All 32 NFL teams enter the season with a plan.
Change is something every team has to deal with. For those at the top of the league like the Seattle Seahawks, the change is replacing key coaches and players who had departed for greener pastures. For a team that was 3-14 like the Jets, the changes focus on upgrades.
Of course all of these plans clash. The Tennessee Titans, the Jets’ Week 1 opponent, made plans to improve this offseason. They wanted new coach Robert Saleh to provide the team with fresh
leadership and second year quarterback Cam Ward to take a major step forward.
Everybody’s plan cannot possibly work. The teams making these plans compete directly against each other. That is something the Jets know all too well. This is a team with the longest Playoff drought in the league. It has been a decade and a half since the Jets saw the postseason. It has now been over a decade since the Jets so much ended a season with a winning record.
Plan after plan has failed. A year ago Justin Fields was supposed to resurrect his career. Before that, Aaron Rodgers and a cast of big name veterans were supposed to take the Jets to the Super Bowl. Before that, the Robert Saleh-Zach Wilson combination was supposed to make the Jets a permanent fixture as an AFC contender. Before that, Adam Gase and Sam Darnold were supposed to do the same.
We can hope the Jets’ plan will work before each season. Based on what the team did in the 2026 offseason, it was logical to believe it was likely the team would be improved. But we didn’t know for sure until they actually took the field. We couldn’t.
I think this is what made this 23-10 dominating Week 1 win over the Tennessee Titans so enjoyable. Everything went according to plan.
If you had ask Jets fans how this team would find success in 2026 after a busy offseason, most probably would have laid out a blueprint similar to what we saw in this game.
On the offensive side of the ball, a line anchored by two talented tackles would control the trenches. The Jets could run the ball effectively with Breece Hall and when he needed a rest Braelon Allen. The pressure would be off Geno Smith, who wouldn’t need to carry the offense. The veteran quarterback would just need to distribute the ball effectively to his pass catchers. Of course Garrett Wilson would be the go to guy, but Adonai Mitchell would emerge as viable second option. Still, rookies Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper would chip in.
On the defensive side of the ball, Aaron Glenn and Brian Duker would oversee a defense that looked far more prepared than what we saw from Steve Wilks a year ago. A new look edge group led by David Bailey would relentlessly get after the quarterback. In the middle of the field, Demario Davis would be stout and erase any problems.
And so it was at least for this week.
Look, the season in the NFL is a long one. The successful teams in this league perform at a high level consistently. It’s one thing to look great for one game. The season lasts four and a half months. This sort of effort has to be repeated over and over.
The Jets drew an easy opponent in Week 1. The Titans figure to be one of the league’s worst teams. This was one of the few times the Jets will take the field in a regular season game with a pronounced talent advantage over their opponent. Beating other opponents like this won’t be as easy.
Taking it a step further, a win doesn’t necessarily guarantee a great Jets season, but losing this game would have been a catastrophe.
With that said, I haven’t known the Jets to avoid catastrophe too often in recent years.
They also didn’t have the chance to play 17 games of consistent football this week, and they couldn’t choose their opponent. They could play one game against the team they were scheduled against.
And they played that game against that opponent extremely well.
There will be plenty of time to worry about future games and a tougher upcoming schedule.
For now I’m just going to enjoy a truly outstanding Jets win and savor one season that has gone according to plan at least for the first week.
