The Jets have given their fans something they did not get in 2025: signs of life. That alone makes a 2-4 start to the 2026 season feel different.
It’s not pretty, and it’s not the kind of record that quiets the frustration from people who are done with losing and “moral victories.” But there is enough here to suggest the pieces can be nudged in the right direction.
The encouraging part is that the effort and buy-in appear real. The fixes are not mysterious, either. A hard stretch of the schedule is already behind them, and a few pointed adjustments could help this team get back to a winning mindset.
On offense, the first move is simple: speed things up. The Jets can move the ball in stretches, but they keep running into the same two problems - they don’t threaten teams deep until the situation demands it, and too many of their pass concepts take too long to unfold.
Put that together with Geno Smith holding the ball too long, and finishing drives on the opponent’s side of the field becomes a slog. Adonai Mitchell and Breece Hall are expected back at full strength, but Frank Reich still needs to be more aggressive in “got to have it” moments.
There’s also a clear case for changing how Kenyon Sadiq is used. Since his 100-yard breakout against the Detroit Lions, he has only three catches for 15 yards across the next three games.
Mason Taylor’s return has complicated the rotation, but Reich’s reliance on Sadiq as mostly a screen and drag option feels too narrow. The Jets need more of what showed up in that Lions game - Sadiq attacking the seam with speed.
Braelon Allen has earned a bigger role, and that should not disappear when Breece Hall is back. Hall got the big contract in the offseason, but Allen has forced the issue with his play.
He posted the two best games of his career against Cleveland and New England, going over 100 yards in both. He’s starting to put it together, and the Jets cannot just park him on the bench.
The defensive line needs attention, too. Harrison Phillips is a strong locker room presence and did a good job stopping the run last year, but his play has trended down.
The lack of pass-rush impact and only middling run defense has helped make this unit one of the team’s biggest disappointments. Darrell Jackson Jr. is still a rookie, but he’s flashed lately, and those flashes deserve more room to grow.
And if the Jets want real juice up front, they may need help from outside the building. A pass rusher next to David Bailey would make sense.
Bailey has had a solid rookie season, but he’ll naturally disappear in games at times because of inexperience. Kingsley Enagbare is solid, but he can’t carry the load as the team’s No. 2 edge threat.
Will McDonald IV has been poor this season, and Joseph Ossai’s injury has only made the problem worse.
In Other News...
Jets Offensive Debate Is Getting Harder To Ignore
Aaron Glenn has backed Frank Reich publicly, saying the offensive coordinator has done a good job while the Jets work through a season defined by injuries and inconsistency on that side of the ball. The bigger picture is hard to miss: New York is sitting near the bottom of the league in points per game, red-zone efficiency and third-down conversions, a reminder that the offense has not found enough rhythm to support the rest of the roster.
The frustration is starting to show up in the broader conversation around the team, too, with multiple outlets placing the Jets in the NFLs lower tier because of how often drives stall once they get close to scoring range. There is still some interest in what young players like Omar Cooper Jr. can add, but the more immediate question is whether the current offensive setup can clean up the spots that keep biting them before the season slips further away. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Fans Just Got A Hopeful Reminder From The Knicks
For a franchise that has spent years trying to crawl out of its own long-running slump, the Knicks rise has to feel oddly familiar around Florham Park. New York spent the better part of two decades waiting for the basketball team to matter again, and now the citys other green-and-white tenant has a fresh example of what patience, steadier leadership and a real turnaround can eventually look like.
The Jets have not won a Super Bowl or a playoff game since 2011, and the losing seasons have piled up in the years since, but this season has offered a few signs that the tide might finally be shifting. Whether the current progress turns into something lasting is still the open question, and the next stretch of games will say a lot about whether this looks like a brief uptick or the start of something closer to the Knicks late-arriving breakthrough. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Glenn Had To Explain A Strange Jets Sideline Mix-Up
Aaron Glenn spent part of Monday explaining a small but notable sideline mix-up from halftime, one that caught attention because it came in the middle of a game day interview. During the break, the Jets coach made a statement suggesting New York would receive the second-half kickoff, even though that did not happen.
When asked about it the next day, Glenn moved quickly to clarify what he meant, saying he was speaking more broadly about the offense needing to sustain drives rather than the specific kickoff situation. The explanation was reported by multiple outlets, and the moment was brief, but it was the kind of detail that can linger when a team is still trying to clean up its communication as much as its play. [Read more 🡒]