The first 10 games may well tell the tale of the Jets’ 2014 season.
Head coach Rex Ryan got a look at his team’s schedule before the NFL released all the regular-season schedules tonight, and one thing jumped out at him immediately: three of the first four games will be played at MetLife Stadium.
“I just know the energy and the passion our fans are going to have to open the season,” Ryan told Eric Allen on tonight’s Jets Talk Live Schedule Special. “Three out of four — I think that’s the highlight. I just think our players feed off of that enthusiasm from our fans. Our guys, they know how important it is, they appreciate our fans. So we put everything we have into it.”
The season opens at home on Sunday, Sept. 7, at 1 p.m. Not unusual. With that game, we will extend our franchise record to five consecutive seasons playing our season opener at home. What is unusual is the opponent: the Oakland Raiders. For the first time ever, the Green & White will play its home opener against the Silver & Black.
Then come three games against the NFC North — the first time the Jets will play three consecutive games against NFC opponents since 2001. Game 2 comes against the Packers in the pre-frozen tundra at Lambeau Field. Then come the Bears on Monday night, Sept. 22, and the Lions the following Sunday, both at MetLife.
Then what follows could be our season-making sixpack of games. That Black-and-Blue September will be followed by a brutal six weeks heading into the Week 11 bye: road games at San Diego, New England (Thursday night at Gillette Stadium on Oct. 16) and Kansas City alternating with home games against the AFC Super Bowl representative Broncos, the Bills and the Steelers.
That’s four playoff teams from last year with, on paper, a backbreaking combined schedule strength of 59-37 (.615 winning percentage). It’s reminiscent of last year’s five-game stretch that included games against Atlanta’s Matt Ryan, Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, New England’s Tom Brady, Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton and New Orleans’ Drew Brees. We came out of the stretch 3-2 to come up to last year’s bye with a 5-4 mark.
And yes, you probably caught that right: Oct. 12 at home against the AFC champion Broncos and Peyton Manning, then four nights later at the AFC runnerup Patriots and Brady.
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