This is one in a series of articles that will also appear in the New York Jets 2025 Yearbook, which will be published later this summer.
Enjoy these one-paragraph nuggets, one for each of the Jets' 17 opponents in the rapidly approaching 2025 regular season.
Game 1, Week 1 — vs. PITTSBURGH STEELERS, MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m., CBS
After a rough start to this rivalry, the Jets have come up stronger against the Steelers, winning 3 of the last 5 overall and 4 of the last 5 at home. Now the refurbished Green & White, with first-year Jets coach Aaron Glenn and first-year Jets starting QB Justin Fieldsleading the way, will tackle Pittsburgh and new/old QB Aaron Rodgers for the first time in a season opener and for only the second time in a home opener, the first coming in 1984 at the old Meadowlands stadium.
Game 2, Week 2 — vs. BUFFALO BILLS, MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 14, 1 p.m., CBS
The Jets' defenders want to increase their takeaways. A good test of that unit skill will come from the Bills, who tightened up their gift-giving from averaging almost 25 giveaways a game from 2020-23 to leading the NFL in '24 with 8 giveaways and a monster plus-24 TO margin. However, in 13 previous games vs. Josh Allen, the Jets D has forced the Bills QB into 18 turnovers (11 INTs, 7 FUMs), and DL Quinnen Williams and company will take aim at him once again.
Game 3, Week 3 — @ TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS, Raymond James Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 21, 1 p.m., FOX
Todd Bowles was the Jets HC from 2015-18, posting a 24-40 record. He's had a better run as Tampa Bay HC, going 27-24 with 3 NFC South titles in 3 seasons at the Buccaneers helm. He faced the Jets once as a head coach but that was before his Bucs tenure. The Dolphins, with Bowles as interim HC, downed the Jets, 19-17, in the 2011 season finale. The Jets beat the Bucs in 10 of their first 11 meetings before losing the last two, in Tampa in 2017 and at MetLife in '21.
Game 4, Week 4 — @ MIAMI DOLPHINS, Hard Rock Stadium, Monday, Sept. 29, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
Jamien Sherwood ranged sideline to sideline in place of the injured C.J. Mosley at MLB last season. Sherwood's 154 tackles led the Jets and 5 of his 6 double-digit tackle games came away from home. None was bigger, and perhaps more frustrating, than his 18 tackles in the 32-26 OT loss to the Dolphins at Hard Rock — the most total tackles by a Jet in 17 years, since David Harris' 24 tackles vs. Washington in 2007, and the most by a Jet on the road since at least 1994.
Game 5, Week 5 — vs. DALLAS COWBOYS, MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Oct. 5, 1 p.m., FOX
The Jets have won the last two MetLIfe Stadium matchups in this interconference rivalry— their opening-night 27-24 comeback in 2011 and their 24-22 win in 2019. But the Cowboys, off their unusual down 7-10 year in '24, are getting QB Dak Prescott back from injury and have added WR George Pickens to the offense. The 'Pokes also have a new HC in Brian Schottenheimer, who will be familiar to Green & White fans as the Jets offensive coordinator from 2006-11.
Game 6, Week 6 — vs. DENVER BRONCOS, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Sunday, Oct. 12, 9:30 a.m., NFLN
This game, the Jets' third at Tottenham since 2021 and their fourth England game since '15, will provide a head-coaching storyline as Denver's Sean Payton will go up against the Jets' Glenn, who was the DBs coach from 2016-21 on Payton's New Orleans staffs. The Jets will also be playing the Broncos for the 6th straight season, with a 7th consecutive season pairing ahead in 2026 when the AFC East / AFC West scheduling rotation comes up.
Game 7, Week 7 — vs. CAROLINA PANTHERS, MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Oct. 19, 1 p.m., FOX
The Jets' last win in this interconference series came 16 years ago, at the old Meadowlands stadium in 2009. That 17-6 verdict was built on CB Darrelle Revis' second INT-return TD and second 2-INT game of his emerging Hall of Fame career. Can current Jets CBs Sauce Gardner, Brandon Stephens and Michael Carter II harass Carolina QB Bryce Young into some similar mistakes as he tries to find first-round rookie WR Tet McMillan downfield in this one?
Game 8, Week 8 — @ CINCINNATI BENGALS, Paul Brown Stadium, Sunday, Oct. 26, 1 p.m., CBS
Since 2020, Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow's 68.6% accuracy against all opponents is the best in the NFL but his 46 interceptions are tied for 8th-most. S Andre Cisco and the Jets secondary will have a difficult but potentially rewarding opportunity to keep a lid on Burrow, take the ball away a few times, and lead the Jets to their first win — and their first touchdown of any kind — at Paul Brown Stadium since their 24-14 AFC Wild Card triumph in 2010.
Week 9 — BYE WEEK, Sunday, Nov. 2
Game 9, Week 10 — vs. CLEVELAND BROWNS, MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Nov. 9, 1 p.m., CBS
Can classic QB Joe Flacco, who signed with the Browns this offseason, inspire the Jets again, this time at MetLife? In Week 2 of the 2022 season, Flacco was a Jet and had a game not for the aged but for the ages at Cleveland, throwing for 307 yards and 4 TDs. And with 1:55 to play and the Jets trailing, 30-17, he fired two TD passes, including his 2nd scoring strike of the game to rookie WR Garrett Wilson with 22 seconds left, lifting the Jets to their improbable 31-30 win.
Game 10, Week 11 — @ NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, Gillette Stadium, Thursday, Nov. 13, 8:15 p.m., Prime Video
The Jets defense has never been stingier in yielding real estate to the Patriots over this original AFL rivalry's 65 previous seasons than it has been the past 2 seasons. In their 3 most recent meetings, the Jets have held New England to 506 yards on 169 plays, 2.99 yards/play, which is the best 3-game average for the Green & White defense vs. the Pats offense in franchise history. The previous best was 3.12 yards/play allowed in the 1972-73 seasons.
Game 11, Week 12 — @ BALTIMORE RAVENS, M&T Bank Stadium, Sunday, Nov. 23, 1 p.m., CBS
Passing skills are paramount in the NFL, but this game will feature two of the top running QBs in the game when the Jets' Fields tries to lead his new team to a road win over Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. Jackson has a career yards/carry average of 6.09, 3rd-best among all NFL rushers since the 1970 merger (minimum 400 carries) behind only Michael Vick's 7.00 and Randall Cunningham's 6.36. Fields is in a dead heat for No. 4 with Kyler Murray at 6.00 yards/carry.
Game 12, Week 13 — vs. ATLANTA FALCONS, MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Nov. 30, 1 p.m., FOX
Raheem Morris was a Jets coaching intern in 2001. Since then, the Green & White have competed against Morris teams several times but only once before when he was an NFL head coach — in 2009 at Tampa Bay, when the Jets defeated his Buccaneers, 26-3. This year, Morris will lead Atlanta, his new team, into MetLife. The Jets have lost 3 in a row and 4 of their last 5 to the Falcons, with each of those 5 games being decided by one score.
Game 13, Week 14 — vs. MIAMI DOLPHINS, MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Dec. 7, 1 p.m., CBS
This division rivalry has gone the Dolphins' way recently, as 8 wins in the teams' last 10 meetings attest. But the Jets have interestingly won the turnover battle in those 10 games with a plus-5 margin, crowned by last year's plus-3 in the 32-20 season-finale win over the 'Fins. The Jets' victory margin in that game was their largest over Miami since 2013 in South Florida, and their 4 takeaways their most in the series since grabbing 5 TAs at Miami in 2007.
Game 14, Week 15 — @ JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS, EverBank Stadium, Sunday, Dec. 14, 1 p.m., CBS
Since 2011, the Jets have won 6 of 9 over the Jaguars and 2 of 4 at Jacksonville. Their most recent EverBank W came last Dec. 15, with Breece Hall providing the go-ahead 1-yard TD run with 1:05 to play in the 32-25 victory. Hall became the first Jet to run for 3 game-winning TDs in the last 2 minutes of a game — all in his first 3 seasons. His 2-yard run propelled them past Pittsburgh, 24-20, in '22 and his 8-yarder secured their 20-14 upset of the Eagles in '23.
Game 15, Week 16 — @ NEW ORLEANS SAINTS, Caesars Superdome, Sunday, Dec. 21, 1 p.m., CBS
The Jets have dropped 3 of their last 4 in the Superdome, with their losses in 2009 and '17 coming at the hands of QB Drew Brees & Co. Eight years after that last defeat, the Jets will be going up against a new Saints QB after the offseason retirement of Derek Carr. Jermaine Johnson, Will McDonald and the edge-rushing unit would love to fire up the Jets' first victory in Nawlins since DE John Abraham's 4 sacks highlighted a 16-9 Sunday night triumph way back in 2001.
Game 16, Week 17 — vs. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Dec. 28, 1 p.m., CBS
This will be Mike Vrabel's second game this season coaching against his old nemeses. As a player, he was an OLB, mostly for the Patriots, with 140 starts and one Pro Bowl. And as a situational TE, he excelled — his NFL receiving line was a stunning 12 catches for 17 yards and 12 TDs. Against the Jets, Vrabel's Pats were 13-4 and he had his only 2-TD game as a pro against the Green & White in the Meadowlands in 2005. As the Titans HC, though, he was 1-1 vs. the Jets.
Game 17, Week 18 — @ BUFFALO BILLS, Highmark Stadium, TBD, TBD, TBD
Fast starts will be a priority for the Jets, who have struggled to do that at Buffalo. They've scored no first-quarter TDs in their last 14 games at Highmark Stadium, contributing to a 4-10 record in those games, and they haven't held a lead in any of their last 5 games in Western New York. The Jets also seek a strong finish to 2025 in this, their 11th season finale vs. the Bills, and also their and Buffalo's last RS game in this stadium before the Bills move into their new home next year.
