Jets 2026 Schedule
Edition #1100: What can we take from the 2026 schedule as the Jets start their season in Music City against Saleh's Titans.
Good Morning ☕
If there is one thing I don’t understand, it’s the NFL schedule. Or to be more precise, why there is always so much fanfare around the release.
In nearly every other sport I follow, the schedule just gets released at some point in the off-season, and then people plan their weekends accordingly.
In the NFL there are countless leaks in the 10 days leading up to the release, there are marquee games announced, there are talk shows lasting hours dissecting every single bit of information and rumour.
We knew who the Jets were playing at home and we knew who they were playing on the road, we just didn’t know when.
For people looking to head to a few games this season, the schedule is vital. But I still don’t understand the need to drag it out and put it under a microscope.
But that’s what the NFL is now, it craves and feeds off 24/7 attention. Maybe that’s why they made such a big fuss about something so ordinary, right in the middle of the NBA and NHL playoffs.
Anyway, that’s me sharing a little bugbear of mine.
There are some noticeable things straight away
The NFL just couldn’t resist the temptation to have the Jets head to Tennessee to take on their old head coach in his first game as a HC since being fired from his position. There will be a ton of build-up, Jermaine Johnson vs the team that traded, T’Vondre Sweat against the team that traded him. Michael Carter, Solomon Thomas, JFM and Tony Adams will be playing against their old team. For the Jets I actually like this as a first opponent, of all the road teams on our roster, Tennessee shouldn’t scare anyone. So while the NFL are licking their lips over all the storylines they can push, I’m seeing this as a good opportunity to get off to a good start.
The start of the schedule after Tennessee is rough. Three of our first four are on the road and the only home game is a tough one against Green Bay. Playing on the road against the Lions and the Bears in back-to-back weeks will test this new-look defense to the limit. That’s two top-10 offenses straight out of the gate, and with the Jets having so much change on defense I’m not sure I trust them to be in full flow by week three.
But…having said that, the next four games are extremely kind. So even if the Jets are in a 1-3 hole early which is very possible, they then have the Browns, Patriots, Dolphins and Raiders with three of those games coming at home. That’s the period where you need to pick up consecutive wins to give yourself any chance of being in the playoff hunt.
No primetime games for the Jets for the first time since 2007. Love it.
I actually don’t mind this schedule. There are plenty of 1pm starts which is great for me. It’s not until week 11 that we get a game outside that window, and even then it’s a 4:05pm game due to being in LA.
We have a patch of 3-4 rough games, following by 3-4 games that appear at least on paper to be easier. But a key injury here or there makes the difficult ones look easy and some early form make the easy ones look difficult, you really can’t tell.
I always prefer a later bye week as by that point in the season your team is usually beat up and getting an extra week off before the final 4 games is welcome. I think this is the latest bye week we’ve ever had, so let’s see if it makes a difference or not.
I never really like doing record predictions, especially at this point in the off-season, but if I absolutely had to, here is how I’d mark it up right now.
Wins: Tennessee, Browns, Dolphins (R), Dolphins (H), Patriots (H), Bills (H), Raiders (H), Vikings (H), Cardinals.
Losses: Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, Patriots (R), Bills (R), Chiefs (R), Chargers (R), Denver
But you could make an argument for and against most games.
NEWS & NOTES
The Jets decided they’d seen enough of Will Ferrin, cutting him to make space for Tim Patrick. Ferrin the UDFA kicker out of BYU didn’t have the best rookie camp by most accounts, and the Jets have Lenny Krieg and Cade York to battle it out in the early months of the summer.
NFL.com listed the Jets as one of the main winners with the schedule release:
“The Jets face their share of landmines early on, but there’s also this: Four of their first eight games come against the Titans (Week 1), Browns (Week 5), Dolphins (Week 7) and Raiders (Week 8). Win those four, and Glenn would be sitting at .500 at worst nearing the midpoint of the season. Heck, if he can win three, he’d have already matched last year’s total. And beating ex-Jets coach Robert Saleh on the road to kick things off certainly would earn Glenn some buy-in (though losing that one might, of course, hurt more than your typical defeat).”
As a season ticket holder you are held hostage by the NFL on scheduling any other events in the fall until May. Concerts, weddings, vacations ETC are all on hold till you get the dates.
As you say David then they make a big deal out of it. Even when you get the dates they still may move the games.
Look at the Bills fans the two biggest holidays, over here, they have home games, Thanksgiving and Christmas. On top of a cold weather city.
Maybe cause I’m old now I couldn’t care less when and what.
Can we all say today “it’s good to be a Jets fan” 😊
Since offense is usually a little slower to find a rhythm to begin the season, I would prefer to get those NFC teams out of the way early. At least we have a better chance to catch them before they get into a groove.
The NFL has never really cared about player safety, or why else would they continue to add more games on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday? It's hard enough to be ready to play every Sunday, and then they trot teams out on 3 days rest... No mid-week games is a best-case scenario for the Jets.