It's not easy being in green and white these days, particularly for the vets who have taken a few laps around the NFL calendar. The Jets fell to 2-6 with their fifth straight loss at New England on Sunday, and now they have to get right back on the horse and take on a tough Houston team at MetLife Stadium on Thursday night.
But while Thursday games aren't generally NFL players' favorite day to pop pads, TE Tyler Conklin thinks the upcoming TNF affair could help the Jets top the Texans and ride onto the winning trail again.
"I guess the one bright spot would be that we've got a game in on Thursday night," Conklin said about the 25-22 loss to the Patriots. "And we've got no other choice but to kind of flip the script and get back and figure out how we're going to win this game.
"I think it's a good opportunity to go get a really bad taste out of your mouth."
Maybe Conk is onto something. The Jets' second and most recent victory this season came in their solid season-opening Thursday night home game against the Patriots. And over the years, when the Jets have won one Thursday game, they tend to win the next one as well. They won three in a row on TNF from 2008-10 and two straight against the Bills in 2016-17.
However, the Jets also have fought Thursday losing streaks of five and six games in that span, so there are no guarantees for an offense and a team that Conklin said are still sorting out the details that have led to their recent malaise.
"After every game you look back like, Damn, what? Especially these close games we've had," he said. "And I guess the one thing that comes to mind is just shooting ourselves in the foot with the little things. Whether it's penalties, presnaps, holding, whatever it may be. It just seems like in a crucial moment we make mistakes that you can't make when you want to win games in this league."
Conklin doesn't excuse himself from examining his own miscues and finding answers to cure them, but he's been making some strong contributions to try to bring those W's about. With 26 catches for 240 yards, he's on pace for a 55-catch, 510-yard season, which, with a few more explosive plays like his 27-yard snare from Aaron Rodgers over the deep middle to start the fourth quarter at Gillette Stadium, could have him back in personal-best territory.
Then there are the touchdowns. He has gone from a 32-game TD drought that began in his first season with the Jets in 2022 to grabbing his second short scoring strike from Rodgers in two games. Another one against the Texans would put him in select company. Only three Jets tight ends since 2000 have caught TD passes in three consecutive games:
| Jets TE | Season | Game 1 (TDs) | Game 2 (TDs) | Game 3 (TDs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dustin Keller | 2010 | Gm 2 vs NE (1) | Gm 3 @ MIA (2) | Gm 4 @ BUF (2) |
| Austin Seferian-Jenkins | 2017 | Gm 5 @ CLE (1) | Gm 6 vs NE (1) | Gm 7 @ MIA (1) |
| Chris Herndon | 2018 | Gm 6 vs IND (1) | Gm 7 vs MIN (1) | Gm 8 @ CHI (1) |
But feelgood touchdowns are not foremost on Conklin's mind. Neither is throwing in the towel.
"All you can do is wake up, go to football, prepare, go to meetings, prepare, go to practice, prepare," he said. "Go out there, put your best foot forward as an individual, as a unit, as a team to win. Two-and-six isn't where you want to be or where we thought we'd be. But the last thing we're going to do as individuals or as a team is quit on it."
Especially with the bright lights of Thursday night and the 6-2 Texans just around the corner.
