The Knicks’ championship turnaround drew a salute from an unlikely corner this week: the Jets.
Ahead of Tuesday’s season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Jets’ official X account posted, “Time to run it back,” and added, “Good Luck.” It was a simple nod, but an eye-catching one given how far the Knicks have come - and how closely their rise mirrors the kind of climb the Jets are trying to make.
That wasn’t always the case in New York. For years, the Knicks were right there with the Jets in the conversation about the city’s most frustrating teams.
Under James Dolan, the franchise spent 2001 through the 2011-12 season collecting just one playoff win while piling up nine losing seasons. Their best regular-season finish in that stretch was only 42 wins.
Things didn’t get better right away, either. After a short-lived bounce in 2012, the Knicks went through seven more seasons with no playoff appearances and five years with at least 50 losses, including two 65-loss seasons.
Now the city is celebrating the other end of that story. On October 20, 2026, New York is watching the Knicks receive their rings and raise the banner after their 2025-26 title run.
That championship came with plenty of memorable moments, from OG Anunoby’s tip-in against the San Antonio Spurs to the second-half comebacks that kept fueling the run. Jalen Brunson also capped it off by winning NBA Finals MVP, despite being labeled “undersized.”
But the title wasn’t just about the stars who finished the job. It also stood as proof that a broken situation can be rebuilt.
Tom Thibodeau, Julius Randle, Leon Rose, and Jalen Brunson helped breathe life back into the organization, while Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and Mitch Robinson gave the Knicks a core capable of chasing a championship. Mike Brown then made the adjustments that put them over the top.
time to run it back @nyknicks pic.twitter.com/2nqnYAfHQR
— New York Jets (@nyjets) October 20, 2026
The Jets are still in the middle of their own version of that process. Darren Mougey has not yet found the franchise’s next long-term quarterback, and Aaron Glenn still has to prove himself as a head coach, but this season has looked more competitive and more organized than what New York has seen in recent years.
At 2-4, the Jets have lost three games by a total of 14 points, which suggests there is at least something taking root in the Meadowlands. A win over the visiting Miami Dolphins on Sunday would put them at the same number of victories they had all last season. The bigger step, though, would be turning that into more before the year is over.
The Knicks made that leap in 2020. Six years later, they are chasing something even bigger: becoming the first NBA team in nearly a decade to win back-to-back championships.
In Other News...
Jets Keep Dodging A Costly Nahshon Wright Roster Decision
Nahshon Wrights first season with the Jets has become one of those roster situations the team keeps side-stepping instead of answering directly. The cornerback was brought in after leading the NFL in takeaways last year, but his role in New York has been limited to special teams early on, and he has not carved out a real defensive spot as the season has gone along.
What makes the situation harder to ignore is the cost attached to it. The Jets gave Wright a fully guaranteed $3.5 million deal this offseason, yet they still have not moved on from him even with other cornerbacks available on the practice squad. For now, they are keeping him around without using him much, which leaves one of the more curious roster choices in the building hanging in plain sight. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Offense Keeps Making One Frustrating Mistake Fans Can See
The Jets have spent enough of this season showing they can move the ball when defenses play zone, and Geno Smiths numbers have reflected that split. Against man coverage, though, the offense has looked far more ordinary, which is why the tendency to stick with the same balanced script has been so frustrating to watch from the outside.
Even with the evidence piling up, the approach has barely changed. New York has kept leaning into a predictable pass-run mix even as the results have slipped in scoring and yardage, leaving the offense looking like a unit that knows where its best chances are but keeps driving toward the same dead end anyway. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Keep Wasting Chances As Pressure Builds On Aaron Glenn
The Jets keep finding themselves in familiar territory, close enough to matter and still not finishing the job. Their recent stretch has included the kind of late-half lapses that can tilt games before halftime or the final whistle, and the frustration is only growing because the effort has not disappeared. Geno Smith pointed to Omar Cooper Jr.'s return from injury as a boost and said the team showed fight in the second half, but those positives have not been enough to erase the bigger problem hanging over the season.
Aaron Glenn is now carrying the weight of those missed chances, because the margin for patience around the team is getting thinner by the week. Rich Cimini raised the possibility that a loss to the Dolphins could put Glenns status in real jeopardy, which is the sort of conversation that starts to follow a coach when repeated breakdowns keep showing up in the same critical moments. For the Jets, the next game now feels like more than a division test. [Read more 🡒]