Depending on who you ask, opinions on the New York Jets are differing. On one side of the coin, there are people who are expecting this to be the same old Jets. They won the offseason, but will they win when it counts in the regular season?
The schedule for the Jets in the early going of the season is brutal. Four out of their first six games are against playoff teams from last season. The other two games are far from cakewalks against the New England Patriots and on the road against the Denver Broncos. Emotions will be high during the Broncos games courtesy of comments Sean Payton made about Nathaniel Hackett.
If the Jets get off to a rocky start, will they be able to bounce back? On the other side of the coin are the optimists. There are some people who believe that the addition of Aaron Rodgers is going to be enough to upgrade the offense to contender status.
Based on how the offense ran last season, it is hard to envision Rodgers not helping turn things around immediately. Zach Wilson, Joe Flacco, Mike White and Chris Streveler were unable to get the job done, punctuated by the Jets not scoring a touchdown in the final three games of the season.
An NFL scout who spoke to NFL Analysis Network would fall into the latter. The scout has high expectations for the Jets, as he believes the addition of Rodgers will take them to heights they haven’t experienced in a very long time.
“The media has turned on the Jets a lot over the last couple of weeks. I simply don’t agree. They have Aaron Rodgers and Rodgers is going to put up an MVP-caliber season. I think the Jets are a legitimate Super Bowl contender.”
We will find out a lot about the Jets in those first few weeks of the season. If they are going to be true contenders, they will be able to handle the daunting task of defeating the Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles ahead of their bye week.
Going .500 in that stretch would keep the Jets squarely in the mix for a playoff spot. Anything worse than that and they will have their work cut out for them the rest of the season. Those first six weeks will be a good measuring stick to see how they truly measure up to some of the heavy hitters in the league.
The scout certainly thinks they will handle themselves well. If Rodgers does play at the MVP level which they are predicting, the Jets are going to be a very difficult team to beat throughout the regular season and playoffs.
