As NFL Week 1 approaches, Jets and Giants have renewed optimism
On left, Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart and Giants head coach Brian Daboll. On right, Jets wide receiver Arian Smith and Jets head coach Aaron Glenn. Credit: Ed Murray
It’s been 34 weeks since New York has had any actual NFL games on its schedule, and even longer if you want to consider meaningful ones that might have been enjoyed. The combined crumminess of the two squads in town made for a dreary winter and a well-deserved vacation from watching them err, stumble and generally embarrass themselves — and by extension us — during that forgettable 2024 campaign.
This, though, is the last empty Sunday before the sport returns to us at full volume with a pair of openers next Sunday.
Don’t worry.
A lot has changed.
The Giants and the Jets have overhauled their quarterback rooms, improved their defenses, added some impressive draft picks and altered their mindsets since last we saw them in true action.
The Jets brought in a new front office and head coach and the Giants retained theirs for a fourth season that somehow feels more like a new start than either of the previous two.
Perhaps the biggest noticeable difference is the optimism that both teams have exuded despite totaling only eight victories last season. And the biggest surprise regarding that attitude? It actually might be somewhat deserved.
It took some getting used to for the Giants to walk off the field in each of their preseason games having scored at least 30 points. It was only the preseason, but they had reached 30 points in a game only five times in the past five regular seasons.
“We came into the locker room after each game and said, like, this is what we want after each game,” receiver Wan’Dale Robinson said. “We want to come in here happy, scoring 30 points with a win.”
Can they keep doing that regularly now that it will start to count?
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I feel confident. I think we worked really, really hard this summer, doing a lot of different things and getting a lot of people involved, moving a lot of different places. I think . . . out there in these preseason games, you kind of saw, even if it wasn’t the starters, that it was just the standard . . . throughout camp.”
Over at the Jets, they feel pretty good about their prospects, too. Coach Aaron Glenn has brought an entirely new way of approaching things and the players seemed to have bought in wholeheartedly. After two years of misery, the Jets seem to be falling in line behind the right Aaron.
“Besides the talent and the character, it’s how much we are all on the same page about mastering the intangibles: violence, effort, passion, the smarts of the game,” linebacker Jermaine Johnson said of what he likes about this year’s team. “Everybody is on the same page. Then when you add the talent on top of that and the kind of people we are, it can definitely form something special. We’re going to take it a week at a time, but with the talent, the mindset and the character of the guys in this room, I’m definitely very optimistic.”
The Jets have gone 14 straight seasons without making the postseason. There are high school seniors who do not have clear memories of the Jets appearing in a playoff game. But as new starting quarterback Justin Fields said in one of the team’s in-house videos: “We’re ready to change the narrative and prove ourselves right.”
It certainly won’t be easy.
The Giants undoubtedly are a better team than the three-win roster they had a year ago. Just a quick glance at their current practice squad tells you that. It consists of names such as Tomon Fox, Elijah Chatman and Ihmir Smith-Marsette. They were starters for the Giants in years past, and this year, they couldn’t make the 53.
But the Giants also face the most arduous schedule in the league based on last year’s records and open with games at Washington and at Dallas that could put them in an 0-2 hole in the division before new quarterback Russell Wilson even takes a snap at MetLife Stadium.
Sorry, forgot about the optimism. They’ll definitely be 2-0. Absolutely. They don’t even have to face Micah Parsons . . . at least not until Week 11, when he comes to New Jersey with the Packers.
The Jets, meanwhile, open their season at home against Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers, the team that not only benched Fields last year but didn’t bother to re-sign him when he became a free agent and they had no one else to play the quarterback position.
Talk about a game fraught with story lines and drama. Well, a whole season, really.
Glenn played on some of the best teams the Jets have ever had, and some of the worst. He knows the fragile psyche of the fan base. Now as a coach he can help heal a lot of wounds . . . or deepen them.
All of that is for next week. This weekend, this Sunday, is about resting, getting away, recovering from the past six weeks of the preseason. Both teams dismissed their players for a few days.
“The main thing I implore guys to do is get away, clear your mind,” Giants linebacker Brian Burns said. “We’ve got a long season, a guaranteed 17 games. Hopefully 21. But just clear your mind, get right for football and get ready for football.”
And perhaps get ready for something that hasn’t happened around here in a while, something that very few of the players on either team have ever experienced here.
“We’re looking to win some games,” Giants second-year receiver Malik Nabers said. “That’s all I can say. I’m looking to win some games.”
Yeah. Join the club, kid.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
