The 2014 preseason is now firmly in focus. The dates and kickoff times for all four of our summer opponents has now been released:
■ The preseason opener against the Colts at MetLife Stadium will be played Thursday, Aug. 7, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. ET.
■ The road opener against the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati will be Saturday, Aug. 16, also with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
■ The annual preseason matchup with the Giants at MetLife (Jets are the home team this year) will be Friday, Aug. 22, with a 7:30 kickoff.
■ The annual preseason finale against the Eagles will take place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Thursday, Aug. 28, 7 p.m. kickoff.
All four games will be televised on CBS 2 New York and aired on ESPN New York 98.7 FM.
In the opener at MetLife Stadium, the Jets will be going up against Andrew Luck for only the second time — we prevailed at home, 35-9, over the then-rookie quarterback and the Colts during the 2012 regular season. And we'll be playing the Indianapolis franchise for only the second time ever in the preseason, following the 31-7 victory at Indy in 2004.
This game will be Kids Night, with many kid-friendly activities and attractions at the stadium. We'll have more details on the night once details have been firmed up.
In the second full preseason week, we'll again journey to Cincinnati, as we did last regular season, to play QB Andy Dalton and the Bengals. We've won four of the last five and five of nine overall in the summer series with the Stripes, although the last matchup was a 17-6 loss at Paul Brown Stadium in 2012.
Following the first two games against relatively infrequent opponents, we'll finish as usual with two longtime August acquaintances and rivals.
Game 3 will mark the 46th annual preseason meeting and fourth annual MetLife Bowl against our stadium mates, the Giants. The Jets lead, 24-20-1, in this series that began Aug. 17, 1969, seven months after their Super Bowl III triumph, with Joe Namath and company prevailing at the Yale Bowl that year, 37-14.
The teams have met without fail every summer since. This time around it's the Jets' home game.
And concluding the preseason in Week 4 (likely on Thursday night, Aug. 28), the Jets will take to the road to play the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The two green teams will be meeting for the 36th time in the preseason (the Jets lead, 22-13) and the 30th time in 30 summers, and as usual since the start of the new millennium will end their preseasons against each other and head into the regular season.
