Jets Gameday facts: Week 1 vs. Steelers
Former Jet and current Steelers quarterback and Jets head coach Aaron Glenn. Credit: Former Jet and current Steelers quarterback and Jets head coach Aaron Glenn. AP/Gene J. Puskar; Lee S. Weissman
VITALS
Sunday's game: Pittsburgh Steelers at Jets, MetLife Stadium, 1 p.m.
Line: Steelers by 2 1⁄2; O/U 37 1⁄2
TV: CBS (Ian Eagle, JJ Watt).
Jets radio: Q104.3-FM (Bob Wischusen, Anthony Becht); Sirius XM.
All-time series: Steelers lead, 19-7 (home team has won 4 of last 5).
Last meeting: Oct. 29, 2024, (at) Steelers 37, Jets 15.
KEY INJURIES
Jets: OUT: OL Esa Pole (ankle); QUESTIONABLE: OL Chukwuma Okorafor (hand).
Steelers: OUT: DT Derrick Harmon (knee); QUESTIONABLE: LB Nick Herbig (hamstring).
JOHNSON’S RETURN
Edge rusher Jermaine Johnson will play his first game in 357 days. He’s back from an Achilles tendon tear suffered in Week 2 last year in Tennessee. He said he feels mentally and physically stronger and more confident than before his injury. He is looking to be “that pillar” for the Jets after not being able to help them last season. “Close time, crunch time, clutch time, they look at (No.) 11 and 11 comes through,” Johnson said. “That’s a successful season for me.”
RODGERS VS. GLENN
Aaron Glenn’s Lions defense frustrated Rodgers in four meetings. Rodgers threw four touchdown passes, five interceptions and had a passer rating of 72.7 and lost three of them, including his last one with the Packers in 2023.
QUOTABLE
“You want to kick somebody’s butt anytime you go out on the grass. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Arizona, Pittsburgh, Cleveland. It doesn’t matter. You want to beat the hell out of anybody you go against.”
— Glenn on Justin Fields facing the team he played for last season.
NUMBER, PLEASE
7: Fields will be the seventh QB since 1950 to start Week 1 for three different teams (Bears, Steelers, Jets) in consecutive years. The others: Baker Mayfield, Carson Wentz, Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner and Jim Harbaugh.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
