One week from Monday, Aaron Rodgers will return to the field under center for the Jets against the 49ers under the primetime lights in Santa Clara, CA.

It's nearly impossible not to get excited thinking about Rodgers' return to football on "Monday Night Football" in what could feel like déjà vu.

"If you're not excited to play this game, then you're missing something," Jets head coach Robert Saleh said on Thursday. "The excitement to get out there and compete regardless is going to be burning in all of us. We've been going against each other since OTAs and I can speak for everyone, we're all itching to get out there and play some ball.

"Every year is unique into itself, but I think our guys are just as ready now as they were a year ago."

Last season went awry for the Green & White after of Rodgers' Achilles tendon injury sustained four plays into last season. Perhaps the hype was too loud. Saleh, analyzing himself from last season, said he was out of whack. This year's team is different. It has a subdued confidence.

Saleh, along with the other 31 NFL head coaches, preach consistency. It's what players strive for and how they earn jobs. From an NFL schedule perspective, however, inconsistency is the highest form of compliment. It's the schedule makers' way of saying your team has national interest and a chance to be competitive.

The Jets, who are trying to end their 13-year postseason drought, have six primetime games, starting with the opener at San Francisco Sept. 9.

"You play and compete to have the spotlight," Saleh said. "I think that's what everybody wants. Obviously as a coach you want as many 1 p.m. games as you can have so you can have consistency. We all strive for these moments, but with those, there's always going to be [schedule] changes. Monday being a short week, get ready to go to Tennessee, short week for Thursday (the home opener against the Patriots in Week 3), long week to Denver, short week to London, back to mini long week.

"I mean there's all kinds of changes, but I think it's also healthy. We've kind of reflected that with how we've done our schedule here during training camp. It's been very different days, it's been changing. Whether it was a 9 a.m. practice to a 12 p.m. practice to a heavy load on Tuesday to a heavy load on Thursday, and then flip it to a Wednesday to a Friday.

"We've been very deliberate in changing things up on them all offseason to have them prepared for these moments. Every team has to deal with it. We're lucky we get to do it more than most."

The storylines for Monday night's game write themselves. To name a few, Rodgers' return after rupturing his Achilles tendon, Saleh's return to San Francisco where he was the 49ers' defensive coordinator and a pair of the league's top running backs in Christian McCaffrey and Breece Hall.

For Rodgers, he'll line up against a familiar foe in his hometown team, the one that selected Alex Smith No. 1 overall in 2005 instead of Rodgers. The last time he played against the defending NFC champion was the divisional round in the 2021 season, which ended up being Rodgers' final playoff appearance in Green Bay. The Packers lost, 13-10.

"Oh he's itching," Saleh said of Rodgers, who owns a 6-3 record against the 49ers in the regular season and has thrown for 20 touchdowns and 2 interceptions against them. "He looks good ,too, man. I think every passing day the offense is getting more and more confident. It's going to be fun."