Last Year the Season was one game long, it's different this year

 It took 363 days, but Jets fans finally got the debut from Aaron Rodgers they waited for. This time around that debut ended in a blowout loss on the road to the San Francisco 49’ers. Last year the Jets won the battle but lost the war following their overtime walk-off win against the Buffalo Bills. This year, the Jets hope they lost the battle but because they have Rodgers they will win the war.  

Of all the ways the game could have gone last night, having the Jets defense get thoroughly dominated on the ground by a third year running back, Jordan Mason, who wasn’t a household name until last night, wasn’t on the bingo card. The trademark for Robert Saleh has been his defense. That’s what got him hired from San Francisco. The defense is what Jet fans have pointed to as a reason for optimism heading into this year with Rodgers. The defense was finally supposed to get the complimentary football they have been dying for since Robert Saleh walked in the doors at Florham Park. Giving up over 400 yards of offense to last years’ Super Bowl runner up wasn’t the plan. Having the offense with a healthy Aaron Rodgers have the ball for a shade over 21 minutes of game time wasn’t the plan either.

For much of the offseason, the talk around the Jets has been about their chances to participate in the Super Bowl. Last night they got their chance to see what playing a Super Bowl contender was all about. They got punched in the mouth and couldn’t really stand up after. That’s the bad news.

The good news is now everyone in that locker room understands what it might take to stand up to a team like San Francisco and battle for a full four quarters. They understand where the holes in the ship are and because this team is a defense first team, how to fix them. Aaron Rodgers got what he wanted; to get hit and to improvise a play or two. Now it’s time to take all the lessons from a bad loss and make a statement against a weak portion of the schedule and get the season off on the right foot. If they fail to do that, all the concerns over yet another prime-time loss will be legitimized. All the chatter about whether Haason Reddick would make a difference on the field will get louder. All the nightmares from damaged Jets fans will be actualized. But let’s hold off on all of that until the team on the field gives us a reason to act.

This Jets team is an all or nothing team. After one game, they failed their first test. But after all; it is only one game. The Cincinnati Bengals who have the same championship aspirations as the Jets fell to the New England Patriots at home on Sunday. The Baltimore Ravens who the Jets will most likely have to go through on their way to a Super Bowl were a half cleat size away from getting a chance to walk-off the defending Super Bowl champions on Thursday. Losses in Week 1 happen. The Jets have now had an 0-1 record in five of the past six seasons. This is familiar territory. What is unfamiliar is the fact the Jets have a future Hall of Famer as their quarterback, and he has also been here before. Outside of last season, Rodgers has walked onto the team bus 0-1 each of the last three seasons. Two of those teams made the playoffs.

Yes, the failure of not winning the opening game hurts, especially with the game being a standalone game for the entire football world to dissect. It is not the end all be all. How the Jets looked last night in Santa Clara is not how they will look when they walk off the field on January 5th at MetLife. Playoff teams take time to mold together. The Jets defense does not let the rest of the team down often in the Robert Saleh era. And when they do, the group usually bounces back to form the very next week. The next “real” test for this top-level defense will be Week 6 at home also on Monday Night against Josh Allen and the division rival Buffalo Bills.

Week 1 was disappointing. But one disappointment doesn’t have to impact the rest of the season like it usually does. Because this year isn’t a usual year.