remember how good those snow angels felt at Gillette Stadium last January. Let the Patriots start answering questions about their two-game losing streak to the Jets.
