Breece Hall set the tone on the ground, Geno Smith handled his return to New York with efficiency, and the Jets walked out of Tennessee with a 23-10 season-opening win that never really felt in doubt.
Hall rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown, while Smith completed 19 of 24 passes for 215 yards in his Jets return after being drafted by New York in 2013 and acquired from Las Vegas in March. The offense moved cleanly under new coordinator Frank Reich, and the Jets controlled the game from the start, never trailing and taking a 10-3 lead into halftime.
New York also owned the ball for just over 38 minutes and finished with a 367-195 advantage in total offense. It was the Jets’ first season-opening win since 2023, and it came against a Tennessee team that was trying to start fresh under Robert Saleh, who was making his debut as Titans coach against the franchise he led from 2021 before being fired after five games in 2024.
The Jets’ defense made sure Tennessee never got comfortable. Rookie edge rusher David Bailey, the No. 2 pick overall, collected one of three sacks as the Jets kept pressure on Titans quarterback Cam Ward all afternoon. With Aaron Glenn calling the defense this season, New York looked like a team that had a firm grip on both sides of the ball.
Jason Sanders, elevated from the practice squad after Glenn deactivated kicker Jason Grupe, also delivered when it mattered. Sanders drilled field goals from 33, 51 and 52 yards after missing a 54-yard attempt short and left.
Tennessee’s night got messy fast. Joey Slye pushed the opening kickoff out of bounds for a penalty, Saleh burned a timeout to avoid a 12-men-on-the-field penalty, and All-Pro returner Chimere Dike ran into trouble on special teams almost immediately. On his first punt return chance, a teammate was pushed into him, and after he cleared a concussion check, Dike lost a fumble on a kickoff.
The Titans also honored former running back Chris Johnson, even though he could not attend. The team went ahead with the ring of honor induction for CJ2K, who became the sixth player in NFL history to rush for at least 2,000 yards. Johnson announced in June that he had been diagnosed with ALS.
The injury list grew on both sides. Jets safety Minkah Fitzpatrick left with a groin injury in the first quarter and did not return, and rookie wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. exited in the first with an ankle injury. Dike was also hurt on his first punt return opportunity before being evaluated for a concussion and cleared to return.
The Jets head home to face Green Bay in their home opener on Sept. 20.
The Titans will host Philadelphia on Sept. 20.
In Other News...
Jets Fans Turned This Win Into A Robert Saleh Referendum
The Jets opened the season with a convincing 23-10 win over Tennessee, and the game quickly turned into something bigger than a routine Week 1 result. New Yorks defense kept the Titans under 200 yards of total offense, while Geno Smith was efficient throughout, finishing 19 of 24 for 215 yards and helping the Jets control the day in a way that had the home crowd buzzing.
What made the afternoon stand out even more was the reaction from the stands, where Jets fans voiced their support for former coach Aaron Glenn while also keeping the focus on the man now on the other sideline. Robert Saleh, fired by the Jets in October 2024, remains a sore spot for plenty of fans, and this win only sharpened that feeling as the postgame mood turned into something of a referendum on his tenure. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Win Still Left Fans With One Big Worry Before Packers
The Jets opened the season with a 23-10 win over the Titans, and there was enough encouraging early work to make the result feel solid even if it was not especially polished. Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper helped set the tone right away, while the defense and special teams did enough to keep Tennessee from ever making it feel like a real threat.
Still, the win came with a few issues that could linger into the Packers matchup. Injuries to Omar Cooper Jr., Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jarvis Brownlee were all part of the afternoon, and Jason Sanders, elevated from the practice squad, went 3-for-4 on field goals after missing from 54 yards. The Jets got the result they needed, but the health and kicking questions are not the kind of loose ends a team wants hanging around this early. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Already Have One Uncomfortable Question About Aaron Glenns Kicker
The Jets went into Week 1 with Jason Sanders holding the kicking job, even after a shaky preseason and a competition with Blake Grupe that suggested the position was anything but settled. New York had already shown it was willing to keep the door open on alternatives, including a workout with Justin Tucker, which made Sanders margin for error feel slim from the start.
Sanders then missed a critical fourth-and-8 field goal attempt that would have extended the Jets lead, a miss that only sharpened the uncertainty around his standing. For Aaron Glenn and the Jets, the bigger issue now is less about what happened on one kick and more about whether they can afford to keep waiting for the answer at a position that can swing games fast. [Read more 🡒]