Last season, the New York Jets' dreams were shattered just about the moment the regular season began. Future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers went down with a season-ending Achilles injury four snaps into the first offensive drive, and with him went any playoff hopes for the team.
This season, Rodgers is back and has finally completed a pass as a Jet. His first game back was naturally highly anticipated, and while it didn't go as well as he or the Jets had hoped, it was still better than last season's debut.
New York traveled to Santa Clara, California, to face the San Francisco 49ers on "Monday Night Football" and came home with a 32-19 loss to the defending NFC Champions.
Rodgers looked rusty, going 13 of 21 passing for 167 yards, one touchdown and one interception (compared to last season's Week 1 game with a stat line of 0 of 1 with 0 passing yards and no touchdowns). It was far from the worst quarterback performance in Week 1, but it certainly wasn't enough to secure a road win against such a dominant team.
While they may have a lot to work on, a loss with a healthy Rodgers is more positive to the team than a win where No. 8 goes down. When asked if a 0-1 start this season feels a lot better than a 1-0 start in 2023, head coach Robert Saleh admitted that it does.
"You know what, unfortunately it does," he said. "Because I know we're gonna get the defense fixed, that is not a problem … it's not a problem. And I know we're gonna get a lot better from Week 1 to Week 2."
The Jets defense allowed 24 total first downs, 401 total yards and 180 rushing yards, the last of which was tied for the third-most allowed in Week 1.
Saleh said the team has a "great opportunity" up next against the Tennessee Titans on a short week. The Titans lost their Week 1 matchup, 24-17, against the Chicago Bears, but Saleh feels this week's opponent will offer a good challenge all around for his squad.
"They've got a lot of really good pieces, they got one of the best [offensive line] coaches [in Bill Callahan] in the history of football … It's going to be a tremendous challenge."
Saleh emphasized that it's a long season and they'll have plenty of chances to improve and produce different results.
"Like I said, it's a 17-game season, got 16 of these left and getting the defense fixed is not going to be a problem," he said.
The Jets and Titans will face off Sunday at 1 p.m. ET at Nissan Stadium. The Jets are 3.5-point favorites, per FanDuel Sportsbook.
