Head coach Robert Saleh's Jets rebuilding plan begins its second year of preseason games in August, as does year two of the NFL's new plan for all teams' preseason schedules. That means a second summer of three games, not four — including the Jets' first home preseason game in 10 years.
That national TV game on ESPN will be the second game on the Green & White's schedule, at MetLife Stadium against the now Matt Ryan-less Atlanta Falcons on Monday night, Aug. 22. The Jets had an ESPN game at Detroit canceled due to COVID-19 in August 2020. Their last primetime preseason game was at Washington on ESPN in 2018, and their last nationally televised home preseason game was vs. Carolina on NBC in 2012.
The Jets' summer schedule opens on the road at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Friday night, Aug. 12, when QB Zach Wilson and LB C.J. Mosley lead the roster of new and returning players on both sides of the ball down I-95 to take on their old NFC friends the Eagles.
And they wrap the preseason up with a Game 3 home game at MetLife against their even older NFC friends the Giants with a rare Sunday afternoon kickoff on Aug. 28. A probable sidebar in the finale will be a matchup of two first-round rookie edge rushers in the Jets' Jermaine Johnson and the Giants' Kayvon Thibodeaux.
All NFL teams again will get a bye week in the final week of the preseason, when that fourth preseason game used to be played. So once the Jets-Giants game concludes, Saleh and his staff will begin preparations for their '22 regular season two weeks later.
As it was last year when the league introduced 17-game schedules, all teams will have one more home preseason game and one fewer home regular-season game or vice versa. The Jets had nine home regular-season games last year, so they were scheduled for one home preseason game. This year, with nine road RS games, the Jets got their two home summer games in the Falcons and Giants.
The Jets had a decent preseason last year, going 2-0-1 for their first undefeated summer since going 4-0 in 2002. The August record, of course, isn't as important as the record from September to January. However this year's preseason schedule unfolds, the goal is to get all the new and returning Jets on the same page for an improvement over last year's 4-13 regular season.
Here are more notes on the Jets' three preseason games in 2022:
Game 1—Jets at Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field, Friday, Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m. ET, WCBS
The Jets and Eagles will meet for the 21st time in the last 22 preseasons, with the only miss coming in 2020 due to COVID-19. ... The green teams will open their preseason schedules against each other for the first time since 1998, when the Jets won at the old Veterans Stadium 29-15. ... The NFL instituted a new rule for '21 that eliminated overtime in all preseason games. The Jets and Eagles then played the league's first preseason tie since 2006. ... The Jets trailed 31-23 but on the last play of the game TE Kenny Yeboah and QB James Morgan combined on their second TD of the final quarter, a 49-yard Hail Mary, and RB Josh Adams ran in the two-point conversion to forge the tie and end the game.
Game 2—Jets vs. Atlanta, MetLife Stadium, Monday, Aug. 22, 8 p.m., ESPN
The Jets will play the Falcons in the preseason for the first time since 2019 and for the first time at home in the PS since 2018. ... The Jets are 8-4 overall vs. Atlanta in the PS after winning the last four. ... With Zach Wilson set to start for the Jets, this will be the sixth straight preseason game vs. the Falcons with a different Jets QB starter. The last time the same Jets QB started two consecutive preseason games vs. ATL: Richard Todd opened vs. Steve Bartkowski in 1978 and again in '81. The Falcons won both. ... With Ryan traded to the Colts, the Jets will be playing the Falcons for the first time without "Matty Ice" at QB since 2007. Jets vs. Ryan all-time: 1-3 in regular-season, 3-0 in preseason.
Game 3—Jets vs. Giants, MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Aug. 28, 1 p.m., WCBS
The Jets and Giants had played every preseason since 1969 for an NFL-long 51-year streak of summer meetings that was snapped in 2020 due to COVID. ... The Green & White, with their 12-7 win at Big Blue last August, took a 26-25-1 lead in the preseason series. ... Zach Wilson made his pro debut vs. the Giants last preseason, completing six of nine passes for 63 yards. ... Saleh's Jets will be going up against the Giants under new HC Brian Daboll, who among his multiple NFL stops coached the Jets' quarterbacks in 2007-08. ... This will be the Jets' first Sunday preseason game since 2012 at MetLife vs. Carolina and their first Sunday afternoon preseason game since 2003 vs. Cincinnati.
