The Jets and Giants have a combined one playoff win over the past 14 seasons. Since the 2010 campaign, the Jets have not made it to the playoffs, the longest active futility streak among all franchises in the four major North American Sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL). The Giants have had just one playoff appearance over the past eight seasons, going 9-7-1 during the 2022 schedule and earning a wildcard berth.
The odds are dauntingly low for either to be among the seven playoff teams from each of their respective conferences –– the Jets in the American Football Conference (AFC) and the Giants in the National Football Conference (NFC) –– four months from now when the regular season ends. Most sports betting companies have indexed the Jets, under first-year head coach Aaron Glenn, to finish last in the AFC East and the Giants, led by Brian Daboll and now in his fourth season as the team’s head coach, to wind up last in NFC East.
Last season, the Jets were third in their division at 5-12, tied with three other teams for the seventh worst record in the 32-team National Football League. The Giants were 3-14, last in their division, and along with the Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns, which were also 3-14, at the bottom of the league in wins.
But projections can be disrupted.
The Jets’ and Giants’ quest to prove the oddsmakers wrong begins this Sunday when the Jets host old friend –– figuratively and literally –– Aaron Rodgers, the 41-year-old quarterback, and the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday (1 p.m.) at MetLife Stadium and the Giants face the Washington Commanders on the road at 1 p.m also. Rodgers was a member of the Jets for the past two seasons before signing with the Steelers in June. In an ironic twist, the Jets’ new QB1 is Justin Fields, who started the Steelers’ first six games last season before being replaced by Russell Wilson, who is now the Giants’ starter, with promising rookie first-round pick Jaxon Dart the long-term franchise quarterback in waiting.
But the strengths of both teams is on the defensive side of the ball anchored by a pair tackles who both have All-Pro and Pro-Bowl selections on their resumes. The Jets Quinnen Williams, a 2022 First-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler the past three seasons, and the Giants’ Dexter Lawrence, Second-team All-Pro in 2022 and 2023, a Pro Bowl pick from 2022-2024, are elite talents in the middle of their units. Both defenses have the potential to be top ten, which should keep their teams in most games late into the fourth quarter if the offenses are average.
If they are even slightly above the mean, the Jets and Giants should exceed their win totals from a season ago by at least three to four, but still not playoff level, yet an improvement on which they can continue to build. The Jets lost six games last season in which they led in the fourth quarter with an offense that was in the lower fourth of the league, 24th overall in points per game averaging 19.9. The Giants lost eight games by a touchdown or less with an offense that was a lowly 31st in points per game at 16.1.
The Giants will be confronted with the NFL’s toughest schedule based on opponents’ combined winning percentage from last season (.574, 166-123). The Jets’, at least statistically, received the much better draw as the sixth easiest (.460, 133-156). The prediction is that both will level up empirically and in win totals with equal records of 7-10.